Pre-Literacy for Preschoolers: Handouts and Activities

By Kadey Seeger, Summer Reads VISTA

About Summer Reads
This children’s literacy tutor resource was created by Summer Reads VISTA members. Summer Reads is an AmeriCorps VISTA national service program of Literacy Minnesota. For eight weeks over the summer, Summer Reads VISTA members volunteer full-time as children’s/youth literacy mentors in schools, libraries and out-of-school-time programs across Minnesota. They bring literacy to life for low-income students through a variety of activities – one-on-one tutoring, creative enrichment activities like using arts and drama to explore language or practicing vocabulary and comprehension in science and other subjects. They also connect students and parents/caregivers to community resources through wraparound basic needs support. At the same time, the VISTA members build their own leadership, explore career paths, pay for college and become lifelong advocates for the communities they serve due to the power of their experience. www.literacymn.org/summerreads

INTRODUCTION

The early years of a child’s life are a very important time for fast growth and learning. As children develop, there are many things that they must learn to become a part of this complex world. Preschool curriculum focuses on this, particularly as children gear towards kindergarten and many more years of education. Literacy is a critical area of education, and preschool is a perfect time to begin building a child’s knowledge. It is recommended that preschoolers know most letters’ names and the sounds they make by the completion of the school year in preparation for kindergarten. For more information on Minnesota K-12 kindergarten academic standards, see the Minnesota Department of Education: https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/stds/. Repetition with letters in activities will make this pre-literacy skill easier to master.

Below is the list of pre-literacy topics. Each topic contains sample activities and a link to a handout with printable flashcards. The list of sample activities is not exhaustive; there are many other ways that you can use these handouts. You can also find all handouts combined in a downloadable and printable PDF format in the accompanying Pre-Literacy Flashcards Printable PDF guide.

ABCs Flashcards

Capitalized and uncapitalized letters in their ‘pairs’, example: Aa, Bb, …

These are a great way to introduce capitalized and uncapitalized letters in their ‘pairs’, so children begin to recognize that there are two different versions of the same letter.

Viewing electronically:

• In order, say each letter’s name and its sound and have the child repeat after you
• Point to a letter and ask child what the name of the letter is
• Point to a letter and ask the child what sound the letter makes
• Use as a guide for in-person writing

Printing out:

• In order, say each letter’s name and its sound and have the child repeat after you
• Point to a letter and ask child what the name of the letter is
• Point to a letter and ask the child what sound the letter makes
• Child may color the sheet (builds letter recognition and fine motor skills)
• Child may cut the flashcards (builds scissor and fine motor skills)
• Mix letters on table or floor and have child organize into order
• Print out Capitalized ABCs Flashcards and Lower Case ABCs Flashcards and have child match the three cards
• Use as a guide for practice writing letters

Capitalized ABCs Flashcards

Capitalized letters in order to be viewed electronically or printed out, example: A, B, ...

Children often learn their ABCs by mastering their capitalized letters first. You may choose to introduce uncapitalized letters separately or mixed.

Viewing electronically:

• In order, say each letter’s name and its sound and have the child repeat after you
• Point to a letter and ask child what the name of the letter is
• Point to a letter and ask the child what sound the letter makes
• Use as a guide for in-person writing

Printing out:

• In order, say each letter’s name and its sound and have the child repeat after you
• Point to a letter and ask child what the name of the letter is
• Point to a letter and ask the child what sound the letter makes
• Child may color the sheet (builds letter recognition and fine motor skills)
• Child may cut the flashcards (builds scissor and fine motor skills)
• Mix letters on table or floor and have child organize into order
• Print out ABCs Flashcards and Lower Case ABCs Flashcards and have child match the three cards
• Print out Lower Case ABCs Flashcards and have child match the pairs
• Spell out name (may need to print more letters)
• Use as a guide for practice writing letters

Lower Case ABCs Flashcards

Uncapitalized letters in order to be viewed electronically or printed out, example: a, b, …

Children may have more difficulty with their uncapitalized letters, except for those that look like their capitalized counterpart (c and C, v and V, etc.). Practice and repetition make perfect!

Viewing electronically:

• In order, say each letter’s name and its sound and have the child repeat after you
• Point to a letter and ask child what the name of the letter is
• Point to a letter and ask the child what sound the letter makes
• Use as a guide for in-person writing

Printing out:

• In order, say each letter’s name and its sound and have the child repeat after you
• Point to a letter and ask child what the name of the letter is
• Point to a letter and ask the child what sound the letter makes
• Child may color the sheet (builds letter recognition and fine motor skills)
• Child may cut the flashcards (builds scissor and fine motor skills)
• Mix letters on table or floor and have child organize into order
• Print out ABCs Flashcards and Capitalized ABCs Flashcards and have child match the three cards
• Print out Capitalized ABCs Flashcards and have child match the pairs
• Spell out name (may need to print more letters)
• Use as a guide for practice writing letters

Basic Sight Word Flashcards

Basic words to be viewed electronically or printed out, example: she, play, to, …

Children may be too young to begin reading full sentences, but exposure to basic sight words will build the foundational skill to begin this life-long skill.

