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Growing Hands-On Kids

Growing Hands-On Kids

Child Development Tips, Tools, and Strategies

You are here: Home / Hands-On Activities / Letter A Activities for Tot-School

Letter A Activities for Tot-School

September 22, 2015 By Heather Greutman Leave a Comment

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We just completed our letter A activities in our tot-school this past week so today I am sharing a round-up of all the activities we did as well as the resources we used for each activity.

Letter A tot-school activity ideas for ages 3-4.

For each week of tot-school that I plan with the letter of the week theme, I divide into 8 sections with one activity per section for the week:

  • Bible
  • Practical Life
  • Fine Motor
  • Sensory
  • Pre-Writing
  • Gross Motor
  • Reading & Math
  • Craft (typically themed with our Bible lesson)

Our Bible activity each week does not necessarily go with the letter we are doing since we are following the monthly theme our church sets out in their Bible school curriculum. So I will just briefly list that activity at the end of this post.

Items Needed for Letter A Tot-School Week

Each week I use our Weekly Homeschool Planner pre-school pages to plan out the week and also list out the items I need for each week. Here are this week's items:

  • Little Letter A Book – The Measured Mom
  • Montessori: Letter Work
  • Alligator & Airplane lacing card
  • Apple #'s 1-10: From The Preschool Journey ebook
  • Apples
  • Wooden Apples
  • Apple Tree Play Dough Mats – This Reading Mama
  • Letter A Play Dough Mats – 1+1+1=1
  • Apple slicer/corer
  • Airplane beads
  • Acorn glass beads
  • Bead Lacing String
  • Fine motor tweezers 
  • Montessori Wood Sorting Tray
  • Apple scented play dough
  • Salt writing tray and salt or sand (I used a set from Montessori By Mom Language Box)
  • Handwriting Without Tears Wood Piece Set for Capital Letters with letter cards

Our Letter A Tot-School Shelves

This was the set up of our shelves this week. You can also check out my separate tot-school room post to see how I have our school area set up.

Letter A tot-school shelves.

Practical Life Activity – Washing Apples and Slicing

Letter A Apple Washing practical life activity.

Fine Motor Activity – Stringing Airplane Beads

I used pipe-cleaners on this, but you could use lacing string as well.

Letter A stringing Airplane beads.

Alligator & Airplane Lacing Card

I used the links above to the alligator and airplane graphics, laminated them, cut them out and then used a hole punch to make it into a lacing card. Then I tied a lacing string on the end of each.

Letter A lacing cards.

Letter “A” Play Dough Mat

Letter A play dough mats.

Acorn Fine Motor Tray

I set this up with the Montessori wood sorter tray, fine motor tweezers, glass acorns and also a glass container to keep the acorns in when she isn't using the activity (keeps them out of reach from baby brother too).

Acorn fine motor tray.

Apple Tree and Acorn Play – Optional

Ellie came up with this all by herself, using the play dough mats, wooden apples, and glass acorn beads.

Letter A Apple tree.

Sensory – Apple Scented Play Dough

This is a recipe I made last year, Green Apple scented play dough and it's a guest post over on Life Over C's.

Green apple scented play dough

Pre-Writing – Sand Paper & Wooden Letters

We don't have our sand paper letters yet, so I used the moveable alphabet cards and sand writing tray from our Montessori by Mom Language box, and also Handwriting Without Tears. We also used the Montessori: Letter Work book.

I started this activity by having her tracing the capital letter on the tray above and repeating “start at the top, big line down.” x2 and then “Little line across.” Then we traced the small A in the Montessori Letter Work book “start at the top, circle around, line up and then down.”

Then I had her place the moveable alphabet cards in front of the sand and practice tracing or copying the letters in the sand. I also had her put the cards under the sand and trace that way.

Letter A pre-writing tracing.

 

Gross Motor – ABC's of Movement “A” Activity Card

I love these movement cards, there's one for each letter of the alphabet. You can read my review of them here.

the ABC's of Movement activity cards.

Reading & Math – Little Letter A Book

Head over to The Measured Mom to get your Little Letter A book. Ellie really loved this book and we read it multiple times a day.

Craft – Basket for Baby Moses Craft

We actually did not make it to this craft this week, but you can head over to Christian Montessori Network to see how to make the Basket for Baby Moses craft.

ABCs-of-the-Bible-Craft

Want to see a sneak peak of what we do each week? Follow me on Instagram and follow the hashtag #GrowHandsOnKids. I share our tot-school activities each week over there.

Resources for Tot-School Activities


Follow Heather | Growing Hands-On Kids's board Homeschool Tot-School Ideas on Pinterest.

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Filed Under: Hands-On Activities Tagged With: Fine Motor, For Parents, Infants/Toddlers 0-3, Tot-School, Writing Activities

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CONTENT DISCLAIMER: Heather Greutman is a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant. All information on the Website is for informational purposes only and is not a replacement for medical advice from a physician or your pediatrician. Please consult with a medical professional if you suspect any medical or developmental issues with your child. The information on the Websites does not replace the relationship between therapist and client in a one-on-one treatment session with an individualized treatment plan based on their professional evaluation. The information provided on the Website is provided “as is” without any representations or warranties, express or implied. Do not rely on the information on the Website as an alternative to advice from your medical professional or healthcare provider. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment as a result of any information provided on the Website. All medical information on the Website is for informational purposes only. All activities outlined on the Website are designed for completion with adult supervision. Please use your own judgment with your child and do not provide objects that could pose a choking hazard to young children. Never leave a child unattended during these activities. Please be aware of and follow all age recommendations on all products used in these activities. Growing Hands-On Kids is not liable for any injury when replicating any of the activities found on this blog. YOUR RESPONSIBILITY The Website was developed strictly for informational purposes. You understand and agree that you are fully responsible for your use of the information provided on the Website. Growing Hands-On Kids makes no representations, warranties or guarantees. You understand that results may vary from person to person. Growing Hands-On Kids assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions that may appear in the Website.

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Welcome to Growing Hands-On Kids! My name is Heather and I’m a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant with experience in school-based Occupational Therapy. I use my background to share child development tips, tools, and strategies through hands-on activities. You can read more about me by clicking here.

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