Letters and Early Writing Skills

There are so many ways to teach our young children their letters. I will be sharing several ideas on this blog. Some will be creations of my own and others will be the amazing creations of others. There are so many great blogs that have so many wonderful ideas and printables. The ideas I am sharing in this post all come from this awesome blog. Scroll down to see a long list of free printables. Because these activities will be handled a lot by little hands, I print all activities on card stock and laminate them with my laminating machine and laminate pouches. It is not only more durable than contact paper but the final product looks nicer. 

Alphabet cover up is a fun activity that my little ones enjoy. The printable has uppercase and lowercase cards and mats. There are mats with the letters in alphabetical order and mats with the letters scrambled. We like to play this two different ways. First, I like to call out different letters and my kids find that letter on the mat and place a marker on it. The second way we like to play it is the child has a stack of letters, uppercase or lowercase, face down. They turn over the one on top of the pile and find the letter on that card on the mat and cover it with a marker. You can use the markers provided in the printable or any other manipulative you would like. Sometimes we like to use pom poms, candy, grapes, crackers, buttons, play dough, or beads. I like to have my children say the letter and it's sound when they cover it with the marker. We also talk about things that start with that letter. 

There is usually a lot of celebration when the task is completed. 

A popular activity, at my house, is the alphabet mix and match puzzle. I only give my preschoolers about six letters at a time, otherwise, it's gets a little confusing with so many pieces. With this activity the child has to match the top of the letter with the bottom. I like to have them put them in order after they have matched the pieces. We also say the letter and sound and things that begin with that letter as we play this game. The printable comes with upper and lower case letters. The artwork is so cute and very inviting to you a young child. 

Writing these letters is going to take a lot of patience and practice. I have found that pre-writing sheets and mats are very helpful. They help a young child learn how to control their pencil or pen while writing or drawing. This is a good time to teach them how told hold their pencil properly. It will pay off in the end with nice handwriting. We use washable dry erase markers by Crayola to write on these laminated mats and strips. We also use old socks or dry erase erasers to wipe them clean. I like the old socks because it's easy to just throw them in the wash when they get too dirty. 

I also like to use the alphabet and number tracing mats. Even though they are still working on their pre-writing skills, my twins like to attempt the letters and numbers. While learning to write they can also learn their letters and numbers. These mats come with the upper case and lower case letters and a numbers mat. 

Childcareland.com is a great resource for these types of activities and many others. They also have even more activities available for purchase on CD for a reasonable cost. There are even videos with ideas on how to use each activity.  I'm sure I will posting more of the activities from their blog, in the future. Be sure to check out their website and look around. I think you will be pleasantly surprised with what you find.