How To Find the Best Alphabet Activities
Looking for the best alphabet activities for preschoolers? We’ll show you where to find them!
I’m Anna Geiger, creator of The Measured Mom, and I’m thrilled to be guest posting at 3 Dinosaurs!
As a former teacher turned SAHM, I’ve had the privilege of teaching the alphabet to five of our six children.
When I’m looking for a creative new alphabet activity, I search Pinterest for inspiration. But I’ll admit that this can be a tad overwhelming. After all, a search for “alphabet activities” will yield thousands of results.
Which ones are the best?
7 tips to find the best alphabet activities
1. Choose hands-on learning.
Printables are great, but make sure they’re more than pencil and paper worksheets. I like the variety in Cassie’s ABC packs – with sorting activities, find the letter pages, puzzles, and more, these aren’t just your standard worksheets.
Other ideas? Try our clip cards, sound cover pages (pictured), or Cassie’s letter find pages.
2. Make it multi-sensory.
One way to do involve more than one sense is to make a sensory bin. Just put a wet or dry material in a plastic bin and give your child tools to explore. You can bury plastic letters in the material, or have your child hunt for objects that begin with the featured letter. Get inspiration for countless sensory bins right here on 3 Dinosaurs.
If sensory bins are a little too messy for you (not all of us are as brave as Cassie!), you don’t have to get fancy. Even play dough will do the trick. Have kids form letters with play dough, make letters out of beads, or play with alphabet stamps.
3. Include fine motor activities.
Don’t rush your child to write the alphabet. Instead, do fun fine-motor activities, like making snakes with rocks and play dough – or stringing beads onto dry spaghetti noodles. These will strengthen his muscles and get him ready to do the more difficult task of forming letters with a pencil.
4. Don’t forget large motor activities!
Do you have foam bath letters? Put them on one side of the room, and have your child run to get them. Another idea is to put printed letters on the floor. Give your child instructions: sit on the B, run around the D, crawl to a letter G… you get the idea! Cassie’s printable list of gross motor activities will get you started.
5. Be sure to do process art alongside alphabet crafts.
Many children enjoy making simple crafts that end up looking exactly like their classmates – but it’s also important to do open-ended art projects. Draw with chalk on sandpaper for letter S. Paint with truck tires for letter T. For letter V, make a baking soda volcano!
6. Read, read, read.
If you do nothing else in this list, read to your child. Choose any of your favorite books or – if you’d like – read books that feature your letter of the week. Check out our giant letter of the week book list for the best of the best.
7. Bring it back to the whole alphabet.
We enjoy the letter of the week format, but we always make sure to do one or more whole alphabet activities every week. Whether you have your child match alphabet cards, do an alphabet puzzle, or read an alphabet book, be sure to bring your learning back to the whole alphabet.
Anna Geiger is a former teacher (MEd.) turned SAHM of six (ages 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, & 9). She is the writer and creator of The Measured Mom, where she supports parents and teachers with free printables, hands-on lessons, and other teaching resources.