One of my favorite ways to teach the alphabet in preschool and kindergarten is through crafts. In addition to being fun, A to Z alphabet crafts are adorable and make cute classroom decorations. Letter of the week activities in preschool provide important background knowledge for early reading. All of these ABC preschool crafts are not only interesting to young children, but most of them are super-simple to prep and implement. Many of them come with printable literacy activities, which makes them even better!
More from our Shop
Find even more engaging activities in the Life Over C’s shop!
Learning the Letters of the Alphabet in Preschool
PRESCHOOL LITERACY ACTIVITIES
PRESCHOOL IS AN EXCELLENT TIME TO BEGIN DEVELOPING LITERACY SKILLS IN CHILDREN. THEY WILL FEEL PROUD AS THEY LEARN TO READ AND WRITE.
The alphabet animal crafts introduce these weird shapes called letters in ways that are interesting and fun for young learners. They won’t even know they are developing foundational reading skills!
These fun ABC crafts help teach kids that learning uppercase and lowercase letters is fun! I love using these craft ideas to teach kids because they also need fine motor skill practice. Kids won’t even realize they are learning to read until one day, they suddenly recognize a letter outside of class and are so surprised!
Can Preschoolers Learn Phonological Awareness With Crafts?
ORAL LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
WHILE NURSERY RHYMES AND READ-ALOUDS ARE TYPICALLY USED TO DEVELOP PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS, CRAFTS CAN WORK, TOO!
As students learn letter names, preschool teachers can also teach the sounds. Ask children:
- What else starts with /b/?
- What sound do you hear at the beginning of your name?
- Are there other kids in our class with the same sound in their name?
Why Is It Important For Kids To Learn About Letters?
Children are naturally curious about everything around them. Learning about letters sets them up for success when they later learn letters sounds and decoding.
Background Knowledge
Learning letter names gives children valuable background knowledge to draw upon as they learn the sounds the letters make, or how to write their names.
Alphabetic Principle
As children learn letter names and sounds, they begin to understand the alphabetic principle: Our written language is a code of letters that represent the spoken sounds in our language.
Compare and Contrast
Discerning between uppercase and lowercase letters, or identifying different characteristics of the letters helps young brains develop the skill of comparing and contrasting.
Increases Fluency
When naming letters/sounds is quick and effortless, children will find it easier to learn to decode short vowel words, and then be able to progress to more complex letter patterns.
Fun and Easy Alphabet Crafts for Kids
ABC Animal Alphabet Crafts from Schooling a Monkey
ABC Bracelets from Life Over Cs
Letter of the Week Crafts from Crystal and Co
Alphabet Crafts from No Time for Flash Cards
Process Art Alphabet Crafts from Fantastic Fun and Learning
Letter of the Week Crafts from The Measured Mom
A-Z Crafts for Kids from B Inspired Mama
Easy Letter Crafts from The Letters of Literacy
A-Z Letter Crafts from School Time Snippets
Paper Plate Alphabet Crafts from Happy Hooligans
Wall Decor
Displaying the example letter crafts on a bulletin board is a great way to reference letters and sounds as you accumulate them throughout the school year.
Sensory Bin
Children love sifting through the sensory bin to find and identify letters and/or sounds. You can incorporate this simple activity into every theme all year long.
Read Aloud
As you work your way through the ABCs, make sure to draw attention to letters/sounds during read aloud, as children write their names, and throughout the day.