About the Preschool Book

The Handmade Alphabet beautifully illustrates the manual alphabet of American Sign Language. Each sign is integrated into the illustration of something that begins with the letter. The sign for A is drawn with a hand holding asparagus spears and forming the sign for the letter A. The sign for the letter N is shown with the hand displaying long, painted pink nails.

This book is a wonderful introduction to American Sign Language. Preschoolers will have basic alphabet concepts reinforced and be exposed to the deaf culture.

From the Reviewer

This simple book is extremely interactive for preschoolers. They love to sign each letter of the alphabet along with the book. Preschoolers love the idea that they can talk with their hands and they are interested in learning about what life is like for people that are unable to hear. Preschoolers will enjoy learning about the deaf culture and expanding their awareness of the world around them.

Reinforce Alphabet Concepts

Each page of The Handmade Alphabet displays an uppercase letter in a clear font that is easy for preschoolers to read. This is a wonderful book to read with tactile learners. As preschoolers practice signing each letter of the alphabet as they are looking at the letter and something that starts with each letter, they will reinforce alphabet concepts that they have been learning.

Encourage Compassion in Preschoolers

Preschoolers are very open and are interested in learning how to talk with their hands. As they learn about the special needs that some of us have, preschoolers strengthen their and understanding and the differences that make all of us unique. Preschoolers will be encouraged to develop compassion as they replace curiosity with knowledge.

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Hi! I'm Rachel Lister, the Preschool Education writer at PreschoolRock.com. I live in Utah with my husband and two beautiful boys. When my oldest son was born, I quit my teaching job and opened a home daycare and preschool. I love to help preschoolers learn about the world around them. They make life interesting and I can't imagine doing anything different. If you have any ideas, suggestions or comments, feel free to contact me.

Helpful Tips for Parents

• Read aloud daily for at least 15 minutes. This single habit is the strongest predictor of kindergarten reading readiness and long-term academic success.

• Avoid academic pressure before age 5. Preschool children's brains are not developmentally ready for formal academic instruction, and premature pressure backfires.

• Answer "why" questions fully and honestly. A child who gets real answers to their questions develops deeper curiosity than one whose questions are dismissed or oversimplified.

• Screen learning (educational apps and videos) supplements but never replaces human interaction as a teaching medium. Learning happens most efficiently in social, conversational contexts.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much learning time should a preschooler have per day?

All of it — because preschoolers learn continuously through every interaction with their environment. The question of "learning time" implies that learning is separate from living, which it isn't at this age. A preschooler who plays freely, has rich conversations, is read to, helps in the kitchen, plays outdoors, and is exposed to music and art is having the richest possible educational experience. Formal, scheduled "learning time" is less productive than a generally enriched daily environment.

Related reading: See also our kindergarten readiness guide and our vocabulary building guide for more ideas on this topic.

🎓 Skills Your Child Will Develop

• 📚 Pre-Reading Skills — Activities that involve letters, sounds, rhymes, and print directly build the phonological awareness and letter knowledge that are the two strongest predictors of successful reading development.
• 🔢 Early Numeracy — Hands-on counting, sorting, measuring, and pattern work develops the number sense and mathematical reasoning that formal arithmetic will later build on — and preschool numeracy is one of the strongest predictors of later math achievement.
• 👂 Listening & Attention — Activities that require children to listen carefully and follow directions build the voluntary auditory attention that classroom learning, reading comprehension, and conversation all require.
• 💬 Vocabulary Expansion — Every new concept, activity, and domain-specific term a child encounters expands their vocabulary — and children's vocabulary at kindergarten entry is the single strongest predictor of reading comprehension at age 10.

From the Artist

"My older stepson is deaf. For the first eighteen years of his life he moved with dignity yet difficulty through the hearing world, relying primarily on the complex art of lipreading for his verbal understanding. Then he went to Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., and learned American Sign Language. As a visual language it was completely accessible to him an allowed him to share ideas fully. Through it he gained more thorough understanding and total communication. The manual alphabet, an integral part of American Sign Language, was my first contact with signing. As an outsider to deaf culture, my abilities in this mode are limited. However, my respect is deep and it is my wish that this introduction to the alphabet begin to open the world of sign communication to all who see this book." - From the Artist's Note