Alphabet activities
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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Sensory tubs are great for all sorts of learning and you don’t need fancy things to get your kids interested … but it’s so fun to give them a theme! This one is a great one for preschoolers who want to do a little more than scoop and pour. It’s easy enough to simplify using plain rice or beans , only the larger letters and adding cups to fill and spill! Do not feel like you have to be directing your kids while they play with sensory tubs, some kids need it but most do not, just let them play. If they are older and looking for a game to play with it follow our instructions for the letter hunt .
- Gather your materials. For this sensory tub we used a handful of magnetic letters, some huge floor puzzle letters,small foam letters, small letter beads, plain white beans a plastic dish tub , alphabet pasta. If you want to do the letter hunt game, you will also need an ice cube tray and some tongs.
- Start by putting the beans in the tub .
- Next the pasta.
- Now add the letter beads – my son was playing outside and came in to help.
- Next the foam, magnets and jumbo puzzle pieces.
- If you are doing a letter hunt place some letters in your ice tray for your child to find.
- Go for it!
- Found it!
- This was such a big hit that he pulled it back out later that evening.
More Fun with Letters
It’s the process not the product right? Well it definitely was when we made these alphabet cookies. I swore I had cookie cutters but alas when I went to look for them they were MIA so we molded letters instead. The activity was a huge hit and a fun special treat. My son laughed with me when we checked on the cookies and they were unrecognizable. THey were still tasty and we still had fun with letters, so I say it was a success!
- Gather your materials. You will need some cookie dough, a cutting board, knife and pan.
- Start by portioning out the cookie size for your child. Since I was using premade dough I just sliced it.
- Start creating.
- I got my son into making letters by making some and asking him to guess what they were then he made a few of his own.
- We also made extra long ones that my son used the knife to cut to size. He loved this.
- Pop them on a tray.
- Bake – check on them and laugh hysterically – obviously less dough should have been used.
- Luckily the O ( my son’s initial) was still an O after I poked the middle a little and he enjoyed it at snack time!
Have fun with your creative time, take failures in stride and remember it’s the process not the product!
My son loves glue and I fell in love with this post over at Play Activities - yesterday while trying to keep my sanity with a newborn who wouldn’t sleep and a 3 year old who only wanted to play soccer… in the living room, I busted it out. Simple, fun and you can let it dry and use the sheets again. My son really loved it ( thank goodness), oh and it works their fine motor and hand eye coordination too!
- Gather your materials. You will need some paper ( heavy is better so the glue won’t seep through if they use a little too much), a marker and glue.
- Start by writing letters , making shapes , numbers or even just designs.
- Hand them the glue and have them trace.
- If it’s too tricky grab some new paper and make the letters larger.
- Let dry and trace and feel them with your fingers!
