Elemenohpee

Letters catch my eye wherever they pop up - eye charts, license plates, telephone poles, signage, and most especially abc charts, blocks, and books.  You would think that once you'd seen one alphabet book you'd seen them all - but no, seen one, NEED MORE.  And I really wonder if it's something about the inherent graphic nature of our latin based alphabet because I've looked at some Hindi alphabet primers and even though they are beautifully illustrated they don't hold the same appeal.  Or maybe that's my bias to my native language? Or perhaps that magical pull letters and books seem to have is more about the charm of childhood memories than design?  I would be curious to know if alphabet books are regarded fondly worldwide irregardless of language family (Geek fact: As of 2007 there were 6,912 living languages cataloged).  All I know is I could buy every abc grammar book out there and still have my eyes on the next one about to be published...

So, a good place to start with this subject would be with this reprint of one of the oldest known alphabet cards, from 1782. My understanding is that these were originally published in newspapers to help boys read.  Girls were not supposed to read newspapers, or learn to read, for that matter.  But I bet some did.


I personally don’t find this type appealing, but it brings back very fond memories of this book:

My youngest son was obsessed with this book when he was little and was constantly twisting his body into abc shapes.This type of alphabet primer is very appealing to those who learn kinesthetically.










And while this vintage book qualifies as kinesthetic, it’s here just because it cracks me up. I’m sure my kids would have a lot of fun mocking it now. Mimes + xenophobia = comedy central at our house.

But, I digress, back to alphabet primers for tiny ones… I think there’s a pattern to how children note these wall cards. I believe that first they see the bold simple graphics, then, as they grow older they start to realise the correlation between the letter and the picture, and then, if there are subtleties to the design, they pick up on those and feel proud of themselves for “decoding” the card. So my favourite cards have all three of these elements, but at the very least they must have strong, charming design, Such as these Hardware Alphabet cards by eeBoo. These cards actually started the whole idea for this post in the first place. Luv their retro design and clean lines! About a year ago Pip and I stood in WindUpHere staring at these for a long, long time trying to decide if they were too boyish for her nursery, but now it's a year later, she's had her second boy (yay!) so we’re saving up our change! *ching, ching*

The following are more examples of cards I think would be engaging for young children: (BTW, these are products I enjoy artistically.  Speaking about them here in no way means I endorse their pricing.  I'm not saying they're unreasonably priced, I'm just saying we all need to live within our means.  When we can afford these sorts of items, I fullheartedly believe in supporting artists, and local artists even better.  But you can be an artist, too.  Nuff said.)

These cards, from Bob's Your Uncle, are a
perfect example of bold design - and they
encourage curiousity by showing just part
of the animal, - the entire animal is shown
on the back with some info.

This one makes me think of M for Amazing.
Go see the rest, the T is for Town one is my fave.

Though not my favourite, I think kids would find
it enticing to read this alphabet poster in order.

For these wall cards John Carrera has gone
thru old dictionaries and pulled out their
illustrations - loved those as a kid, love
them even more now.

The art in Strawberryluna's Etsy shop is so
cute, but I could never afford the whole alphabet! ($16 a card)

I really like this little hen, but I can't
remember where I found her!

Another example of vivid art with loads of child appeal.

Found on the third page of CastleintheAir's catalogue.
  These work for young children, and then
someday they'll find they can read the
cursive and be quite pleased with themselves.

Charley Harper.  What's not to love? All his art is wonderful.

JHill Design's cards remind me of illuminations.
Great art to expose your child to!

I thought these gorgeous cards were vintage, but it turns out
they're Martha Stewart! The zebra stripes just kill me.  Her site
no longer sells them, so if you find some somewhere, let me know!

I absolutely adore, adore these!  I just don't know
if children would be immediately drawn t
o them.  I think I might be forcing their design
asthetic but...what's the matter with that?

If you're going to get them hooked
on good art, you may as well get them addicted
to typography while you're at it! 
Alphabeasties will do both.

