Playing with Letters

A few days ago, my daughter and I played with letters.

My mom gave me a set of laminated pages, with large upper case letters on them.
I rolled out pink play dough into long, rounded strips.

We began our lesson by identifying the letters. If she was unsure about a letter, I told her its name and then asked her "What letter is this?" We repeated the process until she could correctly identify the letter.

Then I asked my three-year-old to trace each letter with her finger, carefully guiding her to trace each line in the same way she would write the letter. [For example: an L would be traced from top to bottom, then from left to right.]

Next, she arranged the play dough strips to form each letter. Her favorite part of this was using a play tool to cut the extra length off the ends of the strips.

Afterward, I would ask her again to identify the letter she had copied. "What letter did you make?" And finally, I congratulated her on her accomplishment, "Good job! You made the letter ____!"

This was a fun learning activity - and it gave me an idea. I really liked the concept of the pages; however there were a few things I disliked about them. I also had some ideas of how to make the pages a little more functional...so I have begun making my own. The kids and I are pretty excited about them and I hope to be finished soon so I can share them with you too!

In the meantime, if you do not have a similar set of protected pages, you could try reusing a clear plastic lid. Cut the edges off of the lid. Draw or print the alphabet on plain sheets of paper. Then place your clear lid over the letter you would like to teach your child about. Or maybe tape a sheet of plastic wrap to the table [with blue painter's tape - or another easily removable tape], leaving a space to slide your letter pages underneath. I'm sure you could do this exercise directly on your paper too...I imagine your play dough may stick a bit though. [I haven't tried any of these...they are just ideas. Let me know if you do & how they worked out.]