Anyone have ideas and suggestions on ways to help my son be more interested in these?

He of course knows his ABCs and numbers, but he can't identify them all and needs to learn to start writing them as well.

I do the tracing with him, and got activity books. But looking for fun and creative ways to get him interested because he is stubborn and would rather play then do something "boring". 

Needs a schoolmate somebody else to be doing the samething's so it's not just him. this worked with my daughter. give it a try. 

Jenn I wouldn't stress about it much. He will learn all that in kindergarten. 

Thanks ms wicked. I'll try that.

FL Girl- yea, that's what I was thinking too but the paper they gave me about "what your child should know before entering kindergarten" listed those things so I was worried he would be behind :/ 

I used cookies, bread, and biscuits to work with my kids and my daycare kids.
Anytime I would bake something at home I would have the kids help and they would cut out or shape their letters from the dough or have them decorate cookies with sprinkles and icing with their letter or initials. 

i have my kids use their toys,like if i see them playing with cars I'll ask them to give me a certain amount or specific color. As well as have them draw their letters and shapes with chalk. Also I have done treasure hunts with them, you could use the magnetic letters/numbers. :) 

Cookie cutters and playdough 

I have these little wipe off sheets on a ring, I think they are by Brain Quest and my daughter can use a colored wipe off marker and trace upper and lower case letter, numbers and shapes. She LOVES it! My main concern is that she is a lefty and can trace anything, but writting her letters free hand is very hard for her. 

We just had our summer school sit down, all three of our kids work together, Korbin is going into kindegarten and he works on reading and phonics, He is five, Jack is three and he works on ABC's and 123's...because that is what Korbin learned in prek~ we were told they should know that stuff too and they move pretty fast in Kindegarten..So I would do some computer game stuff for him, they are free and easy...Korbin has known his letters since he was still two because of the Animal ABC game on fisher price!! it's free and he just learned it cause he wanted make the animals make their sound but you have to press the key that has the first letter of their name, honestly I did nothing!! fisher price gets all the credit....


Here is the site.prek games 

the abc zoo is a really easy way to do letters, even if you just do it once a day..just mix it up in stead of going in order, that focuses on the actual letters vs just how the song goes, like say...can you find the letter for Jaguar? and then press J and the jaguar pops up and growls...this site is GREAT to get started early, like 18 MONTHS for the toddler version :) there are more games too for kids who are like 5/6 like rescue heroes etc. 

I was going to suggest Jasmine's teacher from last years web site but everything is gone for summer...

I know during they school year they broke everything down. Like for one week they worked on numbers 1-10 and a few letters. The letters were out of order for reading purposes.

Try to make a fun game out of it. 

Ohh K~ I love all of brain quests stuff those are the work books we are working out of, they sell them at Costco..my littlest is NOT a work book kinda dude though..it has to be more exciting or it's a no bueno. He will write what I write, but just once, I really try to keep it short with him so he doesn't feel like it is more of chore..we go through only one time and then I let him get down..and he is done. I really try to not make it a struggle and not make it seem hard. 

For actually learning the letters, I was talking about writing them I would also make fun flashcards. I bought some super cute flaschards that we used, my daughter knew her letters when she was 2, and she knows her numbers but when she is counting she always leaves out 13, and 16 for some reason. We also have a Go Fish game that is upper/lower case letters that match up to an animal which is really fun. 

This isn't really a "workbook" but I know what you mean, Ivy doesn't do well sitting in front of a big ol' boring book!

brainquest write and earse set 

Here is the description.... "It's a brand-new "Brain Quest" format geared to give the earliest learners a leg up on writing, reading, and using numbers: "Brain Quest Write & Erase" sets. These are titles that feed a real need-helping preschoolers get ready for kindergarten. Featuring an attached pack of 40 large, write-on, wipe-off cards plus a dry-erase pen, each deck teaches a critical skill in a very practical way while at the same time being fun, entertaining, and informative-in the classic "Brain Quest" manner. "Shapes & Colors" uses tracing exercises, connect-the-dots, name-the-colors, and other fun activities to teach essential pre-writing concepts. "Brain Quest Write & Erase" sets are perfect for parents who want to help kids take learning in their own hands-and to instill that core message of "Brain Quest": It's Fun to Be Smart!" 

we make alphabet and number cookies. We make the cookies and before she eats one she has to tell me what letter or number it is.. LOL. Lame, i know..but, it seems to be working :) 

Oh...and those alphabet gummies!! with my daughter she didn't get to eat the gummy unless she knew what letter it was and what sound it made! lol they have them at the shopette and PX they are the Haribo! 

Look into the Leap Frog movies!! They have helped my nieces and nephews as well as some of my friend's kids. The one I always hear of is the Letter Factory. I Bought it for a good friend's son for his birthday and she said it only took watching it a couple times for him to start reciting and recognizing his letters along with what sound they make. I know they make ones with numbers, too! 

My kids LOVE the leap frog movies..they have them on netflix! they stream free with your membership! 

I wouldnt stress it. Kids are very smart and if you stress a subject (when it comes to education) they will refuse to learn it. You have to teach them on their own secure environment. That might be playing with touch on stuff, signing, rhymes, electronics. etc. You just have to let the child be and introduce that slowly in their own terms.. GoodLuck! 

I go to the dollar tree and fill a bag up with lots of little goodies, which I give my three yr old daughter when she completes a "homework page". It has worked with me on learning and potty training, and she cannot wait to see which surprise she gets. She can read and write already thanks to this method. Not all children are the same, but it is a suggestion.

She also loves the leapster 2 and the Vtech reader, which have interactive games centered around learning. 

starfall.com is a great website if he likes to play computer games 

My kids love jumpstart.com too. 

THANK YOU ALL for all the info!!!! :) :) :) :) 

Im taking this phonics class for my degree and one suggestion this dvd I have gave was to cover your kitchen take in shaving cream and let the kids write in it. They can "erase" and rewrite and eventually it will evaporate. Another one was using bread dough and letting them make and bake letters. These might get him more interested. 

My son just turned 3 and can identify most letters and knows 1-10. We got him a leapfrog explorer so that he can trace letters and learn other skills and he's doing a really good job. You should look into it and see if he likes it. 

And he might see it more as a game and want to play it :) 

Flash cards seem to work great with my 2 and a half year old. That, and I open up a big drawing pad, write each individual letter, say it aloud, and he repeats what I say. Then I make a huge deal out of it when he says the letter correct (just get all excited, congratulate him, etc). After just a short couple weeks of doing this he has caught on and now knows every letter (capital, anyways. haven't started the lowercase).