Learning letters activities preschoolers

26 Easy, Fun Alphabet Activities That Give Kids the Practice They Need

Alphabet activities make learning your ABCs more fun. There are so many ways to practice your ABCs, you might be able to do one alphabet activity a day for a year without repeating. We’ve gathered over 25 super fun alphabet activities so kids can play and learn every day.

1. Write letters on dried beans

Large dried white beans are inexpensive to purchase and easy to write on. Grab a sharpie and write all the upper and lower case letters on them. Then put each set in a pile (or baggie) and ask your kids to match them.

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2. Letter sort with sticky notes

Write individual letters on sticky notes and then place them all over your house or just on every stair in a staircase. This practice game has a lot of variations—all tied to sorting. Ask kids to sort by:

• lowercase
• uppercase
• letters in their name
• straight lines (H)
• curved lines (c)
• both curved and straight lines (B)
• consonants
• vowels

For even more practice: have them sort their finds into ABC order, match lowercase letters to uppercase letters, and then, find a way to sort them that’s new.

3. Write letters in shaving cream

Squirt shaving cream on a table and let your kids write letters in the cream. Smoothe it out to erase and start again. Bonus: their hands and your table will be cleaner than ever!

Source: Rose and Rex

4. Bend letters with pipe cleaners

Pipe cleaners have always been a trusted source of good fine motor practice as well as a fun craft resource. Now use them to have kids create uppercase and lower case letters.

Learn more: make and takes

5. Make sensory ABC bags

This one is great because you can change up what you put in here and even move to sight words. You’ll need a gallon bag with a ziplock top. Add letters written on pieces of paper, magnetic letters, scrabble tiles, or anything else you can think of with letters. Then fill the bag with rice or oatmeal and seal it. Kids dig through the rice through the bag to find the letters. When they find them, they write down the letter they find until they locate all 26 letters of the alphabet.

For more sensory ideas: Little Bins Little Hands

6. Find invisible letters with watercolors

This is a classic. Using a white crayon, draw letters on a piece of white paper. Give your kids watercolor, let them paint the paper, and watch the letters appear.

Learn more: Gift of Curiosity

7. Play musical alphabet

Set up letters in a big circle on the floor. You can use magnetic letters or just write them on index cards. Put music on and have your child walk around the circle to the music. When the music goes off, your child tells you the closest letter. Expand on it: ask your child to name three things (colors, animals, etc) that start with that letter.

8. Sponge the alphabet

Cut sponges into letters and use them for sponge painting letters or playing in the tub.

Learn more: Learning 4 Kids

9. Put together name puzzles

Write the upper and lower case letters in a name and then cut them apart in a simple zigzag. Mix up the letters and ask a child to match them up and put them in the right order.

10. Make letters from nature

Find the alphabet right outside. Choose natural objects that already look like letters, or arrange them to look like them.

To learn more: Right Brained Mom

11. Eat your ABCs

We know from Alphabet Soup that eating your ABCs is plain old fun. So think of all the ways you can practice the alphabet at mealtime. Pancakes can be made into letters, jello can be cut into letters, and noodles can be used to make letters (just to name a few).

Learn more: Parent Map

12. Go on an alphabet scavenger hunt

The fun part about this for grown-ups is that there is no prep. Tell kids to go find objects that start with each letter of the alphabet. To make this game take longer, designate spots for them to bring each item back—one at a time. Every item must be approved before they can move on to the next. This allows for fewer meltdowns at the end when an item is deemed inaccurate.

13. Make your own ABC book

Personalizing the ABCs helps kids process and retain their learning. One of our favorite alphabet activities starts by creating a book out of 26 pieces of paper and staples or hole punches and a ribbon. Have kids write an uppercase and lowercase letter on each page. Finally, have them draw or cut out pictures of things that start with each letter. Voila!

