Free Alphabet Printable for Hands-On Learning This Spring

Grab your free alphabet printable read it, write it, build it mat for spring at the bottom of this post.

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When teaching kids the alphabet, you want to have a lot of different activities up your sleeve.

Kids, like adults, are individuals and learn in a wide variety of ways. So it’s important to use a range of materials and supplies to teach early literacy.

Here’s a fun and easy-to-prep alphabet activity you can use with the kids. Perfect for small groups or for the kids to use during center time.

Related: Spring Activities for Preschoolers

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How to Prep the Free Alphabet Printable

To get this activity ready, print out the spring alphabet mat and its corresponding letter cards. (The free printable is available at the bottom of this post). I’d suggest printing everything on cardstock for extra durability, but regular printer paper works just fine too.

Either laminate the alphabet mat or place it inside a reusable dry erase pocket. Cut the alphabet cards apart and laminate those, as well. This way, you’ll be able to use the activity over and over again with the children.

Then gather your other materials, and you’re ready to go! You can use the free alphabet printable with a few different materials:

Using the Read It, Write It, Make It Printable

Now that everything’s prepped and ready to go, it’s time to introduce the activity to the children. Explain that they’ll be alphabet explorers. You can start out using all of the letters of the alphabet, or just a few (depending on the kids’ needs and what they’re learning).

The first two parts of the alphabet mat are always the same:

Say It

Have the child grab a letter card. She identifies the letter by saying it out loud. Then the child places the alphabet card in the upper left-hand square labeled “Say it”. Assist as needed, of course.

Write It

Next, it’s time for the kiddo to write the letter. When using this printable, a dry erase marker is probably the simplest choice. Have him write the uppercase and lowercase version of the letter in the “Write it” square.

Related: Spring Process Art

If you want to add a multi-sensory approach to this part, have a simple sensory writing tray on hand. The children can write the letters in that tray if you prefer.

Make It

The final part of the free alphabet printable focuses on making the letters. As the kids are making the letters, talk about the sounds their letters make. You can even ask them to brainstorm words that begin with their chosen letter.

This part is meant to be hands-on, and it can be done using different materials.

Use magnetic letters to make the letters.

Have the kids sort through magnetic letters to find those that match their chosen letter card. Encourage your students to find both the capital and lowercase versions of their letters.

Use mini erasers to make the letters.

We had a bit too much fun using some of our spring mini erasers to build our letters. We used the rainbow erasers from an old set of St. Patrick’s Day mini erasers first. I’m pretty sure the set we bought is out of stock now, but there are some fun rainbow erasers in this set of unicorn-themed mini erasers.

Related: Mini Erasers

After that, we decided we needed to break out the bee erasers. I think our set came from Target a while back, but you can also find a set of mini insect erasers on Amazon, if you’re looking.

Related: Spring Cutting Strips

Use other math or alphabet manipulatives.

We chose to stick with magnetic letters and mini erasers when we used our alphabet mats. But you could easily bring in a variety of other manipulatives:

Use play dough to make each letter.

And, of course, you can’t forget play dough! As long as you make sure to protect the mats (with lamination or plastic sheet protectors), kids can use play dough on them.

Have your children use play dough to make their chosen letter. While they’re doing so, have a quick chat about the correct formation of the lowercase and uppercase letters.

Grab Your Free Alphabet Printable

The printable is available to Fun-A-Day’s free email community.  If you’re already a member, enter your email in the form below and get the printable sent to your inbox.

If you’re not a member, no worries! To join, enter your information in the form below and get the mats sent to your inbox as a thank you!

You can also access the form in a new tab if you’d prefer.

More Spring Fun for the Kids

This spring-themed read it, write it, make it printable is such a great spring literacy activity for preschoolers. Check out 12 more spring-themed activities to try with the children:

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:

Editable Spring Sight Word Game // Letters of Literacy

Spring Color by Sight Word // Sara J Creations

Spring 5 Senses Mini Book // The Primary Post

Flowers CVC Word Building Freebie // A Dab of Glue Will Do

Spring Read-Write-Build Alphabet Mat // Fun-A-Day

Flower Roll and Cover Mats // Fun Learning for Kids

Roll and Graph Spring Math Activity // The Kindergarten Connection

Spring Letter Recognition Game // Stay at Home Educator

Spring Tree Fine Motor Math // Fantastic Fun and Learning

Bird Life Cycle Puzzles // Liz’s Early Learning Spot

Growing Beans in a Bag // Science Kiddo

Spring Patterning Activities // Fairy Poppins

Flower Color Matching // Teach Me Mommy

Preschool Spring Lesson Plans

Save time and get right to the playful learning with already-done-for-you preschool lesson plans. Each set includes plans that are written for you, along with whole group and small group activities and directions. There are planned activities for centers, as well as corresponding printables.

Get your Spring Lesson Plans here

Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers