How To Do Activities With Children Using The Alphabet

Alphabet activities help children learn to name and recognize letters. Although coloring pages give children exposure to individual letters, children learn more effectively through play that engages all five senses. When planning educational activities, consider using both the outdoor and indoor environment. Avoid forcing uninterested children to participate, and instead switch to a different activity or continue the activity for the children who express interest. To reinforce alphabet activities, make sure books are accessible to children at all times, and spend at least 15 minutes reading to children each day.

Step 1

Plan to cover one letter a week. Spend time reinforcing a letter with different activities, or return to an activity the children especially enjoyed. Repetition is not a problem when the children are engaged in learning activities and excited about participation.

Step 2

Gear activities toward naming letters, recognizing letters in print and learning beginning sounds. These skills predict early reading success, according to Pearson Digital Learning, and are best introduced and encouraged through activities, songs and rhymes.

Step 3

Prepare activities that involve hands-on participation and that help demonstrate a relationship between letters and words. For example, explore the letter "A" using apples. Introduce the letter and word in print and build an activity with real apples that uses all five senses. Child care trainer, author and former child care provider Lisa Murphy suggests letting children hold an apple, make applesauce, count the seeds, make apple prints using paint and apple halves, and chart who likes green, yellow and red apples.

Step 4

Include lowercase and uppercase letters in your visual presentation of the activity. Before going on an outdoor "insect walk," for example, introduce the letter "Ii" in print form and read a story or nonfiction book about insects. If you take care of several children, have them take turns making the letter on the floor with their bodies. Make a picture for children to enjoy later.

Step 5

Use play dough to complement any single-letter alphabet activity. Laminate a standard-size piece of copy paper that has the letter of the week printed clearly in both upper and lower case. Allow the children to "trace" the letter using play dough, making a duplicate play dough letter on top of the printed letter. You can also use items such as uncooked macaroni, cooked noodles or cereal bits to copy letters. Consider using play dough when covering the letter "P," macaroni for "M" and noodles for "N."

Step 6

Play name games. Name recognition is an alphabet activity that helps children associate letters and letter combinations with words. In addition to letting children trace their names on white boards, make the letters of their names into a song or play a version of musical chairs in which children find their seats by looking for name labels.