Worksheets. Wonderful, easy, boring, dull worksheets. Who wants to learn with those? Seriously, all of my daughters would prefer to have teeth pulled than to sit down and try to learn something with worksheets. My 3rd grader has never completed a phonics worksheet, but just tested at upper 4th grade level for reading. My oldest two daughters were testing in the 5th grade reading level by the time they finished kindergarten. No worksheets there either. So what did we use instead? We helped them discover a love for learning with these 25 simple alphabet manipulatives. Extra bonus, that we’ve been able to use these year after year no matter what learning style we were working with.
These alphabet magnets are more chunky than traditional magnets which not only makes them great for little hands, but they can add variety to activities after the kids are bored of the regular ones. We loved using them in this alphabet I Spy Game and alphabet sensory bin!
Great for learning about vowels and consonants! These differ from traditional plastic alphabet magnets because all the vowels are colored red and all consonants are blue.
This game combines magnets and introduces the letter sound in a fun and engaging way. I have been listening to Tad sing the alphabet for the last 8 years!! We still use him every day!
Great for learning about the differences between upper and lowercase letters. We have both sets so that we can sort and compare letters while creating lovely jewelry!
Easy for little hands to hold and thread, these alphabet beads are great for matching uppercase and lowercase letters, building words, and talking about colors!
These are especially great for kids who need to focus on letter formation. These letters can be manipulated to create new letters. It also introduces the idea of curves and straight lines to young children.
We love using Wikki Stix for all sorts of craft projects, so it’s fun to use them for learning the alphabet too! They are waxy pieces of yarn that can be molded and reshaped over and over again. Kids love them!
These sandpaper letters offer a tactile approach to learning the alphabet. Kids love to touch and feel the rough letters and it helps develop hand-eye coordination as well as alphabet recognition.
We have been Rock ‘n’ Learn fans for years! We used shapes, numbers, money, physical science and more. These fun DVDs put learning to songs, so that they are easy to remember.
Learning the letter sounds is fun and musical with this DVD! Kids love to sing and dance along with the alphabet characters and it does a great job teaching letter sounds.
I love this alphabet puzzle because you can use the letters independently to build words. And because there are no pictures involved, the kids really have to pay attention to the shape of the letters as they are matching.
There are endless ways to infuse art into literacy and these are some of our favorite tools! We love to use the alphabet stamps to practice words, names, and beginning sounds. The alphabet stickers are so fun for alphabet collages, word-building and everyday art. Plus, they silicone letter mold has endless uses! We have made letter ice, melted letter crayons, and even letter chocolate!
This is a Montessori set, but even if you are not fully Montessori, your kids can benefit from being able to build words, feel the letter shapes and have a great place to work on sorting!
Kim Staten is a mother of four children ages 20, 19, 16, and 12. Kim has taught at the preschool, kindergarten and early elementary levels for 16 years. With extensive experience working with special needs children, including her own children with special needs (Rett Syndrome, autism, anxiety, and ADHD), she creates hands-on curricula and activities that are great for working with children of all abilities in the classroom and at home. Hands-on, accessible activities are her passion.
Educational Insights See and Stamp Alphabet Transparent Stamps – Uppercase 5/8![8.5x11 alphabet posters with a food theme a is for avocado, b is for banana, c is for carrot uppercase and lowercase letters text overlay says [alphabet posters free]](https://lifeovercs.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Alphabet-Posters-Food-Theme-free-printable-for-Kindergarten-sq-1.webp "Free Printable Food Alphabet Posters for the Classroom 3")
