FREE list: 200+ Materials for Preschool Letter Activities and Collages

Use letter activities like alphabet collages or letter mats to help kids learn letter recognition and to reinforce letter-sound associations. Here are over 200 material ideas that you can use for your alphabet collages, letter crafts projects, or letter mats. You can also get A FREE ABC materials reference list.

Letter Crafts

There is much debate in the world of early childhood education about whether craft-making is appropriate.  While I am definitely a proponent of process art, I believe that preschool craft activities can be beneficial in several ways.  Crafts can provide opportunities to work on strengthening fine motor skills and following step-by-step directions. 

But, I like to ensure that there is room for self-expression within the project.

Alphabet Collage

Alphabet collage is a craft project that can also help kids work on:

• letter recognition
• writing letters/ proper letter formation
• reinforcing letter-sound associations

PLUS, the alphabet project can provide a great sensory, tactile, and fine motor experience.    I have provided a large list of material ideas that will help you create a collage or craft for each letter of the alphabet.   I even included a printable list that you can use as a reference.

Fine Motor Activities

So you don’t want to do a craft project?  No problem.  The materials listed below also work for fine motor activities.  Kids can place the materials on a printable letter to work on

• letter recognition
• letter formation
• letter-sound associations

A Note About Letter of the Week Activities

Just as the role of craft activities in the preschool classroom is up for debate, the use of a Letter of the Week is also controversial.  If you do a letter of the week in your classroom, you will love the material list to help you with ideas.  If you don’t introduce a letter of the week in your classroom, you will still find my material list useful as you introduce letters and revisit letters throughout the year.

Make a Letter Page

To create a collage or letter mat you will first need to make a letter page or a page with big bubble letters on it. There are several ways to prepare your letter pages.   Draw a large letter on a piece of construction paper or card stock. Make a pattern with a piece of cardboard or cardstock.  Then, trace the letter onto pieces of paper. You can also use printable bubble letters (I used editable ABC Collage Pages from my store for many of the pictures here).

Now, you can create a collage by gluing some of the materials listed below to the page. This is the fun part!  If you want to make a letter mat that can be used over and over again, just laminate the pages.  Then, kids can then place some of the items listed below inside the shape of the letter on each mat instead of gluing.

Letter Project Material Ideas List

You can use just generic materials to fill in the bubble letters, but sometimes it’s fun to use a material that starts with the same letter as the on the page.  This is where it gets tricky.  I know that you are super busy and you can’t always think of things to use.  So I have helped you out.

Here are a BUNCH of material ideas for every letter of the alphabet.  Look at all these ideas for letter activities!

Some of the ideas work well for craft projects, while others work better for a letter fine motor activity.  Scroll down to the bottom of the page to get a printable list that you can always have on hand for reference.

Have fun and be creative!

Letter A Alphabet Activity Material Ideas

Try out some of these materials to create Letter A crafts or collages:

• apple stickers
• animal stickers
• small animals
• ant stickers
• plastic ants
• toy ambulance
• use the letter A as an air
  plane runway for a toy airplane
• animal crackers
• avocado colored paint

Letter B Alphabet Activity Material Ideas

With all these ideas, it should be pretty easy to find items to create a fun Letter B craft collage.

• blue paper strips/collage items
• blue sticker dots, balloon stickers
• artificial berries
• beads, buttons
• dried beans
• band-aids,
• small blocks
• balloon painting
• counting bears
• bows
• bubble paint
• strips of bubble wrap
• butterfly, bug, or bee stickers
• plastic butterflies, bees, or bugs
• blue torn paper
• bubble painting

Letter C Activities Material Ideas

Here are some materials that you can use to create a letter C craft page.

• car stickers or stamps
• crayons
• torn cardboard scraps
• candy
• coins
• cookies or crackers
• small cars
• candles
• cubes
• corn kernels
• print with an ear of small corn on the cob
• cotton (or clouds)
• confetti

Letter D Materials for Alphabet Activities

I think that your kids will have fun with some of these Letter D craft materials.

• dot markers or dot stickers
• dinosaur counters or stickers
• dominoes
• dice
• plastic ducks
• small plastic dinosaurs or dragons
• dog stickers
• dog treats
• donut holes
• dandelions or daisies
• daisies
• strips of denim
• dirt

Letter E Material Ideas for Alphabet Activities

Looking for ideas for letter E crafts or activities? check these out:

• smashed eggshells
• Easter egg stickers
• erasers
• small plaster eggs
• googly eyes
• print with half a plastic Easter egg
• Elmo stickers
• elephant stickers or stamps
• emoji stickers or erasers

Letter F Activity Material Ideas

Are you ready to make a letter F craft? Try these materials.

• feathers
• dried or silk flowers
• fingerprints
• fish stickers
• flag stickers
• small flags
• fruit loops
• plastic frogs
• plastic fish
• photos of friends or family
• foam
• strips of foil
• fur
• fluffy, fuzzy or just plain fabric

Letter G Activities Material Ideas

From glitter to grass clippings, there are lots of materials that you can use for letter G crafts and activities.

• use glitter pens
• glitter or glitter paper strips
• green collage items
• goldfish crackers
• Easter grass
• grass clippings
• drips or drops of glue
• plastic grapes
• pieces of gum
• golf tees
• game pieces

Letter H Materials

I’m happy to provide a few ideas for letter H crafts and activities.

• smiley face stickers (happy)
• heart stamps or stickers
• hair (use doll hair from the craft store)
• Monopoly houses
• small plastic horses
• horse stickers
• holes (make holes with a hole punch)

Letter I Activities with these Materials

It may be a bit more difficult to think of ideas for letter I crafts and activities. Check these out:

• insect counters, stickers or stamps
• ice cream stickers
• ink
• plastic ice cubes
• ivy
• broken ice cream cones
• plastic icicle ornaments
• paint with ice

Letter J Activity Materials

Looking for ideas for letter J crafts and collages? Try out some of these fun materials.

