Children can practice letter identification, letter formation, and fine motor skills with these free printable fall alphabet cards and read-write-build mat. A great addition to your fall activities for preschoolers!
You can grab your own copy at the end of this post.
Related: How to Teach the Alphabet Without Letter of the Week
Fall Alphabet Cards
These letter printables are great for use in your preschool classroom. I suggest using them during small groups first. This way, you can introduce the concept to the children.
Once the kids are comfortable with using the read it, write it, build it mats, you can add them to your literacy center. This will give the kids a chance to practice independently.
Materials for the Read Write Build Mats
You don’t need much to get started with the fall alphabet printable. Here are my suggestions for materials to pair with the cards:
- Printable fall ABC cards (get your own copy at the bottom of this post)
- Laminator
- Dry erase pockets
- Fall-themed mini erasers
- Dry erase markers
- Magnetic letters
Instead of magnetic letters and mini erasers, you can use any type of manipulative you prefer. Some possibilities:
How to Prep the Alphabet Printable
Print out the read, write, build letter mat. In fact, you might want to print out enough for a small group of children.
Print out the coordinating letter cards, as well. Print a few extra sets if you’d like to.
Related: Fall Cutting Strips
Cut the fall alphabet cards apart into individual letters. I suggest laminating the letters as they’ll last a lot longer that way. You’ll likely be able to use them for years this way.
You can laminate the read it, write it, build it mats as well. Alternatively, place the mats in dry erase pockets. Again, this helps with durability.
Once the fall printable is all ready to go, gather the materials you’d like to use with it. I suggest starting with dry erase markers and magnetic letters. You can determine what else you’d like to use in addition to those.
Learning and Playing with Fall Alphabet Cards
Give the children the read, write, build mats. Kids can use them individually or in pairs.
Pass out some of the fall alphabet cards as well. Depending on the needs of your students, you might want to start with just a few letters. If so, I suggest starting with the letters in the children’s names.
Next, the kids can choose one letter card to start with. This card goes in the “read” box. Encourage the children to identify the letter on their cards.
From there, have the children move onto the “write” or “build” boxes. You and the children can decide which one should be next.
The kids use a dry erase marker to write the letter in the “write” box. As needed, talk the children through the correct formation of the letters they’re writing.
Related: Simple Early Literacy Activities
They can use various manipulatives to make the letters in the “build” box. If you’re using magnetic letters, it’s more of a matching activity. If they’re creating the letters with items like mini erasers, it’s a different variation on letter formation.
As the children are using the fall letter cards and mats, chat with the children about the sounds the letters make. You can help them make connections to words that begin with the letters, as well. This is especially meaningful if you can connect some of the letters to kids’ names.
Related: Free Preschool Printables
In terms of learning, kids can practice a variety of skills with the letter cards. Here are a few of the concepts:
- Letter identification
- Fine motor skills
- Letter formation
- Letter-sound correspondence
You can even work on basic sight words or short CVC words if you’d like to.
How do YOU plan to use the fall alphabet cards with your students?
Free Printable Alphabet Cards for Fall
The fall alphabet cards are available for members of Fun-A-Day’s free email community. If you’re already a member, just add your information in the form below to get the cards sent to you.
If you’re not a member, you can join by entering your name and email on the form below. Then you’ll receive the fall letter printable as a welcome gift.
If you can’t see the above form, click here to access it.
Done-For-You Preschool Resources
Let Preschool Teacher 101 take some of that weight off your shoulders with ready-to-go lesson plans and other early learning activities.
Click on the images below for more information about each resource. And be sure to check out the membership options, too.
This is such a fun activity for Pre-K students it teaches Phonological Awareness. The students not only see the letter written out but they also have manipulatives to help them write the word out using Play-Dough. I liked how the activity was set up not only for learning the letter but also for providing a place where they can see it, write it, and build it.
Thanks, Lauren! Yes, I tried to make the mats and ABC cards so they can be used by kids with different needs. 🙂