Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Homeschool Den
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Preschool at Home: Alphabet Activities for 2-4 year olds

Here are some alphabet activity ideas you can do with your little one: At first we played these activities just for letter identification, but as the kids learned their letters we would play these games and identify the sound/s they make. Above all, be enthusiastic and have FUN with the kids!!

Jump on Letters:We did this activity with everything from contact paper in the kitchen to letters written in chalk on the driveway. This active game was a huge hit with all my kids. “Find the “R.” “Go jump on the “K.” You get the idea!

Sandpaper Letters: When my kids were letter, we ordered some sandpaper letters from didax.com. The kids traced the letters which helped as they transitioned into writing letters (because it shows the order in which to make the strokes). It helped LD with some of the letters he hadn’t been forming properly.

Erase the Letter: You can write a letter on a white-board and have the kids practice “writing” by using the eraser size of the white board marker.

Paint in a Bag – Hair gel and dye: This activity only ever worked for a couple of letters with my kids before they lost interest, but it’s worth a mention. Anything to add creativity and piques the kids’ interest is worth a go, right?! We just put hair gel into a ziploc bag with some dye. Don’t add too much gel or the letter won’t show up. Then the kids practiced writing their letters. I’ve heard of people using ketchup or liquid paint instead.

Writing in Sand: We did this in combination with a scavenger hunt and a “mail box” with a slot to mail the letter. We just had a tray of sand and ED had to write the letter before mailing off her letter! I never wound up making more “letters” for her to mail, but if you’re interested in A, B, C, E, L, M, N, O, R or S you can download them free here.

Mailing Letters–A through Z

Alphabet discover bottle search and find bottle: Fill a bottle with rice, beads, glitter and the letter/s you are focusing on. Have your tot twist and turn the bottle to find the letter as quickly as possible.

Letter Scavenger Hunts: I can’t tell you how many scavenger hunts my kids went on when they were little. At first, I just hid letters and had them race back to tell me what they had found Enthusiasm was EVERYTHING in this activity! My kids were much more hyped when I was yelling out “Go, go, go! What’d ya find? Is it an “L” like in your name?!!!”

Improving Small Motor Skills

Do-a-dot Letter Painting: When the kids were little, we go a lot of mileage out of our do-a-dot markers. I would print out an alphabet mat when it fit in with whatever theme-time table or unit we were covering. (Check out our theme time tables here.)

Q-tip painting: As the kids were learning their letters, I tried to change things up for them. Sometimes I brought out Q-tips which they could dip into paint to practice “writing” their letters. Here are some alphabet mats I made that you can download as you need them:

Alphabet Mats: A to Z

(font licence purchased from Kimberly Geswein Fonts)

Play Dough Letters: Once the kids were old enough to roll out play dough snakes, they could make letters (either with a mat or not). We also made letters from time to time out of pretzel dough or bread dough. Here are our edible letter Bb’s! The beans are there because these were from our Fairy Tale Unit: Jack and the Beanstalk activities.

Glue-and-Glitter: I’d have the kids “write” their name (or letters) with glue and let them go to town with the glitter.

Fishing for Letters: Some good old fashioned fishing fun! Either matching upper and lower case letters or simply catching a letter and identifying it. These are with shamrocks for St. Patrick’s day but you could cut out any shape appropriate for your unit, the holiday or season.

Hide-and-Seek Name Game: Place hair gel in a sealed ziploc bag along with the letters of your child’s name, glitter, and color beads… have them try to find all the letters of their name and squish the bag around to place the letters in the proper order.

Letter Factory: All three of my kids loved the Letter Factory movies. The tune is catchy and it helped the kids learned the sounds of the letter.

I hope you found a few ideas you can use with your kids! If you found anything useful or have other ideas to share, I’d love to hear from you at our Homeschool Den Facebook page.

If your child knows their letter sounds, they may be ready to learn to read. Visit this post, Teach Your Child to Read, for fun ideas that help your child learn to read!