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Letter a activity for toddlers


15 SIMPLE Letter A Activities (2023)

Are you looking for activities to practice the letter A?

I have 15 engaging activities that will help your child learn about the letter A! These activities are perfect to use in the classroom, or you can do them right at home! These play-based learning strategies will have your kids hooked on each activity!

Giving your student or child the opportunity to learn one letter at a time will help them remember each letter. By doing these fun activities, your child will create memories of each letter!

Let’s dive into my exciting activities to learn the letter A!

Activity #1: Letter Collages

Letter collages are a great way to practice letter recognition! Focusing on one specific letter and creating something special will help them recognize and remember the letter.

For the letter A, we did apple printing!

Apple printing is fun for kids to experiment with since it’s a different way to create art! I picked apple printing since apples start with the letter A.

How to do this activity:

1. Materials you need:

  • cardstock paper
  • apples
  • washable paint (red, green, and yellow)
  • art tray
  • knife

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2. Set-up: Cut an apple in half using a knife (make sure you are the one doing this part). Make sure both sides of the apple are smooth. Lastly, print and cut out the letters and paste them to cardstock paper.

3. Activity: Let your little one dip the apples into the washable paint on an art tray. They will make prints with the apples on the letter A.

Focusing on both the upper and lower case letters is crucial for children to know before entering kindergarten. They will be asked about both on the kindergarten readiness assessment.

RELATED: 30 Kindergarten Activities For Kids

Activity #2: Do-A-Dot Letter Search

Who doesn’t love mess-free art?! Do-A-Dot paint markers pretty mess-free as long as your little one doesn’t wipe them all over their hand, wishful thinking, right?!

This printable is a perfect way to let you know if your little one can differentiate letters!

How to do this activity:

1. Materials you need:

  • FREE Do-A-Dot Letters Printables
  • Do-A-Dot markers

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2. Set-up: Print off the pages and get the paint markers ready!

3. Activity: Your little ones with use the paint markers to place a dot on only the letter A. See if they can find all the letter A’s on their own. To extend the learning, have them count how many letter A’s they found on the sheets.

RELATED: Teaching Resources

Activity #3: Letter A Search and Match

My kids are OBSESSED with search and match activities. Honestly, whenever I create a game using this same set-up, even though they have done it so many times, it’s always their favorite.

It’s effortless to set up and takes only a few minutes to prep!

How to do this activity:

1. Materials you need:

  • colored cardstock paper
  • sticky notes
  • markers

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2. Set-up: Draw an upper and lower case letter on cardstock paper. Tape it up on the wall! On post-it’s, write a bunch of upper and lower case letters, then hide them around your house or classroom.

3. Activity: Have your kids search for the post-it notes! Once they find one, have them place it on the matching letter they see on the paper. Once all of them are found, hide them again and repeat!

I wouldn’t be surprised if you do this activity several times through!

RELATED: Alphabet Activities for Preschoolers

Activity #4: Alligator Craft and Feed

A is for alligator! Isn’t this the cutest alligator you ever saw? This was a major hit with both my kids! I had to make several more because they even made up a game with the alligator clothespins!

How cute are these colored clothespins? I use them for so many different activities!

How to do this activity:

1. Materials you need:

  • colored clothespins
  • letter A toys
  • pipe cleaners
  • cardstock
  • hot glue and gun
  • googly eyes
  • white paint stick
  • Q-tips

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2. Set-up: Cut a small strip of green cardstock paper and two small strips of white paper. Hot glue the small strip of green cardstock on top of the clothespin. The white strips should be in a zig-zag pattern to look like teeth. Glue those onto the sides of the clothespin. Then glue the googly eyes on top! I added some red paint on to be the tongue.

3. Activity: Use the alligator craft to do an engaging activity to focus on the letter A! The alligator only wants to eat the letter A. Use letter toys and have the kids pick out a letter. They will use the alligator to eat only the letter A’s!

Activity #5: Letter Fill

Letter fill activities are quickly becoming one of my favorite activities to do with the kids.

They love using loose parts to be able to make the letters look beautiful! I like this process too because there are so many possibilities with the objects you can use!

How to do this activity:

1. Materials you need:

  • cardboard
  • Sharpie
  • glue
  • pom-poms
  • colored rice
  • pipe cleaners
  • stickers

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There could be other materials that you could use, but the list would go on forever!

2. Set-up: On a piece of cardboard paper, draw a bubble letter A with a sharpie. Either you or your little one can squirt glue on the entire letter. This is one circumstance where they can add a bunch of glue and not have a disaster :).

3. Activity: Your child will put the object that you chose all over the letter! So if you chose pom-poms, for example, have them try to cover all the glue lines up with the pom-poms. To extend the learning, count how many items that were placed inside the letter.

Activity #6: Salt Painting

Have you ever tried salt painting? It always turns out SO pretty!

Kids love watching the paint flow throughout the salt. It’s a relaxing way to paint, and the kids will love trying a new way to create art.

