Preschool letter review activities
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.
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!
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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 puzzlesWrite 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 tracingThese 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. Play letter slap
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.
Alphabet Letter Identification Activities - PreKinders
Here are 15 fun, active, hands-on alphabet letter identification activities for Pre-K, Preschool, and Kindergarten.
You can find many more Alphabet Activities here.
Letter Basketball
This is one of my prekinders favorite letter identification activities every year. To prepare this game, I cut copy paper or newsprint paper in half, and write letters on several pieces. I make enough papers for each child, plus one or two extra. I make a line with masking tape on the floor and place the trash can about 4 feet away. As each child has a turn, I tell them which letter to find. They pick up the letter, crumble the paper into a ball, and stand on the tape to toss it into the trash can. If they miss, they get as many chances as needed to get the “ball” in the basket and can move closer if needed. We always cheer when they make it in the basket! This game could also be played with alphabet bean bags if you have them.
Candy Letter Match
Write pairs of letters on sticker dots and place them on the bottom of several Hershey’s Kisses. For my Pre-K kids, I usually put out about 5-10 pairs of letters at a time. Children take turns lifting two Kisses at a time. If the letters match, they keep those Kisses. If they do not match, they have to put them back. At the end of the game, all of the Kisses are put in the middle of the table, and children can choose about 3 pieces to eat. We use this game to practice matching uppercase to uppercase letters, lowercase to lowercase, or uppercase to lowercase, depending on what we are working on.
Alpha-Band
Label each rhythm instrument with a letter. An easy way to make instruments is to put rice inside a plastic Easter egg, and hot glue it closed. We sing the traditional Alphabet Song, or another alphabet song, such as Dr. Jean’s “The Alphabet’s in My Mouth” or “Who Let the Letters Out”, or Jack Hartmann’s “Animal Alphabet Cheer”. Children shake their letter shakers only when they hear their letter called out in the song.
Letter Hunt
Children choose any 10 letters from the letter manipulatives (use foam letters, magnetic letters, letter tiles or other letter manipulatives). Go through a stack of shuffled letter cards, calling out each letter to the children. As the letters are called out, children look to see if they have that letter, and if they do, the letter is put back in the letter basket. We see who is first to clear all of their letters. It’s very similar to a bingo game. In Pre-K, we play until everyone has cleared all of their letters because our goal is learning letters, not competition with the little ones.
*To teach letter sounds: Call out a word and have children identify the first letter of the word.
ABC Sorting Tray
I found this divided tray in a kitchen store. I labeled each section by writing a letter on a sticker dot and placing the matching foam letters in each section of the tray. I placed the letters in a bowl and children sorted and matched the letters into the sections of the tray.
When I want to change out the letters in the tray, I just remove the sticker dots and add new ones. I usually try to use letters that are similar, so that children are challenged and use visual discrimination skills to find the differences in the letters. For example, I might use Q, O, D, C, and G since those letters are similar in shape, or I, T, J, or W, V, U.
ABC Sorting Box
Label a craft storage box with letter stickers. Children sort letter manipulatives into the sections of the box. These are magnetic letter tiles in the picture.
Letter Matching Uppercase to Uppercase
For this activity, each child chooses a colored letter box. Children work in pairs to match the letters that are the same. These letters came from a set of foam letters that are sadly no longer available from Lakeshore (bring them back, Lakeshore!) However, you could do the same activity by using handmade cards with the letters written in two different colors. You might also consider using paint chips (paint sample cards) in two different colors and making A-Z sets in the two different colors by writing on the cards with a black marker.
Letter Matching Uppercase to Lowercase
Children work in pairs to match the uppercase and lowercase foam or magnetic letters that are the same. You could also use purchased or handmade letter tiles.
Stamping Game
Write about ten letters on a piece of paper for each child. Put the same ten letters in a bowl or bag, and pass it around the table. Each child has a turn to pull a letter out of the bowl or bag, and announce the letter to the group. Children find the letter on their paper and stamp it out with a rubber stamp.
Other ways we play this game:
- I put every letter of the alphabet in the bowl or bag and children determine if the letter is on their paper or not.
- I place small objects in the bowl and children identify the beginning letter (e.g. B for ball).
Alphabet Bingo
Each child looks for the letter the teacher calls out on their bingo card. If they have it, they cover it. Play until a card is full.
Alphabet Soup
Children take turns scooping up a letter from a bowl with a spoon or soup ladle.
The child identifies the letter, and walks around the room searching for the letter somewhere in the classroom.
*To teach letter sounds: Children search for an object in the room that begins with that letter.