Viewing electronically:

• In order, say each letter’s name and its sound and have the child repeat after you, slowly sounding out the word
• Use as a guide for in-person writing
• Point to a word and have a child sound out the word and guess what it is

Printing out:

• In order, say each letter’s name and its sound and have the child repeat after you, slowly sounding out the word
• Point to a letter and ask child what the name of the letter is
• Point to a letter and ask the child what sound the letter makes
• Child may color the sheet (builds letter recognition and fine motor skills)
• Child may cut the flashcards (builds scissor and fine motor skills)
• Mix letters on table or floor and have child organize into order
• Print out Capitalized ABCs Flashcards and Lower Case ABCs Flashcards and have child match words with their beginning letter
• Print out Capitalized ABCs Flashcards and Lower Case ABCs Flashcards and have child spell out the words (may need to print additional letters out)
• Use as a guide for practice writing letters
• Point to a word and have a child sound out the word and guess what it is

Mixed ABCs

Handout with randomized letters on each line, separated into capitalized, uncapitalized, and mixed letters, example: DFJGOWR, fjciaofi, …

Children can use this activity in many ways— see some ideas below.

Viewing electronically:

• Point to a line and ask child what the names of each letter is
• Point to a line and ask child what the sounds of each letter is
• Use as a guide for in-person writing

Printing out:

• Point to a line and ask child what the names of each letter is
• Point to a line and ask child what the sounds of each letter is
• Child may color the letters of each line (builds letter recognition and fine motor skills)
• Child may cut the letters of each line (builds scissor and fine motor skills)
• Print out Capitalized ABCs Flashcards and Lower Case ABCs Flashcards and have child match letters of those on the line
• Print out Capitalized ABCs Flashcards and Lower Case ABCs Flashcards and have child match letters of those on the line with their pair (place capitalized letters onto the place of their uncapitalized counterpart)
• Use as a guide for practice writing letters

Scrambled ABCs

Capitalized and uncapitalized letters are mixed throughout the handout

This handout was created for a different way to look at letters besides just in a line.

Viewing electronically:

• Point to a letter and ask child what the name of the letter is
• Point to a letter and ask child what the sound of the letter is

Printing out:

• Point to a letter and ask child what the name of the letter is
• Point to a letter and ask child what the sound of the letter is
• Child may color the letters (builds letter recognition and fine motor skills)
• Print out Capitalized ABCs Flashcards and Lower Case ABCs Flashcards and have child match letters of those on the line, practicing cutting out the flashcards
• Print out Capitalized ABCs Flashcards and Lower Case ABCs Flashcards and have child match letters with their paired letter

Patterns with Letters

Handout with patterns created with letters on each line, example: FGFGFG_, reereer_, …

This activity promotes letter recognition while filling in the pattern, a math skill that preschool programs focus on.

Viewing electronically:

• Have the child say the names of the letters of the line out loud and complete the pattern
• Have the child say the sounds of the letters of the line out loud and complete the pattern

Printing out:

• Have the child say the names of the letters of the line out loud and complete the pattern
• Have the child say the sounds of the letters of the line out loud and complete the pattern
• Color the letters and complete the pattern

Similar Letters

Handout with similar letters on each line, example: rmnrmnr, dbpqbqp, …

Children often confuse letters that look similar (b for d, for example). This handout will help students differentiate their letters.

Viewing electronically:

• Point to a line and ask child what the names of each letter is
• Point to a line and ask child what the sounds of each letter is
• Use as a guide for in-person writing

Printing out:

• Point to a line and ask child what the names of each letter is
• Point to a line and ask child what the sounds of each letter is
• Child may color the letters of each line (builds letter recognition and fine motor skills)
• Child may cut the letters of each line (builds scissor and fine motor skills)
• Print out Capitalized ABCs Flashcards and Lower Case ABCs Flashcards and have child match letters of those on the line
• Print out Capitalized ABCs Flashcards and Lower Case ABCs Flashcards and have child match letters of those on the line with their pair (place capitalized letters onto the place of their uncapitalized counterpart)
• Use as a guide for practice writing letters

Patterns with Similar Letters

Handout with patterns created with similar letters on each line, example: pbpbp_, rnrnrn, …

Children often confuse letters that look similar (b for d, for example). This activity promotes letter recognition while filling in the pattern, a math skill that preschool programs focus on.

Viewing electronically:

• Have the child say the names of the letters of the line out loud and complete the pattern
• Have the child say the sounds of the letters of the line out loud and complete the pattern

Printing out:

• Have the child say the names of the letters of the line out loud and complete the pattern
• Have the child say the sounds of the letters of the line out loud and complete the pattern
• Color the letters and complete the pattern

Match the Letters

Capitalized and uncapitalized letters scrambled around the page

Children benefit from seeing letters in different formats (scattered around versus in a line). More exposure will help with future literacy and letter recognition.

Viewing electronically:

• Point to one letter and have the child identify its pair
• Say one letter’s name and have the child identify both letters of the pair
• Say one letter’s sound have the child identify both letters of the pair

Printing out:

• Point to one letter and have the child identify its pair
• Say one letter’s name and have the child identify both letters of the pair
• Say one letter’s sound have the child identify both letters of the pair
• Child may color all letters at random
• Child may color letters in pairs (color the Fs blue)
• Child may color letters dependent on capitalization (color capitalized letters one color and uncapitalized letters another color)
• Child may draw lines to letters of the pair
• Print out Capitalized ABCs Flashcards and Lower Case ABCs Flashcards and have child match letters of those on the page
• Print out Capitalized ABCs Flashcards and Lower Case ABCs Flashcards and have child match letters of those on the line with their pair (place capitalized letters onto the uncapitalized letters and vice versa)