How to do this activity:

1. Materials you need:

  • cardboard
  • pencil
  • glue
  • salt
  • watercolors
  • paintbrush
  • art tray

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2. Set-up: On your piece of cardboard, draw the letter A with a pencil. Then, outline the letter in glue. Make sure to place the cardboard on an art tray for the next part! Shake a whole bunch of salt all over the glue the dump the access in the trash.

*You have to let the glue dry before you start painting, or else it will be REALLY messy!*

3. Activity: Have your little ones use the watercolor paints to paint the salt! It looks terrific, too, when you mix different colors throughout the letter.

Activity #7: Secret Letters

Kids love the element of surprise! Who doesn’t? I still do!

Secret letter activities are really engaging for kids because they can’t see the letters on the paper, so when they paint over the piece of paper, they will see letters magically pop up!

How to do this activity:

1. Materials you need:

  • white cardstock paper
  • watercolors
  • paintbrush
  • white crayon
  • art tray

2. Set-up: On a white piece of cardstock, use a white crayon to write the letter A all over the paper. You can do upper and lower case or just focus on one.

3. Activity: Your kiddo will use watercolors to paint all over the paper. They will see the letters start to pop up! If you mixed upper and lower case letters, make sure to ask them which kind they found.

When you are all done, ask them how many they found! Also, you can talk about the colors that they used for color recognition.

RELATED: How to Teach your Toddler Colors

Activity #8: Beginning Sounds

Talking about animals or objects that start with the letter A will help bring the letter to life for your little one.

These beginning letter worksheets are a perfect way to show your little one some fun things that start with the letter A!

How to do this activity:

1. Materials you need:

  • CLICK HERE FOR My beginning sounds letter A worksheet (I have letters A-Z available!)
  • crayons

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2. Set-up: Print off the worksheet and grab your crayons!

3. Activity: Go through each of the objects or animals that are inside the letter A. Say the name of each thing and make each object’s beginning sound before saying the whole word. This will help your little one understand the starting sound of each picture they see.

They will color each thing that starts with the letter A! 

I have beginning sound sheets for each letter of the alphabet! Create a booklet to go over each of the sounds that the letters make. This will make for a great resource to use repeatedly.

Activity #9: Alphabet Apple Tree Matching

Dot stickers are one of my favorite supplies! They are so versatile. In this specific activity, they work perfectly as pretend apples!

This is a great activity to learn about the differences between upper and lower case letters.

How to do this activity:

1. Materials you need:

  • cardstock paper
  • toilet paper rolls
  • dot stickers

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2. Set-up: Create the trees by making a tree shape on the cardstock paper. Write an upper case letter on one tree and a lower case letter on the other. Then cut two small slits in the toilet paper roll at the top. Place the cardstock paper inside the slits.

Write a bunch of upper and lower case letters on red, yellow, and green dot stickers!

3. Activity: Have your little ones peel off the dot stickers and place them on the correct tree! Peeling the stickers is a great fine motor activity for kids to practice. The kids can also count many upper and lower case letter dots there are.

RELATED: FUN Fine Motor Activities For Kids

Activity #10: Ripped Letter Craft

Ripped paper crafts are a favorite around here. Kids love the chance to be able to rip paper! They actually get to rip something without getting in trouble!

This is a simple and craft for adults to prep and for kids to do!

How to do this activity:

1. Materials you need:

  • white cardstock paper
  • red, green, and brown construction paper

2. Set-up: Create an upper and lower case letter A on cardstock paper.

3. Activity: Your child will rip construction paper and paste them all around the letters. The goal is to try to cover the entire letter!

Activity #11: Letter Sensory Bin

Rainbow rice is a colorful and exciting sensory filler to play with! Kids love the rice feel, it stays good for months, and the colors are amazing!

Making rainbow rice is really simple, and it takes only about 5 minutes to make it!

How to do this activity:

1. Materials you need:

  • My FREE Rainbow Letter Mats
  • fine motor tools
  • letter A toys (from puzzles, wood letters, or magnetic letters)
  • rice
  • food coloring
  • ziplock bags
  • parchment paper
  • baking sheet

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2. Set-up: Create the rainbow rice and print off the letter A rainbow letter mats.

*How to create rainbow rice*

a.  Dump 1 cup of rice into a ziplock bag.

b. Add in a few drops of food coloring or liquid watercolors.

c. Close the bag and shake it up until it’s covering all the rice

d. On a baking sheet, place parchment paper down and dump the rice onto the paper to dry. Make sure to spread it out to dry quicker.

e. Repeat this process for all the colors you want to do!

3. Activity: Once the rice dries, dump it into a sensory bin! Place all your letter A toys in the bin. You can place them on top or hide them in the rice. Your little ones will use the fine motor tools to search through the rice to find the letters. They will then place them on the correct upper or lower case mat!

RELATED: The BEST Sensory Bins for Kids

Activity #12: Letter Scavenger Hunt

Do you kids like to sit and learn all the time, or do you think they would love to move and learn?

I was a physical education teacher for 10 years, so I know in most cases, kids love movement and want to be active while they learn and not just sit!

