Alphabet activities
For about 3 weeks we’ve been writing on our playroom wall, well on paper attached to the wall. Both my kids, friends who have come by and even my husband and I have contributed to this on going mural. My daughter loves to write on vertical surfaces and she is just starting to point out letters in books and other print so I figures we could fill both those needs and create a cooperative project for my son and her as well.
- Gather your materials. You will need some painters tape ( don’t buy the cheap stuff, I did and it’s cheap for a reason), butcher block ( aka craft paper), marker and then the materials to decorate things like crayons, markers, stickers…
- Clear a large wall space, part of the magic of a mural is it’s size so to make a simple project like this super make it big. Hang the paper up.
- Write out the alphabet . I thought I had it spaced well but poor little z got almost no space.
- Add kids. Sometimes I ask her to find a letter and color, often I just put the crayon jar on the floor and watch.
- We added stickers . My son put them on the matching letter, and directed my daughter where to put them too. Stickers are great little fine motor exercises especially peeling them off their original sheets.
- Now every time we are in the playroom ( many times a day) someone adds something.
Not sure how long we will leave it up but for now we are having fun with it. Below is the mural today- check out all the stars on the letter S, it’s my daughter’s favorite word these days!
Alphabet Books
by Denise Fleming is a wonderful example of what an alphabet book should be. Perfect for toddlers and preschoolers learning their first letters, the text is short , the letters are front and center and the illustrations are fun and interesting. My son loves this book, I grabbed it at the library after remembering how much my Pre K class loved it too.Many alphabet books are too long to read entirety at circle time or in one shot with a toddler but this my 19 month old will sit through Z every time. {This review is from when my son was 19 months old in 2008. His love of this book was really a jumping off point for his love of letters in general. I wish I could say I taught him his letters but really reading this one particular book over and over at his request probably did the trick. }
Chicka Chicka ABC
Al Pha’s Bet
It may not technically be fall yet… but fall themed learning has taken over at our house. This Pumpkin Patch Letter Match is such a fun way to dive into a new season of learning and playing with letters. It can me easily adapted to shapes or numbers too. This is a fun circle time activity for a group of children too!
- Gather your materials. You will need craft paper ( or the underside of wrapping paper),painter’s tape, a green marker, a permenant marker, an orange pool noodle , a bread knife and cutting board. I also used a canvas bag to put the pumkins in.
- Cut your pool noodle into 26 “pumpkins”
- Add the lower case letters to the pool noodle pumpkins using a permenant marker. I found all other markers ran too much.
- Put your craft paper on a table or floor and secure it with tape. Draw your pumpkin patch. I made vines, leaves… don’t forget to add your uppercase letters too! Mix them around for a challenge or put them in order. * I obviously did this first, I had to wait for someone to wrangle my little one before I could go downstairs to cut the noodle.
- Time to play.
- Match the lowercase letters on the pumpkin with the uppercase letters on the patch.
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This is an activity that you will have to make for your children to play with. Don’t worry, it is very easy.
You will need a piece of foam board (I got mine from the dollar store), marker, scissors, and a pencil.
Draw lines for your domino pieces. I made mine with four rows going long ways and six columns going short ways. I used a piece of scrap I had for the missing two letters. I didn’t measure them out exactly, but this is where type A’s could really have fun.
Use your scissors, craft knife, or steak knife and cut out your pieces.
This is where I drew a line across the middle as a divider. I drew mine in pencil because I always mess up.
Write upper and lower case letters on each side. I drew mine in the same direction to make it easier for my children to look at the dominoes and decide which ones matched up. I didn’t want any upside down.
This is a very good time to pay attention to which letters you write next to each other on the same piece. You want your children to be able to match the letters throughout the alphabet. I just did them in order starting with an upper case Z on top and a lower case a on the bottom of the first. The second domino had an upper case A with a lower case b. And so on.
Now throw the dominoes on the floor and start playing an matching up!
You can alter these with site words and pictures, dots and numbers, or anything you would like some hands on learning and matching. The possibilities really are endless. What are you going to write on yours?
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Kim is a contributing writer for No Time For Flash Cards, a mom to a toddler, a preschooler, and a foster parent, too. She juggles her day by trying out fun activities and crafts with the kids. After all, she is just a big kid herself. See what she has been up to over at Mom Tried It.
When my son started eating solids I made all his food… you can guess that is not the case with my daughter as I have this many baby food jar lids waiting to be made into something. I am just happy we made something useful and fun with them since they can’t be recycled like the jars can. This took me 5 minutes to make and $1 for the foam letter stickers. Frugal, Educational, Earth Friendly-ish ( foam letters are probably not eh?) and fun! Oh and super simple for the uncrafty or crazy busy .Oh and if your child is not ready for letters yet do colors, if they are way past letters try sight words. This idea can be adapted to any ability.
- Gather your materials. You will need some foam letter stickers and many jar lids (or milk jug caps would work too). You may want to do the whole alphabet but I didn’t bother letters work in all different combinations and you don’t need the whole alphabet each time you do activities with letters. You may also want a wet cloth to wipe any lids that didn’t get washed as well as you’d hoped.
- Peel and stick letters into the insides of the lids.
- Add them for each lid.
- Play.
For beginners play with the letters facing up saying only “Can you find…” giving hints using the color and what letters it’s next to.
- For more experienced kids play face down. My 4.5 year old needed more help than I thought he would, not naming the letters but understanding he needed to remember where letters were. He also had a hard time flipping the lids with Grandma’s gloves Batman gloves on.
- Yay a match!
Alphabet Books
Quilt Alphabet
A Was an Apple Pie 
“A” Was Once An Apple Pie
Young children need plenty of opportunities recognizing and forming letters before they can become proficient at writing them. Since the fine motor dexterity to form letters on paper sometimes doesn’t come until late in the preschool years, creativity is key! When an activity blends multiple domains of early childhood development, this helps to engage your child even more. Here are just a few ideas for teaching letter recognition and letter formation in a fun and engaging way!
Attach several pieces of ribbon or yarn to one end of a
What fun ways do you and your child practice forming letters?
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