EASY PEASY ABC MATERIALS

These tools are easy to make and will add hands-on fun to your curriculum. Wouldn't they be perfect for a learning center?

ALPHABET CUPS
Write letters on the sides of bathroom cups. Let children explore and experiment building with the cups.

*Make a matching game where they match upper and lowercase letters.

*Challenge children to make words (or their names) with the cups.

Hint! Store in a Pringle’s can.


PLAYFUL AND CHALLENGING PLAY DOUGH
Write letters on clear plastic plates, plastic placemats, sheet protectors, or leftover laminating film with a permanent marker. Make play dough from the recipe below. Children roll play dough and place it on top to make the letter. Can they make objects that begin with that letter? 

Homemade Play Dough
2 cups flour
2 cups
2 TB cream of tartar
2 TB vegetable oil
2 cups water
Food coloring

Mix ingredients together in a pan until smooth. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture forms a ball and sticks to the spoon. Cool and knead. Store in zip baggie

* Add unsweetened Kool-aid, vanilla, cinnamon, or other spices to give it an aroma.
Hint! You can even find a gluten free play dough recipe online.


Alphabet Cookies
*Let children press magnetic letters in play dough to make alphabet cookies.

Play Dough Pictionary
Each child will need a small ball of dough to play this game. Call out a letter. Children try and make something from their dough that begins with that sound. Take turns trying to guess what friends molded.


LETTER POPS
You will need jumbo craft sticks, magnetic letters, and E6000 glue (or similar craft glue) to make letter pops. Glue the magnetic letters to the jumbo craft sticks and you’re all set to begin.


Song Props
Pass out the sticks and have children hold up their letter as you sing ABC songs.

Letter Hunt
Ask children to walk around the room and match their letter on classroom print. Can they match their letter to an object in the room that begins with the sound?

Library Pointers
Place the letter pops in a can in the classroom library. Children choose a letter and then match it up with that letter in a book.

Making Words
Let older children get together with friends and make words with their letter pops.

Match Up
Make a set of letter pops with uppercase letters and a set with lowercase letters. According to the number of children in your classroom, use the appropriate number of uppercase and lowercase letters. Distribute uppercase letters to half the class and matching lowercase letters to the other half. Children can walk around the room and match up.

THE WHEELS ON THE BUS

Here's one of my favorite "oldies but goodies."  I think this song is even older than me!

The Wheels on the Bus
The wheels on the bus (Move hands in circular motion.)
Go round and round,
Round and round, round and round.
The wheels on the bus
Go round and round,
All around the town.

Wipers – swish, swish, swish… (Palms up and move back and forth.)
Horn – beep, beep, beep… (Pretend to beep horn.)
Lights – blink, blink, blink… (Open and close fists.)
Doors – open and shut… (Palms together, then spread apart.)
Driver on the bus…”Move on back”… (Stick up thumb.)
Children on the bus – bounce up and down…(Bounce up and down.) 

Click to view

The Letter Bus

The letters on the bus all make their sounds,
Make their sounds, make their sounds.
The letters on the bus all make their sounds
All around the town.
The A on the bus goes /a/ /a/ /a/
/a/ /a/ /a/ /a/ /a/ /a/
The A on the bus goes /a/ /a/ /a/
All around the town.
*Continue singing different letters and making their sounds.

*Place magnetic letters in the outline of a bus as you sing the song.

*If you have a toy bus, write the letter on an index card and tape it to the bus as you sing. 

Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Blank Rhymes

Your students can follow along and fill in the blanks.

Click to view

Humpty Narrated with Rhymes

No blanks.

Click to view

MARVELOUS MAGNETIC LETTERS

Magnetic letters are kind of like comfort food in early childhood. They have been around forever and they can be used in a multitude of ways from preschool to primary grades. They are inexpensive, plentiful, and they are REAL – as opposed to the screen.

Can You Find Bottle? 

Fill a large plastic bottle with salt or sand. Insert magnetic letters and shake. Children shake the bottle and try to identify letters.
*Give them a grid with the alphabet letters. They can color in the letters as they find them in the bottle.

Letter Pops 

Glue magnetic letters to jumbo craft sticks. Children can use these to match letters on classroom print. They can also find objects in the room beginning with
that sound.
*Can they find some friends and make a word with their letters?
*Have children hold up letters as you sing alphabet songs.

Hint! E6000 is the BEST glue for these projects. You can find it at any of the big box stores. Make sure you use it at home because it is toxic and should not be around children.

Play Dough 

Put magnetic letters in a center with play dough. Children can make “pancakes” and then press the letters on them.
*Make sight words and press them in the play dough.

Sand Box Treasure 

Hide magnetic letters in your sand table. Children can take a magnet and try to identify letters they “attract.”
*Can they make the sound? Can they think of a word that starts with that sound? Can they write a word that starts with that sound?

Letter Password 

Place several letters you are working on around your door frame. As children leave the room, ask them to touch a particular letter. (You could also ask them to touch the letter they hear at the beginning of particular word.)

Letter Match Up

Create a class alphabet book by having children draw pictures for each letter. Children find magnetic letters and match them up in the alphabet book.

Shadow Letters 

Place letters on a copy machine. Have children match up real letters with their shadows.

Letter Hunt

Hide letters in the classroom. Children will love to go on a “letter hunt.” Can they identify the letters they find?
Can they make a word with the letters they find?

Touch and Tell 

Place a magnetic letter in a sock. Can children reach in the sock and identify the letter by feeling it?

Building Words

Demonstrate how to build words with magnetic letters using a document camera.

Alphabet Soup

Place magnetic letters in a mixing bowl. Children take a big spoon and scoop out some letters. How many words can they make with their letters? Ask the children to write the words they can make.

Letter Tin 

Place magnetic letters inside a cookie tin. Make three lines with a permanent marker on the inside of the lid. As you call out sounds children place the letters on the lines to make CVC words.
Hint! Place in a center for children to make and write word families.