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February 26, 2013 | 25 Comments

Alphabet Activity – Pretend Play With Letters

This was a rainy Sunday alphabet activity for preschoolers thrown together with an old favorite pretend  play prop. It’s a great alphabet activity focused on pretend play and part of our Alphabet For Starters series.  My son and I made this mailbox years ago, and it had been a while since I’d dug it out of my son’s closet to play.  We added in some envelopes and letters and got down to the serious business of play!

alphabet activity for preschoolers

This alphabet activity for preschoolers can work at home or at preschool. I’d use this as a free choice activity inviting students to create the mail first then set up a post office after. For more great alphabet activities check out this post! 

  1. Gather your materials. You will need a super cool mailbox like this one we made from a box, some envelopes, small squares of paper, markers, plain labels, and a bag or purse to use as a mailbag.alphabet mail
  2. Start by having your child write some letters.alphabet mail 2
  3. While they do that write out the envelopes with upper and lowercase letters.alphabet mail 3
  4. Fill them with the letters your child writes. I filled a few with other letters as well. alphabet mail 5
  5. Next add stamps. Ours were added haphazardly after my daughter demanded we find some. I just wrote STAMP on some plain labels.alphabet mail 6
  6. Pop them on the envelopes.alphabet mail 7
  7. Time to play.alphabet mail 9 We put each letter in the mailbox stopping to read each envelope as we did. alphabet mail 10
  8. When we were done, she lifted the box, and the play turned into receiving mail. alphabet mail 11
  9. She loved opening them. alphabet mail 13Some were filled with the letters she wrote, and some had more letters of the alphabet on them. Label what they open as they do. As we played, some of the letters were pretend invites to parties, others were letters from grandparents, and one was a bill that cracked me up. alphabet mail 12

Alphabet Books for Preschoolers

50 alphabet books

Find our 50 favorite alphabet books for kids in this big round-up of books. Do you have a favorite?

 

Everyday Preschool – Over 170 simple learning ideas!

If you want more ideas like this alphabet activity for preschoolers that are simple and effective, buy my book Everyday Preschool on Amazon. 

Filed Under: Age Preschool, Age: Toddlers, Alphabet activities, Alphabet For Starters, Letter Recognition, Letter Stamp Activities, Letters & Numbers, Mail Sorting, Mailbox, Post Office, Pretend Play | 25 Comments

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25 Comments

  1. Anna says

    February 26, 2013 at 4:22 am

    You are truly the master of creating simple activities that make learning fun for the littlest ones. Thanks for another great idea!

    to Anna" aria-label='reply to this comment to Anna'>reply to this comment
  2. Carole Haché says

    February 26, 2013 at 5:11 am

    Thank you so much for the wonderful activities!!! Just loving it !!!

    to Carole Haché" aria-label='reply to this comment to Carole Haché'>reply to this comment
  3. Julie says

    February 26, 2013 at 7:12 am

    So many fine motor and cognitive skills to be worked on in this activity!!! Love it!

    to Julie" aria-label='reply to this comment to Julie'>reply to this comment
  4. Jamie says

    February 26, 2013 at 8:17 am

    This is a great idea! My son has learned his uppercase letters but needs help recognizing lowercase letters. I think this will be a great idea- to match the lowercase letters into the uppercase envelopes then into the mailbox. Maybe even have him practice writing the uppercase letter on the envelopes. So many ways to expand this idea. Thank you!

    to Jamie" aria-label='reply to this comment to Jamie'>reply to this comment
  5. Jessica @ Play Trains! says

    February 26, 2013 at 10:51 pm

    We love playing Mail. The letters on the envelopes are a great idea! We’ll have to add that in.

    to Jessica @ Play Trains!" aria-label='reply to this comment to Jessica @ Play Trains!'>reply to this comment
  6. Malia {Playdough to Plato} says

    February 27, 2013 at 3:47 pm

    I LOVE this idea! Sharing on Playdough to Plato’s FB page Friday.

    to Malia {Playdough to Plato}" aria-label='reply to this comment to Malia {Playdough to Plato}'>reply to this comment
  7. Catherine@Momma's Fun World says

    February 27, 2013 at 9:41 pm

    What an awesome idea!! I love this. Pinned and sharing on FB. Can’t wait to do this with my 2 kids. They will love this. Thanks 🙂

    to Catherine@Momma's Fun World" aria-label='reply to this comment to Catherine@Momma's Fun World'>reply to this comment
  8. Joanna says

    February 28, 2013 at 9:30 pm

    I love this idea, I am going to use it when we are talking about occupations. I also do similar activity, where I have three boxes like that but they have letter on them. Children have to run with their envelop, which also has a letter on it, to the correct mail box.

    to Joanna" aria-label='reply to this comment to Joanna'>reply to this comment
    • admin says

      March 2, 2013 at 11:21 pm

      We love that – we did that here https://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2010/09/post-office-letter-sorting.html

      to admin" aria-label='reply to this comment to admin'>reply to this comment
  9. Dori says

    February 16, 2014 at 12:43 pm

    I cut the stamps off mail we receive and recycle them by having the kids use glue sticks to put them on their “mail” I also recycle the envelopes that come in some of the mail and have the kids use those.They love writing mail to their friends in class as well as to other family members!

    to Dori" aria-label='reply to this comment to Dori'>reply to this comment
    • Shannon Arney says

      September 28, 2016 at 8:26 pm

      I love this idea!

      to Shannon Arney" aria-label='reply to this comment to Shannon Arney'>reply to this comment
  10. Claudia says

    April 25, 2014 at 3:03 am

    Freebie stickers (that can come in donation and membership request mailings sent from animal, nature or other organizations) make colorful “stamps” for Mail Activities. Ask friends or family to save free stickers … before you know it, you’ll have a bunch to use. Kids also love to “sort” and “deliver” the envelopes and postcards (that were deposited into the pretend mail box) to cubbies or bins. Delivery can even take place using a shoulder, shopping-style bag! With explanation and depending on age/ability, the “stamps” can be “cancelled” before delivering takes place, too. Thank you notes or drawn postcards are other discussion topics and possible activity in this category.
    Allison, I just discovered your wonderful website today and I l-o-v-e it. Really nice work … great activity ideas and book info! Kudos.

    to Claudia" aria-label='reply to this comment to Claudia'>reply to this comment
  11. Emily @ Kids Toys Go says

    February 27, 2016 at 11:10 am

    Very nice idea! Wonderful alphabet activity. Love it. Let’s try it. 🙂

    to Emily @ Kids Toys Go" aria-label='reply to this comment to Emily @ Kids Toys Go'>reply to this comment
  12. Shannon Arney says

    September 28, 2016 at 8:31 pm

    We did this last week and my kids LOVED it. We did capital letters on the envelopes and lower case on the cards. They matched up, wrote a little note and mailed. Such a great idea. Thank you!

    to Shannon Arney" aria-label='reply to this comment to Shannon Arney'>reply to this comment
  13. Hajera says

    September 8, 2017 at 10:44 pm

    Letter mailing activity is really cool! I hope my students would love to do this activity. Thank you very much for sharing.

    to Hajera" aria-label='reply to this comment to Hajera'>reply to this comment

Trackbacks

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    March 8, 2013 at 9:42 pm

    […] also had hours of fun with this alphabet mail play idea from notimeforflashcards.com. My daughter loved making “letters” to stuff into each […]

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