Learn more: Teach Mama

14. Create ABC popup books

Use the following tutorial video to learn how to make different kinds of pop up pages. Then, create a page per week for 26 weeks for each letter. At the end, use a glue stick to glue them all together to make an ABC popup book!

15. Stamp letters in playdough

Roll out playdough and push letter stamps right into the dough. This is both tactile and great for practicing ABCs.

Learn more: I can teach my child

16. Make tactile letter cards

There’s lots of research (and experience) to support the value of using all the senses to learn. Making these tactile alphabet cards will be fun and have lasting benefits.

Learn more: All About Learning

17. Trace letters in spices

This one combines touch, smell, and sight. It gives you an opportunity to talk about what we uses spices for as well. Put the bottle in front of a child and have them write the spice name in the spice to make things a bit more challenging.

Source: Frog in a Pocket

18. Study a letter of the week

Many PreK and Kindergarten classes do a letter of the week, and for good reason. Teachers all share that instant recognition of letters and practice writing them is so important for learning to read. Doing alphabet activities for one letter each week reinforces knowledge and recollection.

For weekly activities: Preschool Mom

19. Do the yoga alphabet

Show kids this video and take the time to learn each yoga pose. Connecting the mind and the body is great for learning.

20. Sing songs about the alphabet

Everyone loves to sing the alphabet song, but did you know there are lots of other songs to sing that can help you remember the alphabet? Try out this Sesame Street favorite:

21. Draw pictures from letters

Using letters as a starting point, teach kids how to draw. If this is too difficult at first, just write a letter and then draw a picture around the letter.

Learn more: Felt Magnet

22. Highlight letters on a page

Print a page of text or grab your favorite magazine and a highlighter. Ask kids to highlight as many of one letter as they can find. This is also great for sight word recognition.

Here’s a freebie from The Inspired Apple to get you started.

23. Do-A-Dot letter tracing

These dot markers make tracing letters more fun and help kids with directionality and remembering how to write and recognize letters.

Free Dot tracing sheets: DTLK’s Educational Activities for Kids

24.

Make 2 sets of index cards with all the letters on them (52 cards in all). Shuffle the cards together and deal them so each kid holds 26 cards. Together each player takes their top card and turns it upright. The player with the letter closest to A wins the hand and takes the card. If two of the same letter are played, the players slap the card. The one on the bottom of the slip wins the hand. The game ends when one player holds all the cards.

25. Match plastic Easter egg letters

Surely you have some plastic Easter eggs hanging around your attic. Use a Sharpie or letter stickers to put an uppercase letter on one half and a lowercase letter on the other. Then separate the two and throw them all in a basket. Kids pull them out and match them up. Tip: Add difficulty by not coordinating the colors.

Learn more: Crystal and Co.

26. Create loose part letters

What are loose parts? Loose parts are exactly what they sound like—a collection of loose materials or objects. These can be small pebbles, bottle caps, random LEGO bricks, seeds, keys, anything. Draw big letters on a piece of paper and have kids line up loose parts to make the letter.

Recognizing letters is a fundamental part of learning how to read. Without it, children struggle to learn letter sounds and identify words. Beginning readers who know their alphabet have a much easier time learning to read. Making alphabet practice a part of every day in fun ways helps create a lifelong love for letters and words.

What games and activities do you like to use for practicing the alphabet?

Plus, our favorite activities using alphabet beads and the best alphabet books.

9 Fun Activities That will Help Your Kids Learn the Alphabet

Add variety to your alphabet instruction with these 9 fun alphabet activities for preschoolers. You can even download a sampler of letter A printables to try them out today.

Are you looking for some fun ways to teach the alphabet to your kids?

During the summer I avoided the steamy 100+ temperature by sitting inside reading No More Teaching a Letter a Week by Rebecca McKay and William H. Teale.  Under the cool vent of the AC, I was struck by how many times the authors mentioned that kids benefit from varied and repeated exposure and practice with the alphabet.

I know that I like a little variety when I learn.  How about you?

