Free Winter Alphabet Activity for Uppercase and Lowercase Letters

Do your kids love snow as much as mine do? The squeals that come from the window when they see even just a few flakes falling always makes me smile. Choosing snowballs as a theme for preschool alphabet activities is an easy choice in our house, one that is always a winner. Kids who love snow will especially love this FREE snow themed alphabet activity.

Teaching the alphabet requires lots of repetition and fun learning activities for kids to explore letters in many different ways. The Free Winter Alphabet Activity for Uppercase and Lowercase letters fits into any winter theme for preschool while keeping little hands active. Just print all 26 letter mats (color or black and white), print and cut the snowballs (3 lowercase/3 uppercase for each letter), and have some alphabet fun!

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Matching Uppercase and Lowercase Letters

As with so many educational strategies, there’s a bit of controversy when it comes to teaching the alphabet. While some teachers believe it’s easier to teach the uppercase letters first, still others think it makes sense to introduce them as letter pairs right away.

While I’m not here to settle any educational debates, I will say that this activity can work within your lesson plans whichever way you feel is best for your students.

This snowball themed activity is versatile because you can use the alphabet uppercase or lowercase letters as you see fit.

The alphabet sort is perfect for children who are either just learning the alphabet or students that need review of the ABCs.

Students can work individually, or in small groups. You can easily accommodate all levels by introducing as many or as few of the letters to match as your individual learners are ready for.

We used the velcro dots to make sure the letters stay put on the mats. This is also a fabulous way to throw in some extra fine motor skill practice.

How To Use The Snowball Alphabet Sort Activity

First, lay out all of the letter cards and choose one sorting mat at a time. Kids can search through the letter cards to find the corresponding letters and connect them.

Use the mats in alphabetical order, or randomly. Adapt the activity for students by providing more/less letter cards to choose from. Students who are unfamiliar with the letters may become overwhelmed by all of those choices!

Additional Ideas For Snowball Alphabet Sort Activity

It’s important to keep preschool learning exciting and interactive. Think about the engagement that comes when students are having fun while matching upper and lowercase letters.

• Alphabet Sorting Activities can also be multi-sensory. Fill a sensory bin with your filler of choice and add the letter cards. Kids can sift and search through the sensory bin to find matching letter pairs. Alphabetical order or random is perfectly fine.

• Hide the letter snowballs around the room for an exciting scavenger hunt. Students can search and find, then place them on the correct preschool winter letter mat. This could even be a timed activity to keep those competitive types eager!

• Incorporate arctic animals (penguins, polar bears) into the scene with letter themed art projects (P is for penguin, B is for bear).

• Stage a snowball fight! This one could get rowdy, but is sure to be a hit with young learners. Place all of the letter snowballs on a line in the middle of a large, open space. Divide the group in half, with teams on opposite ends of the room. On, “GO!”, students race to the centerline to grab a snowball, call out the letter, then race back and “throw” it in a designated area/container.