Teaching the Alphabet With 10 Fun Multi-Sensory Activities

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Children learn letters and letter sounds through varied and repeated exposure and practice with the alphabet. Let’s take a look at ten fun and easy multi-sensory activities that are perfect for teaching the alphabet to your kids.

teach the alphabet with multi sensory alphabet activities

What Literacy Concepts Should Kids Know Before Kindergarten?

There are a variety of opinions on exactly what kids should know before entering kindergarten. You can find suggestions for kindergarten readiness from school districts, state education associations, or professional organizations.

While readiness lists include a variety of self-help, language, and social-emotional behaviors, each list typically includes some items from the math and English language arts domains.

teach letters to preschoolers

Typically, some of these literacy foundational skills are found on the kindergarten readiness lists. While each child learns at a different pace and instruction should be provided in a developmentally appropriate way, these are some of the skills that will help kids learn to become fluent readers and writers.

  • Recognize or identify some letter names
  • Identify the sounds of some letters
  • Differentiate between sounds that are the same and different
  • Identify the beginning sound of some words
  • Recognize environmental print (familiar signs or logos)
  • Demonstrate book awareness (understand that books are read front to back, top to bottom, left to right…. and can retel a simple story)
  • Recognize name in print
  • Attempts to write first name

How Do I Start Teaching the Alphabet?

Alphabet awareness is a foundational skill of early literacy. One of the best ways to start developing alphabet awareness is by focusing on letters in everyday life and focusing on the most important letters in a child’s life – the letters in his or her name.

Name activities are a great way to start introducing young children to the letters and sounds of the alphabet. After learning the first letter of their name, kids will learn the remaining letters in their name. To help them learn additional letters, be sure to provide varied and repeated exposure and letter activities.

There are many different opinions about how to introduce letters to kids and whether to introduce them in a particular order. Whether you focus on a letter of the week, a letter of the day, or teach multiple letters to your little learners at the same time, using multi-sensory alphabet activities is both fun and effective for teaching letters.

What are Multi-Sensory Activities

Multi-sensory activities engage more than one sense at a time and give kids more than one way to connect with what they are learning

Why are Multi-Sensory Activities Great for Learning Early Literacy Skills?

Kids need to use auditory skills to develop phonological awareness and phonemic awareness. They need to use visual skills to learn phonics. So….multi-sensory activities are necessary to learn to read. But you can enhance learning by using more senses. When kids learn something with more than one sense, they will more likely remember the information.

10 Multi-Sensory Alphabet Activity Ideas

Now….on to the fun part. I love creating playful alphabet activities for kids. Here are 10 multi-sensory alphabet activities for your kids. These are some of my favorite ABC activities, and I know you and your kids will love these great ideas.

Play dough Letter Smoosh

This fun hands-on learning activity will help your kids focus on the shape of the letters to help them learn letter identification and alphabet recognition. Get out some different colors of playdough and a playdough mat. Show them how to form letters with coils of playdough. Say the names of letters and the sounds of the letters as you smoosh fingerprints into the coil.

learn letters with multi-sensory playdough activity.  A letter S playdough mat -  an example of teaching the alphabet with multi-sensory activities

Salt Tray & Air Letters

Say the sound of a letter as you write it with your finger in a salt tray. Say the sound as you use your finger to form the letter in the air.

forming letters with a salt tray - an example of teaching the alphabet with multi-sensory activities

Songs with Actions

Sure, you can sing the classic ABC song. But it’s even better if you remember to make it multi-sensory…..sing an alphabet song that combines letters, sounds, and movement. Singable Songs for Letters and Sounds by Heidi Songs is a great one to check out.

teach the alphabet with songs

Tactile Letters

This activity is like classic sandpaper letters, but are so much more exciting. Use printable letter cards or make your own from construction paper. To make it into a multi-sensory activity, glue items to the letter on the card to create a tactile letter card. Stop by this blog post to get lots of material ideas for your DIY tactile letter cards.

Demonstrate to your kids how to use their index finger to trace the letter as they say it’s sound.

sequins on a letter card

Letter Parade

Create a large letter on the floor with painter’s tape. Pretend to play a musical instrument as you march around the letter. When I worked in a preschool in Columbus, Ohio, we always played Ohio State Marching Band Music. You can even show them a video of Script Ohio for inspiration.

Don’t forget to pretend that your instrument makes the same sound as the letter.

Letter Racetrack

Create a large letter on the floor with masking tape. Trace the letter by driving toy cars over the lines. This is a great way for them to learn the shape of the letter. Don’t forget to pretend that your car makes the corresponding sounds of the letters. Note, how we added a dot sticker on this letter to teach kids the starting point for proper letter formation.

make a letter racetrack made with painter's tape  to help kids learn letters -  an example of teaching the alphabet with multi-sensory activities

Animal Parade

Walk or swim a toy animal over a letter. Pretend that the animals say the name of the letter as they walk.

use toy animals to teach letter recognition

Pick Up & Place

Use tweezers, tongs, or clothespin clips to pick up pom-poms, mini-erasers, or rocks. Place the objects on a letter as you say the sound of the letter.

placing mini erasers on letter cards

Fuzzy Letters

Create letters with chenille stems. Trace the fuzzy letter with your finger as you say the sound of the letter.

Use pipe cleaners to form letters

Drive Around Letters

Do you know some kiddos who loves cars? This is the best way to combine their interest with learning the letters of the alphabet.

Place letter signs on the floor. Drive toy cars around the signs. Say the letter sound as you drive around it. You can make a fun letter matching activity with these signs. Kids can drive a circle around the uppercase letter sign and then find the corresponding lowercase letter sign and drive around it. This is a FUN way to teach letter recognition.

letter recognition activities - matching uppercase and lowercase letters

Get Your Free Printable

Are you ready to start trying some of these fun multi-sensory alphabet activities today? Let me send you my FREE Multi-Sensory Alphabet Activity Guide.

The free printable includes all of these different activities and ideas. PLUS, it includes the printable letter signs pictured above in the drive-around activity.  Fill out the form below and I will be happy to send the free printable directly to your inbox.

multi-sensory alphabet activities

Additional Alphabet Activity ideas

Need some additional ideas for teaching the alphabet? Check out these letter activity ideas from Early Learning Ideas.

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