Letter Clips
Children squeeze the clothespins and clip them to the sides of the box. I wrote letters on dot stickers and placed the dot stickers around the sides of the boxes. I wrote letters on the clothespins so the children would match the letters on the clothespins to the letters on the boxes. This is similar to activities where children clip clothespins to a paper plate or cardstock circle; however, in my experience, those were flimsy and awkward to use, which is why I like the box better. Any sturdy box could be used (shoe box, postal box). The boxes in this picture were stacking gift boxes that held chocolate covered nuts (a Christmas gift), and they worked out perfectly. (By the way, Sam’s Club has these chocolate covered nuts in the same stacking boxes every year, and they are awesome!)
Memory Game
Place about three letter manipulatives on a tray, cover them with a cloth, and take one away.
When the letters are uncovered, children guess which letter is missing. Children find the letter that is missing among their own set of letter manipulatives. If the children are very interested in writing, they can write the letter that is missing on a dry erase lap board. To increase the difficulty of this game, try using 4 or 5 letters. Another options is to place three letters on the tray, cover them, and ask the children to recall all three letters that were on the tray.
Alphabet Path Games
I made these path games using stickers bought in a craft store (scrapbooking section), and I made individual mats with about 10 letters on them. Each child gets a mat, a game piece, and some plastic chips to cover the letters on their mat. They roll the dice and count out the spaces to move their game piece. If their game piece lands on a letter that is on the mat, they cover that letter with a chip. Play continues until they have covered every letter.
Other ways we use the path games:
- Children identify the letter they land on, then find that letter somewhere in the classroom.
- Children find an object in the classroom that begins with that letter’s sound.
You’ll also like these resources…
Principles of teaching aimed at forming the prerequisites for writing in children of senior preschool age
Author : Sedova Daria Alexandrovna
Supervisor : Skorobogatova Natalya Vladimirovna nine0005
Category : Pedagogy
Posted by in young scientist №42 (332) October 2020
Publication date : 10/17/2020 2020-10-17
nine0003 Article viewed: 84 times
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References:
Sedova, D.
A. Principles of teaching aimed at the formation of prerequisites for writing in children of senior preschool age / D. A. Sedova. - Text: direct // Young scientist. - 2020. - No. 42 (332). - p. 59-60. — URL: https://moluch.ru/archive/332/74241/ (date of access: 01/11/2023).
The article is devoted to the problem of learning principles in the formation of the prerequisites for writing in preschool children. In the article, the author points out the principles that contribute to the formation of graphomotor skills.
Keywords : preschoolers, graphomotor skill, graphic skill, principle nine0042
Graphomotor skills are the final link in the chain of formation of writing prerequisites. Therefore, they play a big role in the entire writing process.
The graphomotor skill includes the established positions and movements of the writing hand, which make it possible to depict written sounds and their combinations.
Writing letters beautifully, legibly, clearly, quickly allows only a properly formed graphic skill. An incorrectly developed graphic skill leads to a number of writing difficulties: careless and illegible handwriting, slow pace. Therefore, we should pay attention to the formation of the prerequisites for writing at the preschool age of the child [2]. nine0005
The formation of the graphic writing skill is based on certain principles of learning: these are general didactic principles and principles arising from the specifics of the formation of graphomotor writing skills. principles such as conscientiousness in learning, accessibility, a gradual transition from simple to more complex, repetition, visibility, taking into account the age and individual characteristics of children, find their specific embodiment in correctional work [1].
- The principle of visibility. It consists in demonstrating the process of writing on the board and in pupils' notebooks [3].
In the classroom, it is possible to use cards with elements of patterns, tables, stencils, etc. The main way in the formation of a graphic skill in preschoolers is to imitate and copy patterns, and check according to a model. nine0060
The formation of habits, techniques and skills in mastering writing should be meaningful in preschool children. So O. S. Popova notes, this means that each element should be explained to children. The conscious assimilation of graphic skills is facilitated by the ability of children to notice and correct their own and other people's mistakes (work in pairs, mutual verification, work according to the model) [5].
- The principle of accessibility. All tasks must be appropriate for the age and individual characteristics of the children. nine0060
- The principle of integration. When working with preschoolers, it is important to combine the main activity with the development of speech, with play activities, and with the development of cognitive processes [6].
- The principle of student-centered learning. When teaching children graphic skills, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of children's vision (far-sighted, near-sighted), take into account the handiness of a preschooler, note deviations in motor skills (trembling of fingers, twitching of a hand while writing, etc.) [4]. Such knowledge of the capabilities of the pupils will allow you to properly organize the work, selecting individual tasks and giving specific recommendations to parents. nine0060
- The principle of repetition. In this principle, it is reasonable to use exercises to develop automation of graphomotor skills. At the same time, the exercises should be effective, conscious and varied. The repetition of patterns and elements is especially important at the first stages of learning a skill, since during the absence of classes, children quite often forget the rules when writing individual elements [6]. Planning the material and teaching graphic skills is mandatory, taking into account the characteristics of children: the level of development of perception, the speed of movements of the anatomical apparatus of movements (hand) and the neuromuscular control of movements from the central nervous system.
nine0060 - The principle of systematicity is to gradually teach children new techniques, exercises that contribute to the development of graphomotor skills, moving from simple to complex, which ensures a uniform accumulation and deepening of knowledge.
- The principle of comfort is an atmosphere of goodwill, faith in the strength of the child, the creation of a situation of success for each child [1].
Thus, forming graphic skills, it is necessary to follow the principles described above. When using them, we develop an educational function in preschoolers. By accustoming preschool children to the accurate and precise execution of patterns and elements, such qualities as accuracy, diligence, conscientious and diligent attitude to the performance of any work are brought up in them. When developing graphomotor skills, you can use exercises such as hatching or graphic dictation. When evaluating the work of preschool children, it is necessary to pay attention to the most accurate, accurate, beautiful and correct.
It is important to carry out these exercises and tasks in a playful way, taking into account the specific learning conditions and individual characteristics of children, including their level of preparation. It must be remembered that work on the formation of the graphic skill of children is effective only if it is purposeful, systematic, and consistent. nine0005
Literature:
- Kashkanova, L. Z. Methods and techniques for correcting writing disorders in students with disabilities [Text] / L. Z. Kashkanova. –// Young scientist. - 2012. - No. 10. - S. 336–339.
- Koprova, T. P. Problems of dysgraphia in psychological and pedagogical literature [Text] / T. P. Koprova // Young scientist. - 2014. - No. 3. - S. 103–108.
- Loginova, E. A. Prerequisites for mastering the writing process by children [Text] / E. A. Loginova // Special education. - 2016. - Issue No. XII. — Volume II. - p.90–95.
- Mironova N. A. Consultations for educators.
Theoretical aspects of studying the prevention of writing disorders in children of senior preschool age with speech disorders [Electronic resource] // Everything for kindergarten. - Popova O. S. Difficulties in mastering written speech [Electronic resource] // Social network of education workers. 2012.
- Tkachenko, T. A. Preparing preschool children for reading and writing: phonetic symbols: a guide for a speech therapist [Text] / T. A. Tkachenko. - M .: Humanitarian. ed. Center VLADOS, 2010. - 34 p., 16 p. ill. nine0060
Basic terms (automatically generated) : skill, preschool age, individual characteristics of children, principle, preschooler, child, exercise, formation, formation of prerequisites for writing.
Keywords
principle, preschoolers, graphic skill, graphomotor skillpreschoolers, graphomotor skill, graphic skill, principle
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Program in Russian "Reading and writing" for preschoolers
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One of the main tasks of preparing a child for school is the development of his speech, teaching the language. The purpose of the program in Russian “Reading and Writing” for preschoolers is to develop the mental activity of preschoolers in the process of introducing their native language into the sound system, teaching the skills of sound analysis, and developing syllabic and continuous ways of reading.
In the process of mastering the program, children get acquainted with the concepts of sound, syllable, word. They form the concept of vowels and consonants. Children in a playful way get acquainted with letters, gradually move on to learning to read by the method of syllable fusion of a consonant with a vowel, the technique of reading syllables by merging is being worked out.
Also in the lessons an interest in reading is instilled through the use of short entertaining texts. nine0005
As a result of studying the program, the child will know all the letters of the Russian alphabet, master the methods of syllabic and continuous reading, and have an idea of some elementary spelling rules.
The program is designed for 72 hours - two years of 36 hours. Homework is provided for each lesson.
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Level 1 (5-6 years)
In the first year of study in the Reading and Writing program in Polyglot, children get acquainted with letters, learn to find them in a line, distinguish them from others. Children will learn how to characterize a sound, determine whether a vowel is a sound or a consonant, and write in block letters. nine0005
In the first year of education, children begin to connect simple syllables first, then gradually move on to reading words and short sentences.
Level 2 (6-7 years)
In the second year of study, children continue to get acquainted with letters and their spelling.
Preschoolers continue to read sentences, short texts. Children learn to read texts consciously, retell them close to the text after reading.
The result of a two-year training will be the child's ability to meaningfully read not only words, but also full-fledged sentences and texts. Also, children learn to write words by ear. nine0005
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