There is no need for you to search all over Pinterest for a bunch of activities that will interest your kids as they learn the alphabet.

Today, I’m excited to tell you about the 9 different letter activities that are included in my Super Alphabet Bundle.  The wide variety of activities are great for in the classroom or for parents to do at home.

They will give you the opportunity to work on alphabet knowledge in many different ways with your kids.

Plus,  you can even sample the printable activities.

How to teach the alphabet

Learning the alphabet involves much more than reciting the ABC song. Kids learn the alphabet when they

• learn letter recognition
• learn letter sounds
• learn to form letters

Kids can learn the alphabet through name activities, by reading books, through playful multi-sensory alphabet activities.

There are MANY ways to help kids learn letters, and it’s best to provide a variety of activities.

Let me show you 9 printables to help kids learn the alphabet.

1. Dot Alphabet Activities

The first activity that I want to share is alphabet dot pages.  These printable alphabet dot letters can be used to work on letter recognition, letter formation, and letter-sound knowledge.

Kids can trace the letters with their fingers to learn to recognize the unique features of each individual letter.  I love that this activity can also be a great fine motor exercise.  Kids enjoy placing stickers, loose parts, or sticky fingerprints in each circle of the letters.

To get tons of ideas for using the pages, check out this article about alphabet dot letters

2. An Alphabet Word Wall

Next, you can create a print-rich environment in your classroom with word wall cards.  The alphabet header cards in this word wall set are large, square cards with a simple border and large letters so that kids can focus on what is important…the letters.   Each word card contains a word in a large, clear, simple font along with a simple illustration…..again clear and simple.

You can also create name cards or custom cards for your word wall.  Kids love seeing some environmental print cards up there too.

Because of the trademarked logos, I can’t add environmental print cards to the printable set.

But….let me share a secret…..

You can make them by using a logo image in place of a child’s photograph.  Have fun creating them. Teachers proudly displayed the Ohio State logo on our word walls when we lived in Columbus, Ohio.

In addition to using the set as a word wall, you can use the resource in pocket charts, on word rings in your writing center. You can also use the word cards and alphabet header cards as a sorting activity, for a word scavenger hunt, or as a matching game

3. Start with a Dot – Letter Formation Activities

Giving kids the opportunity to produce letters will help them learn to recognize the letters.   This alphabet tracing activity set includes several different cards to help kids learn to produce letters.

Letter Tracing Cards in a Salt Tray

Finger tracing cards provide a great way to help children learn the differences among the letters.  A starting dot serves as a visual reminder on where to start letter formation.

Kids can finger trace directly on the cards or can use the cards as a reference as they reproduce the letters in a salt tray, on a blank wall, or in the air with their magic finger.

Do you want to know how to put together a salt tray?  Check out this salt tray post for some great ideas to make an exciting salt tray for your kids.

Create Tactile Letter Cards

You can also use the cards to make tactile letter cards.  Kids love feeling the letters and don’t even realize that they are learning as they do it.  Find direction and LOTS of ideas in my article about tactile letters.

Alphabet Tracing Strips

The set also includes 3 sets of alphabet tracing strips so that kids can also practice letter formation with a real-life writing instrument (not a magic finger).

Each set of tracing strips have a different style of tracing font

• yellow
• dotted
• outlined

Some children may find it easier to see their writing on top of the yellow letters, some children may enjoy the challenge of trying to keep their writing within the lines of the outlined letters. Use the style of tracing stripes that are best for your kids.

These are not like old-school letter tracing activities. You know what I mean…the ones with all the arrows and numbers. I do not like those things!

Don’t Distract Me! – Arrows and numbers on tracing letters easily distract me.  I prefer to use a simple green starting dot on my tracing activities. The dot provides a visual clue to help kids know where to begin when forming letters.

4. My Favorite – Editable Alphabet Activity Sheets

These editable pages provide endless letter activities for your kids.

