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Teaching Preschoolers the ASL Alphabet

May 9, 2020 by Two Pink Peonies 21 Comments

Teaching Preschoolers the ASL Alphabet

American Sign Language (ASL) is such a fantastic second language for children to learn. It is truly a beautiful and highly communicative language. The ASL alphabet can be a bit tricky for kids so I’ve come up with these great tips for teaching preschoolers the ASL alphabet.

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We’ll start by going over each letter and then adding a few helpful tips. Whether you took ASL in high school, are fluent, or are learning along with your kids, I think you’ll find these tips super helpful!

We will go letter by letter, some letters are no brainers and some I will give a helpful or funny tip for you to better remember. Did you know associations are a great way for both adults and children to learn things?

According to Brainscape,
Associations between the new thing you are learning and something you already are familiar with will help you deepen your understanding of the new thing. You can form stronger memories, thus better remember the new concept, if you start off with lots of connections to the new concept.

Luckily, there are quite a few alphabet signs that look like the letter which makes them easy to remember. For others, I’ve tried to come up with some fun associations.

I hope these associations help you while teaching preschoolers the ASL alphabet!

A

the sign for A in ASL Teaching Preschoolers the ASL Alphabet

A is the first letter of the alphabet and it looks kind of like a lowercase a. Make a fist with your thumb on the side.

B

Teaching Preschoolers the ASL Alphabet the letter B

B isn’t too hard either, you can remember it by imaging a lowercase b. Keep your hand flat and move your thumb in.

C

Teaching Preschoolers the ASL Alphabet the Letter C

C is pretty easy too. It looks like a C so it is very easy to remember.

D

D also looks like a lowercase d but might be a little tricky at first. Remember when doing D your fingers will go down.

E

E kind of looks like a lowercase e. Curl your fingers in tight to get the sign right.

F

F looks kind of funny, huh? An easy way to remember F is that your index finger and thumb will meet and your other fingers will stay out like feathers.

G

I taught my oldest child how to sign by G by thinking of grabbing some grapes.

H

H kind of looks like a capital H on it’s side.

I

I is another sign that looks a lot like the actual letter. It is just your pinky up straight with your thumb covering your other fingers.

J

J is a really fun sign. Use your pinky to draw a J in the air.

K

To sign K put your thumb in between your first two fingers while they’re pointed up.

L

L is another sign that looks like the letter.

M

To sign M curl your first three fingers over your thumb. It kind of looks like an M.

N

Once you know M, it’s pretty easy to learn N. N is the same as M but with only the first two fingers.

O

O is another sign that looks like the letter it represents.

P

P is a hard one. It is kind of like the sign for K but on its side. To sign P put your thumb in between your first two fingers and then bend your wrist towards the ground. Remember this is all done in one fluid motion. This is a letter sign that make take practice to both remember and do correctly.

Q

Personally, I don’t really think Q looks like much. I like to remember the sign for Q by thinking I need to pick up a quarter from the ground.

R

If you the learn sign for ready, you’ll easily remember R. That’s because the sign for ready is “R” shook back and forth. Remember that you are ready for R!

S

You can remember S by thinking of snake on a stone.

T

Teaching Preschoolers the ASL Alphabet

T isn’t super intuitive. You can help teach the sign by remembering that you have to use your thumb to sign T and that thumb starts with T. You can also think of T like a little turtle poking its head out.

U

Teaching Preschoolers the ASL Alphabet

U is another no brainer, it looks like a U!

V

Tips for the letter V Teaching Preschoolers the ASL Alphabet

Not to be confused with the non-ASL peace sign, V looks like the letter V.

W

Teaching Preschoolers the ASL Alphabet the letter W tips

W is another sign that looks like the letter it represents.

X

X is another one that I don’t think looks like the letter. A good way to remember X is by thinking your finger looks broken and it needs an x-ray.

Y

Teaching Preschoolers the ASL Alphabet Tips for Letter Y

Y can feel a bit awkward at first. I noticed that a lot of other students (both in our homeschool preschool and in my adult classes) would make the non-ASL Texas Longhorns sign or the rock and roll sign because it was something their hand knew! Y looks like the top of the letter Y.

Z

Teaching Preschoolers the ASL Alphabet the Letter Z

I think Z is actually a really fun and easy to remember sign. Just draw a Z in the air with your index finger.

Common mix-ups and how to avoid them

A and E

A and E can be easy to mix up at first. Remember to curl you fingers in to make an E.

E and S

Remember that E looks like a lowercase E and that S is like a stone with a snake. The snake snuggles up to the stone!

D and F

Remember that F has feathers! D does not. With D your fingers go down.

Other tips for learning the ASL alphabet

Practice

Practice makes perfect. The more you practice the signs the easier it will become.

Go slow

Don’t go too fast when you’re first learning. I think it’s easier just to learn a few letters at a time. Once you have mastered those letters then move on. The alphabet is the key to learning any language, but this is especially true for ASL since it involves so much fingerspelling.

