Preschool Alphabet Activities

Print out a large letter of the alphabet and a picture that it represents i.e. A for apple. Introduce these sounds to your toddler one at a time and stick these up somewhere visible and go through them when you can.

When our children were little we used to teach them the first letter of friends and family’s names. We also started by first teaching them their own names letters which gave it more relevance.

Sand tray
Fill a cookie sheet with flour, rice or cornmeal. Using your printouts lay out one letter and get your preschooler to copy the shape and say the sound.

Painting
Stick a large piece of butcher’s paper to a wall or on an easel. Draw the large letters of the alphabet in pencil on the paper for your preschooler to trace with a paint brush.

Ketchup bottles
Fill old cleaned squeezy Ketchup bottles with thickish tempura paint. Get them to squeeze out the paint over traced letters. This is tough for some children who have poor fine motor skills

Chalk
Use side walk chalk on your outdoor paving or chalk board to make large letters of the alphabet.

Jumping sheet
Take an old sheet and use a permanent marker to write out the alphabet in large clear lower case letters. Put the vowel sounds in a different colour (a-e-i-o-u). Lay it flat on the ground and get your child to jump from letter to letter as you call out the sound. This was one our children's favourite preschool alphabet activities.

Stair hop
Ask your preschooler to jump up or down a flight of stairs (if you have one in your home) reciting the alphabet. You can also do this on a small flight where you have placed your alphabet printouts. You can choose selected letters for this activity.