Practice letter recognition and phonemic awareness in creative and multi-sensory ways. The full set contains lowercase and uppercase editable letter pages, uppercase and lowercase pages without text,  1 full-color editable cover page, and 1 black and white editable cover page.

These letter sheets are my favorite alphabet activity because there are so many ways to use them.

• Create an alphabet book by binding a cover together with ABC pages.
• Make a tactile alphabet book and let kids finger trace the letters.
• Make alphabet pages featuring your kids’ names.
• Create a class name book.
• Use the sheets, along with small manipulative or toys, as play mats or play dough mats.
• Create letter activities or art/craft projects with the letter sheets.
• Use the sheets without text as coloring pages or take-home pages.

If you want to use materials that coordinate with each letter of the alphabet, check out this article for a HUGE list of material ideas for your letter activities.

5.

If you are looking for an easy printable that provides multi-sensory opportunities to practice letter recognition, letter formation, and letter-sound association …all on one page…this alphabet activity mat is it.  The full set contains 26 full-color alphabet mats and 26 black and white alphabet mats.

Each alphabet mat contains five sections.

1. Alphabet Square – Children can finger trace the large letters or they can place a coil of play dough, wikki stix, or small objects on top of the letter. They can also color the letters.
2. Uppercase Alphabet Line– Encourage kids to search for and circle the focus letter among the other letters in the alphabet.
3. Beginning Sound Examples– Review the objects pictured with your kids.  Name the objects and listen for the beginning sound.   Practice the sound associated with the letter.  Kids can also search for the letter in each word, and/or circle the letter in each word. Kids can color the pictures on the black and white version.
4. Letter Formation Practice– Here is an opportunity to trace letters and write letters on the lines.
5. Lowercase Alphabet Line- Finally, kids can search for and circle the focus letter among the other lowercase letters in the alphabet.

6. Alphabet Letter Books That Assemble in a Snap

My little alphabet letter books are simple, uncluttered, and are a great way to help kids understand print.  The simple, predictable text and pictures are easy for kids to read aloud.  Your kids will have the opportunity to practice letter recognition and phonological awareness.

Print the full-page book and use it in the class library and print off the little books for a literacy activity that you can send home with your kids.

Each little book contains a cover, 2-3 picture pages, and a letter tracing page.

• Kids can finger trace, color or use rainbow writing on the large letters on the cover of each book.
• There is simple predictable text on each picture page.
• Kids can read the sentence on the picture pages, circle the letter within the sentence, and color the pictures.
• The letter formation page provides young children an opportunity to trace and write both capital and lowercase letters. A simple starting dot is a great way to help kids learn letter formation without other distractions.

Busy teachers appreciate that the little books are easy to assemble.  Check out this video to see how easy it is to assemble four books in a snap.

Because so many people started teaching preschool at home during the pandemic, I updated the to include an option where you won’t end up with 4 copies of the same book.

7.

Get out the q-tips and learn letters and work on fine motor control with these fun cards.  Your kids will learn to recognize letters and proper letter formation (note that the starting point is highlighted) with this fun activity.  Check out this article about learning letters with fine motor activities to get more activity ideas.

8. Sorting Words by Beginning Letter and Sound

This ABC picture sort activity gives children the opportunity to practice phonemic awareness skills. The beginning sound sorting activity includes a complete set of uppercase and lowercase letter boards as well as 52 picture cards (2 for each letter of the alphabet).

You can assemble the cards so that they have the name of the pictured object written on the backside.

Ideas for sorting activities and small group games are included.

9. Alphabet Coloring & Activity Pages with a Secret

Finally, these coloring and activity pages will provide children the opportunity to practice letter recognition, letter-sound association, and letter formation. I designed the pages (like many of the activities) in a simple manner so that young kids will not be overwhelmed. The pages are no-prep….just print, copy, and go!

