12 FUN Way to Teach Your Toddler the Alphabet
As a mom of two toddler ages kiddos, I know that teaching your child the alphabet and each letter coordinating sounds can seem like a BIG job! Being able to identify letters and their phonics is one of the first steps in your child learning to read. It’s important yet it doesn’t have to be scary. Learning the alphabet can be fun and provide hours of educational entertainment!
Through out this post, I will mention my daughters by name quite a bit. For age reference, Nora is 3.5 and Emmy is just a few months away from turning 5. Nora is working on letter recognition, both upper case and lower case. Emmy is currently working on letter sounds and introduction to sight words.
You may also notice that a good majority of the printable activities pictured in this post are laminated. I purchased a laminating machine about 3 years ago and it has helped preserve all the printable activities I create. Here is the laminating machine I use.
We’ve rounded up some of our favorite alphabet activities and shared a few from other website we love!
Letter of the Day Worksheets
Breaking the alphabet down and focusing on just one letter at a time is a great way to teach your child the letters. I created this “letter of the day” bundle for my 4-year-old, Emmy. While there is a large focus on letter identification, I also incorporated a section for the letter sounds. The phonics of each letter is just as important as the child being able to identify the letter. I also created a set of flashcards that have each letter in both uppercase and lower case format as well as a word that coordinates with the letter sound.
Hidden Letter Hunt
My kids thought this activity was just the most *magical* thing ever! I simply write the letter of the alphabet in random order on a white sheet of paper using a white crayon. As they painted over each the paper, the letter appears! They would shout out the letter as they saw it and had the best time with it!
Letter Hunt Dot Marker Printable
This printable activity pairs great with the Letter of the Day Bundle. When we worked through this dot marker activity, I actually cut the sheets in half so that I could combine this activity with the letter of the day worksheet.
Alphabet Play Dough Mats
My kids cannot get enough of playdough! These playdough mats not only help with letter recognition, but it’s a great sensory and fine motor skill activity as well. You can download the playdough mats here.
Around the House Alphabet Hunt- High Energy Game!
These types of “hunt” activities have always been a favorite in our house. I simply hide the pieces of paper with the letters all over the house and send the kids out to find them. Once they do find one, they have to run back and match it up with the large piece of paper that has all the letters on it. I like to really spread the letters out across the house to get the kiddos moving! We also did this for Valentine’s Day with numbers.
Alphabet Hop
I have to admit that when I set up this activity, I had no idea how much the girls would actually like it. I used a paper plate to trace the circles onto the butcher paper (I’m sure you’ve noticed that we use this same paper in alot of activities! Here’s the link for the roll I ordered.) After adding all the letters into the circles, I began calling out random letters for Nora. She would have to find the letter and then jump to it. For Emmy, I would say a word and she would have to find the letter of the beginning sound.
Toilet Paper Roll Sticker Match Up
My kids jump at any activity involving stickers! This letter matching activity using a toilet paper roll and color coding stickers way easy to set up and very effective with helping Nora with her letter recognition and matching.
Helpful little tip when it comes to the stickers: if you kiddos is having trouble removing them on their own, simply remove the backing of the sheet of stickers. This makes it much easier for them to peel them!
Upper Case & Lower Case Letter Match
I have to admit, this was tough the first time around for Emmy. I sat and worked through it with her. We talked through each lower case letter and it’s characteristics. We repeated the activity a few days later (this time I created it on a regular sized sheet of paper) and it seemed easier. Since then, we’ve done this same activity a few times and she get’s more and more confident as we go!
Popsicle Stick Letter Match
This was one of the first letter activities I ever did with Nora! I created this using a sheet of colored paper, glue, and a marker. I simply folder the paper over and ran a thin line of glue along the inside to create the pockets for the popsicle sticks. It was a great, hands-on way to introduce the letter. This would also be great for upper case and lower case matching!
Alphabet Clip Cards
This is another double-dip activity; those fine motor skills are working hard while working on letter matching and identification. Fine motor activities work the same muscles that contribute to handwriting skills down the road. Clothespins are challenging for Nora’s little hands but in the best way!
I created these clip cards for her early on in her introduction to the alphabet. We keep them in a busy bag, just like most of our printable alphabet activities. I explained to her that you simply put a clip on every letter that matches the big letter in the middle of the card. With 26 cards, this activity keeps her very busy! If you would like a free copy of these clip cards you can simply enter your email below and a set will be emailed over immediately. (I usually prefer to make downloads one click, straight from the website, however, this bundle was too large of a file to do so!)
Letter Hunt Sensory Bottle
This was another easy-to-set-up activity that provided a ton of fun! I combined pony beads and letter beads to a water bottle and sealed it shut (this is an important step! Either glue or tape the lid onto the bottle to avoid messes!). I then created an alphabet checklist and printed it out. As they found a letter, they would check it off the list. Easy, fun, and educational!
Here’s a copy of the checklist I made in case you would like to use it too! (click link)
Begining Sound Clip Cards
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, Emmy is really focusing on letter sounds right now. These clip cards are a great hands-on way to identify beginning sounds. Like the alphabet matching clip cards I created for her little sister, we keep these in a busy bag as well and working through each card takes her some time.
You can download a copy of these for free by entering your email below.
These are creative, inviting,helpful resources. Thank you. I’ve taught preschool over 20 years. These will help me with my current task of teaching my grandchildren.