Letter A Activities for Tot-School
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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.
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 setup 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.
Practical Life Activity – Washing Apples and Slicing
Fine Motor Activity – Stringing Airplane Beads
I used pipe-cleaners on this, but you could use lacing string as well.
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 them into a lacing card. Then I tied a lacing string on the end of each.
Letter “A” Play Dough Mat
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).
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.
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.
Pre-Writing – Sand Paper & Wooden Letters
We don't have our sandpaper 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 Workbook.
I started this activity by having her trace 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 Workbook “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 them that way.
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.
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Heather Greutman, COTA
Heather Greutman is a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant with experience in school-based OT services for preschool through high school. She uses her background to share child development tips, tools, and strategies for parents, educators, and therapists. She is the author of many ebooks including The Basics of Fine Motor Skills, and Basics of Pre-Writing Skills, and co-author of Sensory Processing Explained: A Handbook for Parents and Educators.