(Once you've introduced them to that world
you can spend a tidy sum (ie, small fortune)
and wallpaper their room
with this Fawn and Forest Wallpaper.)

These are such wonderful eye candy! I can just hear your child
spinning new synapses. Each letter is very creative,
there will be lots to discuss as you turn these pages.

Once they’ve mastered the abc basics, you can introduce a little more sophistication into their lives… Like The Hidden Alphabet by Laura Seeger. Your child begins with a picture, then flips the page to reveal a letter.  Besides the fun of anticipation, your child may find that this helps them remember their letters more easily, due to the picture being an integral part of the letter's shape.

Every blog about alphabet cards has this poster in it, but how can I resist? The subtlety of asking the child “Where is m?” is just delightful. Someday they will realise that there was a design reason to make the poster this way, and that will be a fun “aha” moment for them, too.  And if that's not enough reason to like it, this is designed by a married couple in their home. 

When they are older they will love the nonsense of these alphabet personalities…

The authour of this book calls it The Rogue Alphabet, an Alphabet of Difficult Words.  Unfortunately, it hasn't been published yet!  A shame, because boys would love it.

I wish they would reprint this vintage book. It makes me laugh every time I read “M is for a dead, dead moon.” Oh! I thought it was only mostly dead…

Not really on topic but I stumbled upon these Ray Bradbury covers and was tempted beyond my ability to resist…

Julie Morstad’s flash cards aren’t quite as straightforward as some of the others. Whereas “U is for Umbrella” is the type of thinking children are used to, “H is for Hiding” will make them have to stretch their wee minds a bit. It’s good for them.

And Ida Pearle takes it even further. Your child will have to scrutinize these picture and discover for themselves the alphabet correlation. They’ll have a delightful sense of accomplishment when they figure it out! 

Now we move into what I call the Do It Yourself Catgegory. Although these books/cards exist, once you introduce them to your child, you two can go on an odessey to create you own.

Top four from Alphabet City by Stephen T Johnson

Check out Debra Fraiser's A Fabulous Fair website -
it's filled with ideas and games to go
with her book, including a printout pages to take to the fair.

Walking to Jericho's hand-coloured Poloroid art
just makes me giggle a little.  Doesn't it fill you with the desire
to go make something?  I get all giddy inside when I imagine
little kids labelling and photographing their toys.

This one from warpeDesign is particularly good for incorporating more senses into the learning process. Your child can make their own version of this, or you can cut letters out of sandpaper or various other textures, or move dried beans, rice, or macaroni into abc shapes – or fingerpaint them with yogurt! Feel, smell, touch, taste - powerful memory makers. If you figure out a way to let your child hear letter shapes, let me know!

     

    

I found this on SchoolofTots.com - a site that's
apparently no longer working - but I love how
they often incorporated the actual letters
into the pictures, and of course the bible theme
is an extra nice touch.

These three are from DP Sullivan's Flikr page.  Handmade.
So whimsical!  You can actually find a lot of Alphabet
work on Flikr - go exploring!

Violet Lemay's My Foodie ABC: A Little Gourmet's Guide

The following are for parents who play Mozart to their unborn child, buy black and white mobiles, baby einstein videos, and enroll their child in an ivy league preschool the day after they conceive…

I love this Etsy shop's motto:  "Geek up the nursery!"

Everyone mentions this one, but what can I say?  When it's good it's good.

Jason Dent's The ABC's of Branding. See how much
we've been subliminally influenced.

And let’s face it, the rest of these aren’t really for the kids. Totally for the young at heart and awesome.

Indie Rock Alphabet. Indoctrinate your child now.

The Onomatopoeia Alphabet. (own-a-mawta-pea-a)
Onomatopoeia, Onomatopoeia,Onomatopiea.
Isn't it totally appropriate that this word
just begs to be said out loud?  Your twelve year
old son and hubby will love it. They will
drive you crazy adding their own sounds.

Neil Cameron's A-Z of Awesomeness.
This one is absolutely dedicated to my boys. :)

Done.
I told you it would be long.
And I haven't even shown you the number cards....