A, B, C... and then what? Putting letters in order with animal letters

Almost every child can sing the alphabet song. Far fewer can tell you which letter comes after P without starting from A and singing their way there. That's completely normal. It just means the song has been learned as a tune, not yet as a sequence.

The Letters & Words section of KidsZone starts right at that gap, with a game called ABC Order.

How it works

The screenshot shows the idea clearly. A handful of letters appear, mixed up, and your child puts them into numbered boxes from first to last. They can drag each letter to its box, or tap a letter and then tap a box, which is easier for small hands.

In the example above, the letters are O, K, P, L, M and N. To put them in order, a child has to think about where each one sits in the alphabet, not just recite the song from the beginning. That's exactly the skill that helps later with dictionaries, indexes and even finding a name on a class list.

Animal letters

One charming touch: the default style is Animal letters. Each letter is drawn as an animal, so the O is an octopus, the L is a lion, and so on. Young children find this delightful, and it gives each letter a little personality that makes it easier to remember.

If your child prefers clean letters, or is a bit older, switch the style to Plain letters.

Three levels

• 6 letters: a short run, perfect for beginners
• 12 letters: a bigger challenge
• All 26: the whole alphabet, for confident learners

There's a Hint button if your child gets stuck, and Start over if they want a fresh set.

Letter Basket for more practice

Right beside it in the same section is Letter Basket, another letter game that keeps children playing with the alphabet in a different way. Alternating between the two keeps practice from getting stale.

Five minutes a day

You don't need long sessions for this. Five minutes before school is plenty. What you'll notice within a week or two is that your child starts spotting letters everywhere, on shop signs, number plates and cereal boxes, and naming them out loud. That's the sign it's working.

Why order matters later

It might seem like a small thing whether a child can put O, K and P in order without singing. But alphabetical order shows up throughout school life: finding a word in the dictionary, looking up a topic in the index of a textbook, locating your roll number on a list, even sorting files on a computer one day. A child who is comfortable with the sequence of letters finds all of these easier.

And with Animal letters, the practice has a friendly face, which is half the battle with young learners.

Play ABC Order on KidsZone.