Author: GHoffman

Letters
Language & Literacy
School Readiness Kits
This kit was created and assembled by the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives in collaboration with the University of Kentucky Human Development Institute with funding from the School Ready Libraries Grant ; adapted from the work of the Grant County Public Library.

Language & Literacy: Letters
Goals
Understands that an oral message can be represented by written language.
Labels pictures or produces simple texts using scribble writing. 1
These goals were taken from Building a Strong Foundation for School Success: Kentucky’s Early Childhood Standards https://kidsnow.ky.gov/families/readiness/Documents/early-childhood-standards.pdf

January 2018
Page 1

Write
Suggested Activities
Have children practice writing their name whether by tracing over something that you have already written or by themselves. Name each letter as they write it.
Let children write in a variety of textures including things like shaving cream, sand and rice.
Let children use a variety of writing instruments to practice writing skills and forming letters. They could use crayons, pencils, markers, ink pens, paint brushes, chalk, sidewalk chalk, etc.
School Readiness Asides to Parents and Caregivers
Writing their own name is a skill that children will need the rest of their life. Praise them for attempting to write things even though you may not be able to read it.
Using a variety of writing instruments and writing in a variety of materials makes it fun and exciting for children to try.

January 2018
Page 3

Read
Suggested Activities
Read a story about letters and have children act out the story. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom would be a great story for this activity.
Read a story about the letters and have children pair with a friend and see if they can make the letters with their bodies.
Read books that children can “draw” the illustrations with their finger. They can outline letters,
School Readiness Aside to Parents and Caregivers
Reading a story about letters as well as making those letters with their bodies helps all types of learners-visual, auditory and kinesthetic.
Drawing with fingers helps build fine motor skills.

January 2018
Page 2

Sing
Sing the ABC song while showing the children the letters of the alphabet.
Create a bag of letters and sing this song as you pass around the bag and let each child take a letter:
Pass the Letters (To the tune of Muffin Man)
Oh, look who has the letter bag,
The letter bag, the letter bag,
Oh, look who has the letter bag,
Now please take a letter.
Now tell me what your letter is
Your letter is, your letter is
Tell me what your letter is
Oh please tell me now
Here we go round the alphabet tree,
The alphabet tree, the alphabet tree
Here we go round the alphabet tree
Singing the sound of letters.
This is the sound that /b/ can make
b, b, b, b, b, b
This is the sound that /b/ can makes In words like bell and baby.

January 2018
Page 4

Talk
Suggested Activities
Letters are everywhere. Play I Spy. Find a letter somewhere in your environment and either have the child point to what they think it is or touch the actual letter.
Have a letter treasure hunt. Hide magnetic or other letters around the room and see if children can find them. You can give clues such as your are getting warmer or cooler. When a child finds a letter talk about what words start with that letter.
Hide letters in a sensory bin. As they find the letters ask them questions such as:
What letter did you find?
Can you find the letters in your name?
School Readiness Asides to Parents and Caregivers
Playing I Spy helps build visual and processing skills that children will need as they enter kindergarten to attend to things going on around them.
Having children search for letters in a sensory bin helps to build persistence.

January 2018
Page 5

January 2018
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Play
Suggested Activities
Play musical chairs with a different letter on each chair seat. As the children sit down ask them to name the letter they are sitting on.
Let kids play with play dough to shape letters or cut them out of playdough with alphabet cookie cutters.
Have children string alphabits cereal and talk about the letters as they are stringing them.
School Readiness Asides to Parents and Caregivers
Playing musical chairs not only builds gross motor skills as well as listening skills and letter recognition skills.
Playing with playdough and stringing cereal helps build fine motor skills that children will need to write and cut.

January 2018
Page 6

Citation Page
ALIGNMENT OF STANDARDS AND BENCHMARKS. (2003, October 1). Retrieved March 07, 2017, from https://kidsnow.ky.gov/families/readiness/Documents/early-childhood-standards.pdf

January 2018
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January 2018
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January 2018
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January 2018
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January 2018
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