Our Alphabet Activities

I am in the process of cataloging all of our learning activities in order to make it easier for therapists (and mom) to find the appropriate activity and be able to record data in the proper place.  Each activity is given a letter/number (eg A1, A2, etc) which corresponds to a column on the data sheet with the same letter/number.  Therapists record outcomes of each trial.

You'll also notice that I have divided them into See It, Say It and Write It.  To help him learn, we are incorporating these three aspects into each letter, number, shape, color and emotion.  Today I have finished the alphabet activities.  Here are the things we are using.

Alphabet Activities

SEE IT:

 A1 – lowercase alphabet puzzle

  

A2 – 2 pc. Letter puzzles (found in bag #12)

 A3 – alphabet sensory box (rice).  Hide letter of the week and items that begin with those letters in the rice and let him dig!  Keep your eyes peeled for tiny items you can use for beginning letter sounds.  Dollar stores, clearance racks at craft stores, thrift stores, etc.

 A4 – Alphabet Cups: insert matching letter or letter items into correct cup.  Made these with my Silhouette, but you could easily use letter stickers.  

  

A5 – misc letters for non identical matching

 A7 – Leap Frog Letter Factory

 A8 – 2 pc letter puzzles

 A9 – Shapes to create Letters (in blue 3 ring binder).  Free printable over at The Activity Mom

 A10 – Cheerios letter cards – use cereal to recreate letters.  Found this over at We Love Typography.

A11 – upper/lowercase letter puzzles. You can find similar free alphabet printables over at Totally Tots and Confessions of a Homeschooler.

 A12 – Alphabet Crafts.  Instructions for each letter available from Totally Tots.  Bags contain precut items and instructions so all that's left to do is assemble.  We are keeping a 3 ring binder of completed letter crafts for Dylan to look through later.

 A13 – Use letter cards or worksheets and place beads, beans, buttons, pipe cleaners, rocks, etc over letters as shown.  You can usually find bags of smooth rocks in a variety of colors at the Dollar Tree.

WRITE IT:

 A14 – magna doodle.

 A15 – wipe off boards.

 A16 – Salt Box.  I used a shallow Ziploc Storage Container and table salt.  Therapists use alphabet card as an example and Dylan draws it in salt box with his finger.  Do hand over had if necessary.






Most of what we use for the "Write It" portion of the activities come from free reproduceables found online.  My favorite sites:

• LawteeDaw
• Confessions of a Homeschooler
• First School
• Making Learning Fun
• Kidzone
• Education.com
• Kids Learning Station

SAY IT:

Letters will be verbalized for all SEE IT and WRITE IT activities as well, but items below are intended to be used with the main goal of connecting visual letter with verbal letter.

 A17 – Felt Letters on blue card stock.  Found the letters at Michael's for $2.99 and used card stock I had on hand.  This is way cheaper than buying premade sensory letter cards.  Dylan can trace letter with his finger while saying the letter name.  Encourage him to repeat, possibly use reward to motivate verbalization.

 A18 – Letter Race Track.  You can get a free printable for this at Making Learning Fun.  Trace letter with matchbox car while saying letter name.  Encourage verbal repeat.

 A6 – Raised upper/lowercase on index cards.  Created with 3x5 index cards and a marker, then use Elmer's Glue over letter so there is a textural feel to each one.  Dylan traces with finger and verbalizes.

I have large 3 ring binders for all completed work with alphabet, numbers, shapes and name practice.  This helps us keep track of progress.

More letter activity ideas:

• Brilliant Beginnings Preschool
• Preschool Alphabet
• ABC and 123 Learning
• I Can Teach My Child
• Confessions of a Homeschooler - click on ABCs and 123s button in top navigation bar.  You'll see a scroll down menu with each letter of the alphabet.  She has written a thorough post for each letter including free printables.