Ready to start learning the alphabet? Here we go! We will be learning letter A through letter tracing and writing practice, books, crafts, songs, STEM, worksheets, and fun!
Monday — A is for Apple
- Writing Practice: write uppercase letter A. I found a free worksheet from AtoZteacherstuff.com:
- Books: The Apple Pie that Papa Baked by Lauren Thompson. I love Lauren Thompson’s books! (Try her Little Quack series if you haven’t’ discovered them yet — they are too cute). In this apple pie book, the cumulative and lyrical text create a sweet story that teaches preschoolers about nature and the apple’s life cycle.
Check you local library for this book — it’s a great read 🙂 You can also buy it on Amazon. I joined Amazon’s Affiliate program, so if you buy an item through my site’s links, I get a small portion of the sale to help support this website.
We also read 10 Apples Up On Top by Dr. Seuss. In this funny, rhyming book, a lion, a tiger, and a dog compete to see who can stack apples on their head and do tricks without the apples falling! While they keep trying to outdo each other, the animals inadvertently find themselves in the bears’ home. The bears chase the animals (who still have apples still stacked on their heads) into an apple cart! Now everyone has 10 apples up on top 🙂 Your child laugh at this silly story and enjoy the animals’ crazy antics. Plus, this books offers a fun way to incorporate counting!
HERE IS A LIST OF GREAT APPLE STORIES FOR PRESCHOOLERS!
- Craft: Tissue Paper Apple — supplies needed are a piece of paper, pencil, glue stick, and tissue paper in red, green and brown (or orange).
I drew a rough outline of an apple on a piece of paper and then I cut red tissue paper into 1-inch squares.
My son and I both scrunched up the red tissue paper squares together — great for preschool fine motor skills. After we had a lot of of tissue balls, my kiddo covered his apple shape in glue and then glued the tissue all over his apple.
After covering then entire apple in red tissue, we scrunched up green tissue to make a leaf. My kiddo added the green leaf, but thought his apple was still missing something. He decided to add an orange stem (I didn’t have brown tissue paper).
His apple turned out pretty cute! We really enjoyed doing this craft together and I love that he added his own creative ideas with the stem.
- Song: preschoolers love to sing! Don’t worry if your singing voice isn’t great because your child will be having too much fun with you to care. Sing Raffi’s Apples and Bananas song. It is the perfect combination of silly verses and phonetic vowel sounds for preschoolers. Find it here on YouTube.
- Rhyme: get your fingers ready to help act out the Apple Finger Rhyme !
Tuesday —
- STEM: 5 Senses — we have 5 senses: sight, touch, smell, taste, and sound. Let’s use our 5 senses on an apple! (1) What color is the apple? Do you see any marks on the apple? (2) what does the apple feel like? Is it smooth or rough? (3) Take a sniff. Does the apple have a sweet smell? (4) Take a bite and taste the apple. Is it yummy? (5) What do you hear? Can you hear crunching sounds when you chew your apple?
- Air Writing: Ask your child to hold up a hand and trace letter shapes with their finger in the air. I was skeptical of this at first, but my son really got into it and I periodically find him air writing his letters all on his own.
- Book: Read Apple Picking Day by Candace Ransom — Ransom’s trademark short story with great pictures makes this book a good choice for kids who can’t sit still for long stories. The family goes apple picking and the reader gets to enjoy the fun with them. Preschoolers will get caught up in the excitement as the brother and sister race against other kids in the orchard to see who can pick the most apples.
- Apple Counting: Try this fun apple counting activity with your preschooler! Print out the flash cards and tree picture, and then add pompoms to be your apples.
Wednesday — A is for Ant
- Writing Practice: write lowercase letter a. We used this free worksheet from AtoZteacherstuff.com.
- Book: The Ant and the Grasshopper by Luli Gray. This book has bright, exciting pictures that will capture preschoolers’ imaginations! Based on the Aesop’s Fable of the same name, this book shows that it is important to work hard and plan ahead, but that it is also important to be a good friend and enjoy some fun! Check you library, or get it on Amazon.
- Craft: Egg Carton Ant — make your own cute, little ant out of an egg carton! The supplies needed are a paper egg carton, washable paints, paintbrush, pipe cleaners, sharpened pencil, scissors, and googly eyes. Click on the link for the how-to instructions.
- Song: Sing The Ants Go Marching. This song is a preschool favorite — it’s catchy, you get to say “boom,” and counting is involved!
- Worksheet: Ant counting and coloring — Count how many ants are at the picnic and then color the picture.
Thursday —
- Salt Tray Writing: cover the bottom of a shallow tray or pie tin with table salt. Your child can take one finger to trace letter shapes in the salt. Practice both uppercase A and lowercase a.
- Worksheets: recognize letter A in this worksheet– Color the boxes with letter A. Trace all of the letters in the alphabet with the Very Hungry Caterpillar– Apple alphabet tracing.
- Apple Taste Test: We went to the grocery store and bought different kinds of apples and we had an apple taste test when we got home! It was fun to try to different apple flavors and compare them to each other. Our favorites were Honeycrisp and Fuji.
- Book: Berenstain’s A Book: Jan and Stan Berenstain, authors of the popular Berenstain Bears series, also wrote a book all about the letter A. This book contains lots of words that start with A! Filled with silliness and great pictures, this book will capture preschoolers’ attention and make learning letter A lots of fun.
Friday — A is for Anaconda
- Writing Practice: Write Uppercase A and lowercase a. My son used this Letter A worksheet that I found on K5 Learning: https://www.k5learning.com/worksheets/kindergarten/tracing-letters-a.pdf
- Book — We read I Saw Anaconda by Jane Clarke with illustrations by Emma Dodd. This a cumulative, lift-the-flap book about an anaconda that eats everything around it. The snake ends up getting sick — ick! My son says this anaconda book is awesome because it has so many flaps! Every page is interactive and he giggles as the anaconda eats everything in sight. Plus, he learned about some new animals (a stork, piranhas, and a skink).
- Craft — Spiral Plate Anaconda. Supplies needed are a paper plate, bubble wrap, green, washable paint, rolling pin, googly eyes, pink paper, and scissors. I found this craft on one of my favorite crafts sites: https://www.craftymorning.com/paper-plate-snake-craft-using-rolling-pin/
For this craft you will use the bubble wrap as a stamp to make the snake’s scales. I am a big fan of out-of-the-box paintbrush ideas, so using bubble wrap to make the snake scales is a super cool idea.
- Song — Sing along to The Letter A Song by ABCmouse.com: https://youtu.be/beT_KcblaBI