Do you, too, find rocks that have been left in pant pockets and washed through the spin cycle? This rock letters alphabet activity will put the straggling (now clean) stones to use! Rock letters are a great way to get preschoolers excited about the alphabet!
This letter recognition activity is easy to make and fun to play. – I love when this happens! And yes, I also have these smooth river rocks listed below if your rock collection could an upgrade.
RELATED: Simple supplies keep learning fun and easy. You can find this idea, plus 101 preschool activities organized in one place.
How do you teach the alphabet?
Teach alphabet letters starting with the letters in your child’s name. Children have time to master the alphabet letters and sounds, so I don’t need to toss all 26 in front of them at once. Children can learn in small doses along the way.
Here, we start with the beginning letter of each child’s name. This introduction helps him make a personal connection with the letters introduced.
Toddler activities must be short and sweet to introduce the concept and allow some (actually a lot) of freedom for exploration.
How I teach this alphabet activity
- I introduce one letter one at a time, saying something like, “This is a W. W makes this sound /w/. I hear that sound when I say, /W/ William.” I make the sound a few times as I introduce the letter.
- When I make the sound, I ask my toddler to watch my mouth and ask him to repeat the sound back to me.
- Next, I ask my three-year-old to find the same letter on the paper.
- Once he matches the letter, I say, “That is correct! You have a W on your rock, and a W on the paper. Will begins with W.” – and I will say the sound /w/ to associate with the letter name.
Alphabet activities are the best when they are quick to introduce and hands-on to practice, just like this! These are five simple ways to include reading readiness into your day at home with kids.
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White Paper Roll
This paper is a staple in our home. Place it on the table or a verticle surface. So many uses!
Share these markers with your kids, or keep them for yourself. I am not one to judge; I like my own pack too.
Smooth River Rocks
These river rocks are smooth and easy to write on.
White Chalk Marker
This chalk marker works well with the river rocks to write letters on each one.
Set One Preschool Activity Cards
This activity is located on Set One in our preschool activity cards. The card will show you set up, what to expect, conversations, and how to extend learning with your preschoolers.
When to play letter activities
We’ve played Rock Letters to help introduce the letters of my children’s name for years!
You can see the same activity, plus 20 others, on set one of Breakfast Invitations. These are simple learning games that help children move right into independent play.
RELATED: Want a few more tools for learning letters? We love these toys to help with alphabet recognition!
Once your toddler masters the letters shown here, you can then play Find Your Name. The idea is similar and is a fun way to boost name recognition.
Grab the rocks! It is time to practice our letters! If you want to include letters in your collection, here are our favorite alphabet toys for kids.
Start with the letters in your child’s name. These letters are familiar to children, which makes them more invested. Children who feel connected to learning are more likely to take risks. Use these 15-name activities to get started.
We can step back when a child struggles to memorize letter names. Begin talking about the letters you notice in your environment and invite your child to play with the letters in their name. Take learning letters slow to honor your child’s pace. Meet your child at the stage they are by identifying a few letters at a time. Add more letters as your child develops.
When children show reading readiness, we want to model what our mouth looks like when saying the letter sound. Begin talking about how our voice box vibrates (or doesn’t) when making the letter sounds. Bringing attention to these details will help your child decode words as reading becomes more complex over the years. Read A Parent’s Guide to Phonemic Awareness.