Get our FREE newsletter packed with learning and play

No Time For Flash Cards

preschool activities, kids crafts, and books.

| 23 Comments

Alphabet For Starters – Magic Letters

abc activities for kids

Crayon resist painting is a classic children’s art project and this is how we turned it into an alphabet activity. Our spin on the classic crayon resist is a fun way to learn letters by magically making them appear when painting the paper. We may know it’s not magic but I dare you to tell a squealing toddler that its not. To them it’s alphabet magic. This is the 6th installment of our Alphabet For Starters series, posts dedicated to introducing and playing with letters for beginners.

  1. Gather your materials, you will need some water colors, water, a paint brush, white paper, white crayons and scissors.
  2. Start by cutting plain paper in half. I found that making them a medium size was just the right size for her to paint and not lose the excitement of discovery.
  3. Write letters in upper or lowercase in white crayon. I went over the lines a few times to make them nice and thick. Do not try to do every letter in one sitting, it will take a fun activity and make it daunting for many kids. Instead have the materials on hand to make more in a jiffy if they are super into it. My daughter kept asking for the letter R so we made a few of those.
  4. Mix the paint. Now The best paint is watery so it beads off the crayon easily. I mixed the paint brush in water color and riced it in the water a few times then used the water as the paint.
  5. I am often asked what my kids do while I prep or if I prep the night before ( you overestimate my competency if that’s what you think) – no I set something out for her to play with like these instruments and then invite her to play when ready.
  6. Time to Paint. She was not sure at first.
  7. “What is it ?” ” A!” alphabet for starters
  8. Let’s do more!
  9. O! She had fun and later while playing in the playroom she sat at the table and re-did the activity with a dry brush and the dried paintings. A sure sign that it was a hit.
Like this post? Share it with a friend!

Become an Email Subscriber

Sign up above and receive all new No Time for Flashcards posts directly in your email inbox.

You may also like these posts

bug craft ideas for toddlers

23 Comments

Trackbacks

  3. […] Two skills children need to master in their journey to independent reading are segmenting and blending sounds. Segmenting is breaking a word apart into individual sounds and blending is very simply the ability to combine the sounds together smoothly. When we tell a child to sound it out , this is really what we are asking them to do.  This activity was designed for my son who is a great reader but who will often read so quickly that if he encounters a word he doesn’t know he simply guesses and continues. If I ask him to sound the word out he will  still often guess and get frustrated at me for asking instead of slowing down and doing it even though he is perfectly capable of doing so.  I had to come up with a playful way that would force him to chill a little, slow it all down and focus on the sounds.  This activity can be adapted for any level even single sounds or sight words. We did a similar one for toddlers exploring letters here. […]

    reply to this comment

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *