My niece is right in the middle of this with her 4 year old who is EAGER to learn the alphabet and wants to do it NOW! They started with a workbook and writing the letters but this eager little girl was quickly bored with all this work. Here are a few of the ideas I shared with her to make learning the alphabet fun and none of them require any workbooks. Little hands get SUPER tired holding a pencil. They just aren't developmentally ready for it. Work on building hand strength while introducing them to the alphabet. It is a win win!
1. MAGNETIC LETTERS
I LOVE using magnetic letters in the classroom at the beginning of the year. I have tubs and tubs full of them! Our first few weeks of centers are just exploring the alphabet with these magnetic letters. With a simple cookie sheet and these printouts I can keep my new kindergarten students exploring for at least a round or two of centers. You probably already have what you need at home for these fun ideas!
- sort the letters by color- This helps develop a relationship with the letters. They will begin to recognize letters they have seen before or maybe even recognize the letters in their name.
- use the letters to make their name
- sort by tall, short, or tail letters
- put them in ABC order with or without a resource to look at
- sort by letters in their name vs. letters not in their name
2. FOAM PLAY MATS
My granddaughter, Alice, is 3 years old and in her room she has a set of these letters. Her favorite game is to jump from one letter to the next. My daughter says a letter and she jumps to it. It was amazing how quickly she learned all of the letters with this fun game.
This is an excellent first exposure to capital letters and also a great time to point out that it is more natural to start with all capitals. They are big and bold and have simple lines vs. those tricky lowercase letters.
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3. BUILD THEM!
Build the letters out of anything you can find. Wiki sticks are so fun and you can use them over and over again and they don't dry out like play dough. I buy Monkey String on Amazon because it usually cheaper. Click on the picture or click HERE for an affiliate link. Mine have lasted for YEARS!
Play dough is always a good option too. I make my own because it really isn't that difficult and it lasts and last and lasts compared to store bought play dough. My daughter also made some recently out of corn starch and conditioner that was AMAZING. The kids loved it because it was so soft!
When using play dough have your child roll the dough into a long tube (we call them snakes). Use the snakes to form the letters. This is especially helpful when learning curved letters like B, C, D, G....etc.
You can see my recipe I use in a blog post HERE.
4. MINI ERASERS
The mini eraser craze started a few years ago and I still just think they are so fun and add a bit of whimsy to otherwise boring chores in the classroom. I got a great set for summertime at Target online HERE and they almost always have them in their dollar section up front.
Using a simple template children can build the letters out of the erasers. This is a win win situation while learning the letters because it is building muscle strength in the hands and helping them become familiar with the letters and shapes all at the same time. Keep these cute erasers handy for math games, sorting, counting, and just about anything else too. Too hot to go outside? Summer monsoon has you stuck inside? Mini erasers for the win!
I made this template to go along with the ocean themed erasers that has the entire alphabet (capitals only) and a second set with capitals and lowercase. You can download them HERE for free!
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Great ideas!!!
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