How to do this activity:

1. Materials you need:

  • painter’s tape
  • hula hoop
  • letter A objects

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2. Set-up: With painter’s tape, make the letter A on the floor. Then, place a hula hoop over that letter!

3. Activity: Have your little ones go around the house and find objects that start with the letter A. If you have a younger one, place the objects out around the house so it’ll be easier for them to find. If you have an older one, challenge them to search for these objects and figure out which things would start with the letter A.

RELATED: Entertaining Indoor Activities For Kids

Activity #13: Letter Sprinkle Sweep

When are sprinkles not a good idea?

When you mention that sprinkles are involved in a learning activity, I promise your kids are going to come bounding in ready to see what’s going on.

How to do this activity:

1. Materials you need:

  • art tray
  • cardstock paper
  • marker
  • sprinkles

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2. Set-up: On a piece of cardstock paper, write a big bubble letter A. Place a tray underneath the paper to help with the mess.

3. Activity: Dump a bunch of cookie sprinkles onto the tray. Ask your little one to use the paintbrush to “sweep” the sprinkles into the letter. They will use as many sprinkles as they need to to try to fill in as much of the letter as they can!

This is an excellent activity to work on fine motor skills and letter recognition, and pre-writing skills!

RELATED: FUN Handwriting Activities For Kids

Activity #14: LEGO Letters

Got a kiddo who loves to use building with blocks? This activity will be right up their alley!

LEGO’s are an open-ended toy that I absolutely love using for learning activities. The possibilities are endless when it comes to using them!

Building letters is just one way that they can be used! This is a wonderful hands-on learning activity that helps kids understand how each letter shape is formed!

How to do this activity:

1. Materials you need:

  • CLICK HERE FOR My LEGO Letter Building Mats
  • LEGO’s

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2. Set-up: Print off the sheets and grab your LEGO’s

3. Activity: Your child will use the blocks that you have to create the letter A. You can have them use little or DUPLO blocks for this activity. This activity asks them to identify what each letter is they create and how many blocks it took for them to create the letter. If you decide to do more letters than just A, they can see the letters’ differences!

RELATED: The BEST Open-Ended Toys For Kids

Activity #15: Popsicle Stick Letter Building

Building letters with popsicle sticks work on SO many different learning skills.

This specific activity works on letter recognition, counting skills, STEM skills, and pre-writing skills! It’s perfect for school centers or just for home learning!

How to do this activity:

1. Materials you need:

  • CLICK HERE FOR My popsicle stick letter cards
  • popsicle sticks
  • pencil

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2. Set-up: Print off the letter cards and grab the popsicle sticks!

3. Activity: Your kids will use the cards to help them know how to create each letter! Count how many popsicle sticks it takes to create the letters.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Individual letter activities are a fantastic way for kids to really grasp letter recognition of each letter of the alphabet! Doing some of these activities will help your little ones remember each letter of the alphabet.

To go along with these activities, I suggest reviewing the alphabet letters once a day for at least 5 minutes. That’s it! 5 minutes is all it takes if you consistently go over the information with them; you’re going to see how they can pick up the information if repeated daily.

Do you have a favorite activity that you do in your classroom or at home with your kids for the letter A? Our community would love to hear about it! We all benefit from sharing our teaching strategies and activities. Leave a comment below to let us know about some ways you like to teach the letter A.

Happy Learning!

Printable Letter A Crafts and Activities

Are you looking for some printable letter A crafts and activities to go with your alphabet letter of the week preschool curriculum? These letter a crafts were so much fun for my toddler! We like to center our crafts around our printable letter crafts theme.  I have included a printable letter A is for alligator and letter a is for apple in this post, as well as a glimpse of some of the other letter A activities we did. Also, make sure to grab the full free letter a worksheets and activities pack!

Table of Contents

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I was really surprised when I took out this activity for my 2.5-year-old; she could already identify the letter A. We do many toddler activities as well as preschool activities at home and it looks like these arts and crafts ideas are making a big difference! Kids learn so quickly and are honestly like sponges even without any formal teaching.

My intention by doing these letter activities is not to have her know all her letters and have her reading when we are done. My intention is only to expose her to the letters, let her get a little familiar with them and enjoy the activities that we do together. At the end of this, I hope to have an alphabet letter book created by my toddler/preschooler that she can be proud of.

Our First Letter A Crafts Activity: A is for Alligator Printable

My toddler is too young to do this cutting work all by herself so I did the cutting for her and displayed it just like this. I used a Craft Knife and cutting mat which made cutting out the letters quick and easy.

She did the gluing.

Get the Letter A is for Alligator Craft

You can print out the Printable Letter A is for alligator activity here.

You can find more information on the Printable Letter Crafts in this blog post.

Printable Letter A Crafts and Activities #preschool #kids http://bit. ly/2g1zdm1 Click to Tweet

These alphabet crafts are a fun and creative way to explore the uppercase and lowercase letters A-Z. Children will work on letter identification, sound, and their cutting and pasting skills. Each letter craft is presented on one page and both color and black and white versions are provided. These crafts are a reader favorite!

Get the alphabet crafts bundle here: