Literacy

Professional Development

July 1, 2018

Hands-On Alphabet Activities for Summer

Friends, summer is here! This is the perfect time to take learning outside. Whether you are a mom of littles, a homeschooling mom, or a teacher looking for some new ideas, changing the scenery always freshens up learning! Hands-on alphabet activities help reach kinesthetic learners and reinforce skills. Helping our kids keep learning all summer long prevents the academic summer slide, too! Today I’m sharing seven hands-on alphabet activities you can do with your children at home or in August when your students return.

Squirt the Letter

Write letters using sidewalk chalk on the driveway. You can do a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, depending on what your child needs to practice. Then, call out a letter and have your child squirt it with a water squirter. We love the water squirters that we can grab at the Dollar Tree for $1!

These hands-on alphabet activities are sure to make your summer fun and filled with learning! They are easy to do, supplies are affordable, and your little learners will have a blast!

Pool Noodle Letters

Call out a letter and have your child form it with large pool noodles. You can always find these for one dollar at the dollar store! You can call out uppercase, lowercase, or even the letter sound.

Sand Letters

Call out a letter and let your child write uppercase and lowercase letters with their fingers in a sand table. If you don’t have a table, you can put some sand in a large baking pan or plastic tub, too. If sand scares you, don’t worry! You can use dry beans, noodles, or rice even. They are much easier to clean up, too! 

Create Alphabet Books

Alphabet books are a great way to practice letter identification and beginning sounds. I created a set of books for all 26 letters that will give your kids hands-on practice and keep them engaged. Once each book is completed, they will have something to go back and practice reading, too. You can find these in my store HERE.  

Creating alphabet books is a great way for learners to focus on letter sounds and letter identification. These books are horizontal, which also focuses on the text direction.
Creating alphabet books is a great way for learners to focus on letter sounds and letter identification. These books are horizontal, which also focuses on the text direction.

Alphabet Letter Races

If you’ve got a kiddo that needs to burn off some energy, this is the perfect activity. First set two buckets about 20 feet apart. Leave one bucket empty, and fill the other with water and foam letters. Have your child start at the empty bucket. Then, call out a letter (or letter sound). Next, your child will race to the water bucket, quickly find the letter, and run it back to the empty bucket. If you have more than one child, they can race each other!

These hands-on alphabet activities are sure to make your summer fun and filled with learning! They are easy to do, supplies are affordable, and your little learners will have a blast!

Water Balloon Matching

Using sidewalk chalk, write the lowercase letters around the driveway. Then, fill up water balloons and write the uppercase letters on those. Finally, have your child walk around and drop the water balloon on the chalk letter that matches it. This one takes a little more prep work, but your kiddo will love it!

Paint the Alphabet

You can buy chalk paint brushes HERE. You can also find a recipe for chalk paint HERE for free.  Call out a letter (or letter sound) and have your child write the upper and lower case letters. If you have younger children who aren’t quite ready for this yet, you can write the letters in chalk and let them “paint” over it with a regular wet paintbrush. Wet sidewalk chalk turns bright and will be just as exciting!

These hands-on alphabet activities are sure to make your summer fun and filled with learning! They are easy to do, supplies are affordable, and your little learners will have a blast!

These hands-on alphabet activities will give your kids some tactile practice with the alphabet this summer. Turning learning into games and taking it outside makes it fun and engaging. Most of these activities take little to no advanced prep work.

If you would like to send this home with your students over the summer for some practice, this hand out with the game instructions is perfect for your summer bucket gift!

These hands-on alphabet activities are sure to make your summer fun and filled with learning! They are easy to do, supplies are affordable, and your little learners will have a blast!

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Next time you’ve got some time to spare, try one of these out. I’d love to hear how it goes! What’s your favorite way to practice the alphabet during the summer?

These hands-on alphabet activities are sure to make your summer fun and filled with learning! They are easy to do, supplies are affordable, and your little learners will have a blast!

Happy Teaching,

Amanda

EASILY PLAN YOUR K-2 READING SMALL GROUPS​

Want to use the latest research to boost your readers during small groups? This FREE guide is packed with engaging ideas to help them grow!

Hi, I'm Amanda

I’m a K-1 teacher who is passionate about making lessons your students love and that are easy to implement for teachers.  Helping teachers like you navigate their way through their literacy block brings me great joy. I am a lifelong learner who loves staying on top of current literacy learning and practices. Here, you’ll find the tools you need to move your K-2 students forward!

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