Find a Deaf or Hard of Hearing instructor

Once you learn some basics on your own, one of my best tips for learning ASL is to have a Deaf or Hard of Hearing person to teach you. When you learn this way, you will also be able to learn so much about Deaf culture.

ASL Teaching Products

My family has used these products for learning ASL together and for our homeschool preschool group. You may also find them helpful. I especially love Signing Time as it covers all the basics.

I hope you enjoyed this post on teaching preschoolers the ASL alphabet. You might also like these free printable match up games for the ASL alphabet and numbers 0-9.

Want even more ASL resources for your preschooler? Check out these fun learning activities that include options to add ASL signs.

  • Free ASL Alphabet Coloring Pages
  • Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Toddler Activity (ASL alphabet)
  • Learning about Ladybugs Toddler Activity (ASL numbers)

What are your biggest tips for teaching preschoolers the ASL alphabet or teaching ASL to children in general? Do you have any fun ways to remember the signs for the alphabet? I’d love to hear from you in the comment section below.

If you liked this post, please share the love and pin it!

Teaching Preschoolers the ASL Alphabet
Teaching Preschoolers the ASL Alphabet

Filed Under: ASL resources, New Posts, Toddler Learning Tagged With: ASL alphabet, homeschool preschool

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Emily

    May 9, 2020 at 3:33 pm

    Love this! I have been looking for an easy ASL introduction for my kids and I am so excited for this!!

    Reply
  2. Rachel

    May 9, 2020 at 8:55 pm

    Wow this is so helpful 🙂 it is easy to understand and totally doable with a toddler

    Reply
    • Two Pink Peonies

      May 12, 2020 at 7:23 pm

      I’m so glad you found this teaching preschoolers the ASL alphabet post helpful!!

      Reply
  3. Amanda Krieger

    May 11, 2020 at 1:20 pm

    this is cool — thanks for the tips! I remember learning to sign my name when i was in elementary school and i loved it!

    Reply
    • Two Pink Peonies

      May 12, 2020 at 7:23 pm

      That’s awesome! I think it’s so helpful for kids to learn.

      Reply
  4. Sara - Seek Discover Learn

    May 11, 2020 at 8:57 pm

    My kids have gotten interested in sign language recently because, during his nightly press briefing, our Governor has been asking the sign language interpreter to teach everyone a little bit of sign language every day. So far we have learned “Team Kentucky,” “We will get through this together,” “Healthy at home”, “thank you teachers”, and a few others. I’m sure my kids would love learning the Alphabet too.

    Reply
    • Two Pink Peonies

      May 12, 2020 at 7:24 pm

      That’s absolutely amazing. I love that!

      Reply
  5. Caressa Walker

    May 11, 2020 at 9:57 pm

    Such a great post ! My son is only 7 months but when he becomes older I definitely could see myself teaching him these signs. The pictures were very helpful.

    Reply
    • Two Pink Peonies

      May 12, 2020 at 7:25 pm

      I did baby sign language (based on real ASL signs) with both of my kids and we loved it. I found it so helpful.

      Reply
  6. Ashley Newton

    May 12, 2020 at 1:40 am

    When I was a preschool teacher, we would teach each letter along with the ASL sign. It’s such a great way to teach the alphabet!

    Reply
    • Two Pink Peonies

      May 12, 2020 at 7:26 pm

      That’s so awesome to hear that you taught the ASL signs along with the alphabet. I once read that there’s something about the the physical motion which helps them remember.

      Reply
  7. Ashley Greenwood

    May 13, 2020 at 12:12 pm

    This is an incredible resource! Thank you for taking the time to share this.

    Reply
  8. Maya

    May 13, 2020 at 7:55 pm

    This is a lot of fun! I’m always looking for something new to teach my daughter.

    Reply
  9. Katie

    May 14, 2020 at 2:18 pm

    I love this! I want to learn this too! Then when my son is a little older, I want to teach him sign language and Spanish because he is Caucasian-Hispanic! ❤️

    Reply
  10. Jen @ Jen Bradley | MOMS

    May 14, 2020 at 5:24 pm

    How interesting! My 12 year old was just asking me about the difference between e and s the other day! I need to teach my littles too.

    Reply
  11. Hope

    May 19, 2020 at 11:24 am

    This is fab. On our news here in Britain my husband was noting how different the Irish sign language is different to ours here in England, though we are all speaking English! It’s amazing xx

    Reply
  12. Jen

    May 19, 2020 at 1:25 pm

    I took a couple semesters of ASL in college and I loved it. I’ll have to try to remember a lot of what I learned and teach it to the kids.

    Reply
  13. Amy

    May 20, 2020 at 3:17 am

    This is awesome, I would love to teach my kids sign language!

    Reply
  14. Sarah

    May 20, 2020 at 7:28 am

    This is so awesome what a great resource!

    Reply
  15. Mamie

    May 20, 2020 at 8:33 pm

    My youngest loves ASL. He learned it while in elementary.

    Reply

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