Flexible Options!  These activity pages come in half sheet and full sheet sizes. There are two pages for the letter “X” (one with x as a beginning letter and one with x as an ending letter) There is one page for all other letters. Use the pages individually or bind them into an alphabet activity book. Laminate the pages to use them over and over again in a writing center.

Kids can perform the following activities on each page. Don’t forget to find the hidden letters!

• Color or finger trace large letters.
• Reinforce letter-sound awareness as they “read” and color pictures for each letter.
• Trace uppercase and lowercase letters.
• Print uppercase and lowercase letters.
• PLUS Search for 6 small letters hidden on each page

Sample These 9 Activities Today!

How’s that for a variety of alphabet activities for preschoolers?

You can purchase all 9 of the activities described above individually, or you can purchase them together in a money-saving bundle.   Do you want to try them out before purchasing?  Download the free sample of the letter A printables today.  The ABC sampler includes all of the activities above for the letter A.  To download the activity sample, click on the link below:

Free Alphabet Activity Sample

Purchase the Alphabet Activity Bundle

Click on the image below to purchase the complete alphabet bundle:

How to teach a child the alphabet. Interesting techniques and tips

How to teach a child the alphabet as early as possible? How to get a child interested in learning? What teaching aids are better: primers, alphabet, cards with letters, games? What if the child does not want to learn letters? And many other questions about teaching a child the letters of the Russian alphabet were told by the teacher of the children's development center. Parents are looking for newfangled methods, trying to figure out how to teach their child letters successfully and quickly, however, this does not always lead to the expected effect. In order for the process of teaching children the alphabet to go smoothly, you need to take into account the following points related to their psychology and physiology - the age at which it is better to start learning and the characteristics of children's thinking. When is it better to start learning the alphabet The physiology of young children is such that it is difficult for them to concentrate on one lesson for more than 10-15 minutes. Therefore, at the age of 1-2 years, it makes no sense to engage in a targeted study of the alphabet, in the form in which it is necessary for further learning to read. Moreover, by trying to force the baby to remember the letters by force, you risk causing him a negative reaction to the process of learning the alphabet, thereby turning him away from further studies. Remember that it is impossible to force children to learn the alphabet, it is desirable to interest them in this, then they will react favorably to the classes.

It is also important to understand that there are no clear age limits within which a child should start learning the alphabet. For some children, this will go away “with a bang” already at the age of 2 years, for others, even at 3 years old, memorizing the alphabet will be difficult. You can start learning letters if the child:
1) easily concentrates during developmental activities;
2) has a good visual memory;
3) loves to have books read to him, likes to look at them on his own. Start learning letters with your child, for starters, exclusively in a playful way. Benefits in the study of the alphabet Of course, the main assistants in this difficult but interesting business will be the primer and the alphabet.

Exploring how these manuals differ.
1) A primer is a textbook that not only depicts letters, but also outlines methods for teaching reading, but also contains recommendations for parents on how to better learn the alphabet and conduct classes.
2) ABC is a series of manuals representing the letters of the alphabet in any variant. These can be cubes with images of letters, cards, lotto, stickers, various kinds of puzzles, sets of letters on magnets.
3) Standing apart in this series are poetic alphabets - when a letter, its sound or image is played out in poetic form. The most pleasant for the perception of young children are the poetic collections of S.Ya. Marshak and A. A. Usachev. Methods There are several popular methods on how to learn the letters of the Russian alphabet correctly, each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. Let's look at them in more detail. The method of memorizing letters by images The essence of the method: One of the popular methods that many parents prefer is teaching the alphabet as follows: the child is invited to learn and remember a letter, fixing its perception with an image of an object that begins with this letter. Example: "A" in most cases suggests a watermelon drawn next to it, "D" - a house, "P" - a fish, and so on. This is not entirely correct, and here's why. Cons: Parents often complain that as a result, the child remembers not the pronunciation of a single letter, but the entire visual chain - that is, his “A” is a watermelon. And at
Further, when asked to show “A”, the child points to a watermelon, and when you ask him what letter it is, he answers - “watermelon”. Tip: Therefore, professional educators recommend using such alphabets or cards, only at the initial stage - at the age of 2-3 years, in order to interest children in learning the alphabet itself.

