Free Preschool Alphabet Tracing Play Dough Mats: Food Themed
Are you teaching the alphabet to a preschooler? There are many engaging and hands-on alphabet activities to provide letter practice to young children.
One way is to assemble and form letters with a variety of materials. These free alphabet tracing playdough mats are just the thing to get kids working on their letters. Get your copy today and see how many ways you can use these for letter practice!
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Learning About the ALPHABET:
LETTER PRACTICE WITH preschoolers
USING LETTER FORMATION ACTIVITIES LEADS TO EARLY LITERACY LEARNING SUCH AS:
Letter sounds.
Blending and spelling.
These free alphabet play dough mats include a fun food theme, with a different food for each letter. A simple sentence goes along with each page for additional language practice.
Each page of the play dough mats contain:
- Uppercase alphabet tracing
- Steps for letter formation
- ABC strip at the top
- A simple sentence for early readers
- A fun picture
What Can Preschoolers Learn Through Letter Practice?
LEARNING AND WRITING LETTERS with preschoolers
STUDENTS GAIN VALUABLE SKILLS WRITING AND FORMING LETTERS:
- Tracing each letter with their finger or a writing utensil gets students ready for writing letters from memory.
- Forming letters with play dough strengthens fine motor skills.
- Students learn letter sounds, allowing them to recognize initial sounds in words.
- Students will see patterns in how letters go together to form words.
Why Is It Important For Kids To Practice With Individual Letters?
Play dough is a fun and popular classroom material for preschoolers and young children. There is a reason that parents and teachers like to incorporate play dough into learning activities.
Benefits of play dough for preschoolers:
- Supports fine motor skill development
- Improves social skills when done with peers
- Strengthens hand-eye coordination
- Allows children to be creative
How To Use The Alphabet Play Dough Cards
Alphabet letter activities for preschool
All you need to do is print the alphabet tracing printables onto white card stock for durability and laminate.
These alphabet play dough mats, free printables are so versatile and fun for kids and can be used as a beginning sound activity, penmanship practice, pre-spelling activity and more!
Provide dry erase markers for tracing practice. The alphabet tracing worksheets with arrows is specifically designed to support the teacher in showing the student the correct way to form their letters.
Using their dry erase marker (or finger!) follow the steps indicated by the arrows for each letter. Once students are confident in their letter formation, they can use the tracing mat as a guide to produce their own letters independently.
Children will use play dough to roll, shape and mold each letter to fit the outline on the play dough mat.
You can also provide loose parts for this activity! Loose parts are often found in early childhood settings and consist of items like themed-mini erasers, glass stones, and beads. Use loose parts to fill up the letter outline. Preschool alphabet printables that have these large outlines are the perfect size for a variety of loose parts.
Other Ways To Use the Food Themed Letter Tracing Mats:
Practice Vowels & Consonants
Sort the pages into vowel letters and consonant letters for an additional alphabet activity for your preschooler.
Scavenger Hunt
Find something that starts with the beginning letter on each mat. Have kids place their objects on the mats.
ABC Guessing Game
Using a blank piece of paper, cover the picture, leaving just the ABC strip across the top. What letter will they be working on? What food do they think it will be?
Sorting Foods
Have kids sort the food into different categories: healthy/unhealthy, fruits/veggies, etc.
Find Other Foods
What other foods can kids think of that start with the same letters? Start a list and see how many they can come up with!
Our Favorite Alphabet Books:
We can’t live without these!
Once your child’s creativity is sparked with this fun activity, take it a step further with these engaging resources:
The Alphabet’s AlphabetLMNO Peas (The Peas Series)
AlphaOops!: The Day Z Went First
ABCs of Art (Sabrina Hahn’s Art & Concepts for Kids)
Alphabet Everywhere
What About X? An Alphabet Adventure
TouchThinkLearn: ABC (Baby Board Books, Baby Touch and Feel Books, Sensory Books for Toddlers)
P Is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever
The Alphabet Tree (Dragonfly Books)
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