As toddlers and preschoolers approach school age, many start to take an interest in the letters they see everywhere, from their favourite books, to billboards. They may begin to sound out the letters in their name, or notice familiar letters on words or signs they see every day.
It’s never too early to encourage this interest; if your child can recognise different shapes, they can also recognise a letter! Here’s a simple activity to make letter matching fun using playdough and stamps.
Materials you will need
- Playdough – either shop-bought or homemade
- Letter stamps, both upper and lower case
- A tray to keep everything in
What to do
- Ask your child to roll the playdough into small balls and then flatten them to make circles
- Using the letter stamps, stamp a letter shape into each of the circles. You don’t need to use all of the letters – begin with the ones that are most familiar to your child, such as the letters in their name
- Ask your child to match the letter stamp with piece of playdough that contains the equivalent letter
- If you want to try a more advanced activity, you could stamp the playdough with uppercase letters and ask your child to find the equivalent lowercase stamp
This playdough letter activity is a fun approach to letter recognition that is a bit more hands-on than reading a book.
Contact us
At All About Children, we support children in letter recognition to prepare them for learning to read and write. For more information about our nursery, contact us today.