Grab that stack of empty index cards, the ones you've been meaning to fill with all those old addresses

Have your child write the letters of the alphabet on individual cards, providing assistance as needed. If you think she's ready for both uppercase and lowercase letters, let her make cards for each. Just be careful not to overload her too much or you'll be defeating the purpose of this kid learning game before she even gets to try it.

Once you have cards for all twenty-six letters of the alphabet (fifty-two cards for both uppercase and lowercase letters), let your child name a word that begins with each letter and draw a picture of that word on the back of the card with that letter on it. Work on this process daily until she has pictures on the back of all her cards. She is already reinforcing the letters in her mind as she prepares her cards for this kid learning game.

When she has completed her cards, you're now ready to play What's-It. To put some action into this kid learning game, let your child stand behind a desk or table as if she's a contestant on a television game show. You can even add some fun by pretending to be the host and introduce her to an imaginary audience. Draw her into the game even more by allowing her to tell the audience something about herself. How about something like this…

Hello all you wonderful folks out there in television land, I'm Merry Mom or Dashing Dad, coming to you from “What's-It” the live kid learning game where we give players the chance to show off their first grade skills by telling us the name of the first letter of the pictures we show them. With us here today, all the way from Your Home Town is Your Child. She'll be showing us how well she is mastering the awesome alphabet!

After your magnificent introduction, your child will be in this kid learning game for the long haul…so be ready with a few bits of additional encouragement along the way. You'll display the cards to your child so that you see the letter and she sees the picture she drew to represent it. Allow her a reasonable amount of time to tell you the letter she thinks is correct. When she is correct, offer some kind of positive response such as the ding of a bell, a toot on a leftover party horn, or a squeeze on an old tricycle horn. If your child answers incorrectly, simply move on to another card and come back to that one later.

What's-It is a kid learning game that you can advance as your child advances. Once she has mastered the first pictures in naming the first letter with which it begins, let her draw additional pictures on the back of each card representing words that begin with that letter. As an extra-added incentive offer a special treat occasionally for a bonus round of this fun kid learning game. The more interesting you keep the kid learning game, the more successful your child will be in learning from it. Be imaginative and remember that kids need to be challenged positively and encouraged positively as well.