• jingle bells
• jellybeans
• jewels or jewelry
• jack-o-lantern stickers or erasers
• junk food wrappers
• jigsaw puzzle pieces
• jeans (denim fabric scraps)
• jungle plants
• jacks
• pieces of jump rope

Letter K Activity Materials

From keys to kisses, here are a few materials that you can use for letter K crafts and activities.

• keys
• key prints
• kite stickers
• kale
• kangaroo, kitten, or koala stickers/stamps
• Hershey’s kisses
• lip-print stickers (kisses)
• small king playing cards
• kettle corn

Letter L Activity Materials

Letter L crafts and activities will be fun with these materials:

• letter stickers
• legos, lace
• ladybug stamps/stickers
• leaves (real or silk)
• lentils
• lids
• lollipops
• plastic lemons
• lemon prints
• Christmas lights

Letter M Activity Material Ideas

There are LOTS of materials that you can use for letter M crafts. Check these out:

• dried macaroni
• marshmallows
• play money
• stick-on mustaches
• markers
• plastic mice
• marble painting
• m&m’s
• monkeys (from a barrel full of monkeys game)
• mud or mulch
• magnets

Letter N Activity Material Ideas

Make letter N crafts with ease with these materials:

• strips of newspaper
• noodles
• nest materials
• number stickers
• nose pictures
• nuts (….as in nuts and bolts)

Letter O Activity Material Ideas

Oh my goodness! Here are some great materials that you can use for letter O crafts and activities.

• orange paper/collage elements
• ovals (print with a squished paper towel roll)
• owl stickers/stamps
• ocean stickers or small plastic ocean creatures
• oatmeal
• mini Oreos
• ocean animals
• cheerios
• stamp or paint with sliced okra

Material Ideas for Letter P Activities

I have lots of letter P craft ideas for you!

• popcorn
• purple paper or collage elements
• puzzle pieces
• paper clips
• post-it notes
• pennies
• pom-poms
• Pez candies
• paw print stickers/stamps
• pencil
• paint
• torn paper
• photos of pets
• foam peanuts
• pasta
• pieces of plastic

Material Ideas for Letter Q Activities

Q is not the easiest letter, is it? Here are a few materials that you can use for your letter Q craft and activities.

• squares of patterned fabric to look like a quilt
• q-tips
• quarters
• question mark stamps

Letter R Activity Materials

I have lots of ideas for letter R crafts for you.

• red paper or collage elements
• rainbow stickers
• rose petals
• rough textures (sandpaper)
• rocks
• ribbons
• rice
• rainbow rice
• rubber bands
• ribbon strips
• toy rings
• rhinestones

Letter S Activity Materials

Here are some letter S craft material ideas.

• snow (cotton balls, white puffballs, or fake snow used for Christmas village displays)
• white playdough
• snowflake stickers
• white glitter (snow)
• smiley face stickers
• spaghetti noodles
• stamps
• sand
• stars
• sequins
• strips of string
• drinking straws
• straw
• streamers
• sticks
• seeds
• soil

Material Ideas for Letter T Alphabet Activities

You can make some fun letter T crafts with these supplies:

• toilet paper
• strips of tape
• triangles
• train stickers/stamps
• toothpicks, tissue paper
• tickets
• turtle stickers
• plastic turtles
• small toy tractors

Letter U Materials

I struggled to think of letter U craft ideas. Here are a few ideas. Can you think of any more?

• letter u stamps/stickers
• drink umbrellas,
• arrow stickers or stamps (up)

Material Ideas for Letter V Activities

From violets to vines, these materials will help you make some fun letter V crafts.

• violet paper or collage elements
• artificial violet flowers
• vegetable stickers
• vegetable pictures from a seed catalog
• print with vegetables
• Valentine stickers
• vines

Material Ideas for the Letter W

Do you need letter W craft ideas? Look no further!

• watermelon stickers
• wheel prints
• plastic worms
• wagon wheel pasta
• watercolor paint
• water drops (on a laminated letter)
• strips of washi tape

Letter X Activity Material Ideas

Finding materials for letter X crafts is a little challenging. Here are some ideas for you:

• letter X stamp
• x-ray strips (I printed the x-rays from my Doctor Dramatic Play set)
• number six stamps

Letter Y Materials

Do you need some ideas for letter Y crafts and activities? Here are a few:

• yarn
• yellow paper or collage elements

Letter Z Materials

Last, but not least, I have some ideas for letter Z crafts for you.

• zig zags (cut small strips of zigzag paper using pinking scissors)
• zoo animals, zippers
• attach a zipper to a block to make a zipper print or stamp
• small zoo animals or zoo animal stickers
• zebra stamps or stickers

Get a Printable Materials List

Would you like a printable version of this list so that you will have it on hand when planning your letter activities? Fill out the form below, and I’ll send the list directly to your mailbox.

Additional Ideas

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• Print a bunch of pictures of the kids in your class or pictures of your friends/family.  Kids can then paste the photos on letter pages.
• Bind all the pages together into a family book or class book.
• Make a book about a specific letter.  Use a different material for each page.
• Create a name book featuring the letter in each child’s name.

Purchase The ABC Collage Sheet Printables

The editable printable ABC Collage Sheets shown in many of the pictures above can be purchased at my store.  Use the sheets to create a custom alphabet book or use the pages individually.  Click on the image below to purchase the resource.

Do you prefer to shop at Teachers Pay Teachers? You can also purchase the Alphabet Collage Sheets in my TPT Store.

I hope that you have fun using alphabet pages for letter activities.  Do you have additional material ideas that can be added to the list?  Please let me know.