Bakhtina's interesting method Recently, the method of E. Bakhtina, a teacher and author of the primer of the same name, has become very popular in teaching children the alphabet and reading. The essence of the technique: E. Bakhtina suggests learning the alphabet in the following way: to assign to each letter its specific image, the association that the baby will have when he sees it. So, for example, “A” may be associated in a child with the sound that small children make when they still can’t speak. E. Bakhtina suggests taking advantage of the fact that the outlines of many letters can be supported by an analogy with images of objects already familiar to the baby. Example: A hippopotamus with a big belly, very similar to the image "B", "U" is very reminiscent of a snail carrying a house on its back, and "E" and "Yo" differ from each other in that "E" has "eyes" closed and they are not visible, but for "Yo" they are open.
Disadvantages: It must be said that the study of letters using this method requires a sufficiently developed associative thinking, and this is not necessarily characteristic of every child. Pros: E. Bakhtina is popular, since the process of learning the alphabet is set out in it clearly and consistently, which allows it to be used not only by professional teachers, but also by parents on their own.

Basic recommendations for learning letters according to the classical method In order to better understand how to teach a child letters, you can use the following recommendations:
1) Make cards with the image of all the letters of the alphabet, it is desirable that the cards show nothing more than the letter itself, while it should be bright and colorful, on a light background. Attach cards as you study over the child's work table, or on the wall of his playroom, thus training his visual memory.
2) It will be easier to learn the simplest vowels "A", "O", "U", "I" at the initial stage, so start learning with them. Pronounce them correctly, as if "singing". In the future, this will greatly help when you teach the child to compose syllables.
3) It is necessary to teach the child not to pronounce the name of the letter - “EM”, “ES”, “ZHE”, but its pronunciation, the sound “MMMM”, “SS”, “LJ”.
4) Start studying consonants with "B", "P", "M", "N", "T", "G", "K". Pinching consonants "H", "Shch", "Shch" are best learned last, especially if their pronunciation causes difficulties for the baby.
5) Don't rush! If your child has trouble remembering certain letters, take a break. Come back to them after a while.
6) We study letters not only when you study at home, but also on the street, while walking. Invite the young student to recognize already familiar letters on signs, in store names. Learning letters with pleasure Classes for teaching young children something should be done with pleasure, in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. Try to diversify the study of the alphabet by reading poetic alphabets, guessing riddles, memorizing rhymes and tongue twisters. Do not rush to teach the baby to write, for a start it is necessary that he successfully memorize all the letters, be able to call them quickly and without difficulty, and only after that you can begin to teach the child to write letters. For a full and effective teaching of writing, you will need special aids - copybooks with letters.

Learning letters by playing, games with letters, video

Portal for teachers and parents

It is obvious to everyone that children need to be prepared for school in advance, and therefore almost every first grader, going to school, already knows how to read or at least knows the letters. Education can be safely started from the age of 5, but learning the letters of the alphabet for children of primary preschool age (2-4 years) is not at all necessary due to certain age-related characteristics of the child's psyche.

Contents

Tips for learning letters with preschoolers

Learn letters - games for learning letters

Learn letters - video

There are many methods of teaching reading, but, as you know, the leading activity at preschool age is a game, so we study letters with preschool children in a playful way.

Tips for learning letters with preschoolers

Regardless of the method by which we learn letters while playing, it is necessary to follow certain principles of learning: Instead of the phrase "Let's go, read!" better say: "Let's go play!".

The key to the success of any activity (even at home) is a change in activities. This means that after sitting for a long time in front of the primer, it is advisable to organize a physical education session and move around. Alternate the study of letters with drawing, modeling, designing or other activities.