Worksheets are a useful tool to use when teaching children letter recognition. Print out all of the letters of the alphabet on paper and ask children to point to a specific letter or circle specific letters with particular colors. Another idea is to print a letter on a sheet of paper and place images of a variety of items that begin with and don't begin with the focus letter. Ask children to identify the letter and to circle or color in the items that begin with the given letter.
Provide children with tactile experiences to instill recognition of letters and to help them learn how to form letters. Cover the surface of a table or a desk with shaving cream, cover paper with finger paint or fill a cookie sheet with a thin layer of pudding and ask children to use their fingers to write specific letters in the materials. Alternatively, you could state a letter sound or a word and ask children to write the letter that makes the sound or that the word starts with in the material.
Play games with children to promote recognition of letters. Print letters on index cards and hide them around a room. Ask children to search for the cards and then arrange the cards in alphabetical order. Write a letter on the back of a child and ask if she can identify the letter based on the feel of it; award her a point for each correctly identified letter and see if she can earn a specific amount of points. Write letters on two sets of index cards and use them to play matching games. Create letter bingo cards and play a game of letter or letter sound bingo.
Use arts and crafts as a means of teaching letter recognition. Write a letter on a piece of construction paper, have children identify the letter, trace it and then glue items onto the paper that begin with the letter. For example, children may glue pasta on the letter "P." Discuss a specific letter with children and instruct them to cut out pictures from magazines that begin with the letter and glue them to construction paper, creating a collage. Provide children with clay and ask them to form the clay into letters.