Our Quiet Growing Time's
Learning Letters Through Picture Books
A Closer Look at EAch Day
1.Read Aloud: Begin each day by reading aloud the chosen book.
2.Letter Cards: After reading the story, show your child the uppercase and lowercase letter cards for the letter of focus. Tell them the name of the letters.
3.Sing: Sing this little song for the letter. “Every letter makes a sound. A says ‘aaa’. A says ‘aaa’. As in apple.” There is no specific tune, but once you start singing it, it will just start to sound like a little song or chant. It is delightful!
4.Play: Each day has a new way to play with your letters.
On Monday, you can find the upper and lowercase letters in your set of wooden blocks. You can find the letters first and name them. Then put them back into the pile of letters and have your child try to find and name them. Practice saying the sound too, by singing the little song.
On Tuesday, you can find, name, and trace the upper and lowercase letters on your tracing board or tracing cards. Then have your child try to find, name, and trace the letters. Practice saying the sound, by singing the little song.
On Wednesday, show your child the upper and lowercase letter cards. Show your child how to draw the letters in your sand tray. Then, shake the tray a little to erase your letters and let your child try to draw the letters. You may wish to mix things up and use colored sand in your sand tray once in a while. (You could also use rice or beans or lavender or anything!)
On Thursday, show your child the upper and lowercase letter cards. Name the letter and sing the little song. Also, show your child the art print and the letter stick. Help your child find things in the art print that begin with your letter. Use the letter stick to point to those things. Additionally, you may want to see if you and your child can name anything else that begins with your letter.
On Friday, we try to set aside the bulk of the day for nature and the outdoors. If you would like to bring your letter play outside, you might try to draw your upper and lowercase letter in the dirt with a stick, or form the letters with sticks on the ground or find things outside that begin with your letter.
5.Create: Each day has a new way to create with your letters. Most children will also enjoy time to freely play and create with the materials each day. So, whenever possible, give them time to play and create freely before or after you create with your letters.
On Monday, form your upper and lowercase letters with homemade play dough. You may also like to mix it up once in a while and form your letters with homemade salt dough or air dry clay. Once these formed letters are dry, they can be painted with acrylic paint and will last a very long time.
On Tuesday, make and decorate your large letter prints (upper and lowercase) with some sort of textile. Wool roving, felt, yarn, ribbon, lace, etc. For some letters, bits of nature work well to make and decorate your letter prints. Ideas that match the letter sound for each letter are given.
On Wednesday, paint your letters with watercolors on a big piece of watercolor paper. You may also like to paint something that begins with your letter on that paper or on another sheet of paper. Another option would be to use crayons to draw your letters first and then paint with watercolors all around your letters.
On Thursday, use your beeswax crayons to draw your upper and lowercase letters in you big blank page lesson book. Draw something from the story on that page with your letter. If your child gets easily frustrated with the drawing, you may wish to print out a picture for the child to color, and then paste the picture into the alphabet book. However, a hand drawn picture is much preferred. Drawing is a skill that should be practiced, even by our littlest learners.
On Friday, spend as much of the day outdoors as possible.
Supplies Needed Each Week for Playing with Letters:
Supplies Needed Each Week for Creating with Letters:
Suggested Resources:
Watercolors
Coloring
A Special Note on “Playing with Letters” Supplies
In my list, I suggest wooden supplies whenever possible because I find great beauty in them, I love giving my children beautiful things, and I enjoy using beautiful things in our learning and playing. However, plastic letters, magnet letters, and even Scrabble letter tiles would work just as well as the wooden ones. Also, you could make your own sand tray using a shallow bowl or pan and sand if you do not want to purchase one.
“We must make it our business, as much as in us lies, to bring beauty to places where it is not.”
~Charlotte Mason
A Special Note on “Creating with Letters” Supplies
In my list, I suggest high quality arts and crafts supplies whenever possible because, again, I find great beauty in them, I love giving my children beautiful things, and I enjoy using beautiful things in our learning and creating. However, any watercolor paints and crayons will do just fine.
“Children are worthy of the best, and some half-dozen tubes of really good colours will last a long time, and will satisfy the eye of the little artists.”
~Charlotte Mason
1.Read Aloud: Begin each day by reading aloud the chosen book.
2.Letter Cards: After reading the story, show your child the uppercase and lowercase letter cards for the letter of focus. Tell them the name of the letters.
3.Sing: Sing this little song for the letter. “Every letter makes a sound. A says ‘aaa’. A says ‘aaa’. As in apple.” There is no specific tune, but once you start singing it, it will just start to sound like a little song or chant. It is delightful!
4.Play: Each day has a new way to play with your letters.
On Monday, you can find the upper and lowercase letters in your set of wooden blocks. You can find the letters first and name them. Then put them back into the pile of letters and have your child try to find and name them. Practice saying the sound too, by singing the little song.
On Tuesday, you can find, name, and trace the upper and lowercase letters on your tracing board or tracing cards. Then have your child try to find, name, and trace the letters. Practice saying the sound, by singing the little song.
On Wednesday, show your child the upper and lowercase letter cards. Show your child how to draw the letters in your sand tray. Then, shake the tray a little to erase your letters and let your child try to draw the letters. You may wish to mix things up and use colored sand in your sand tray once in a while. (You could also use rice or beans or lavender or anything!)
On Thursday, show your child the upper and lowercase letter cards. Name the letter and sing the little song. Also, show your child the art print and the letter stick. Help your child find things in the art print that begin with your letter. Use the letter stick to point to those things. Additionally, you may want to see if you and your child can name anything else that begins with your letter.
On Friday, we try to set aside the bulk of the day for nature and the outdoors. If you would like to bring your letter play outside, you might try to draw your upper and lowercase letter in the dirt with a stick, or form the letters with sticks on the ground or find things outside that begin with your letter.
5.Create: Each day has a new way to create with your letters. Most children will also enjoy time to freely play and create with the materials each day. So, whenever possible, give them time to play and create freely before or after you create with your letters.
On Monday, form your upper and lowercase letters with homemade play dough. You may also like to mix it up once in a while and form your letters with homemade salt dough or air dry clay. Once these formed letters are dry, they can be painted with acrylic paint and will last a very long time.
On Tuesday, make and decorate your large letter prints (upper and lowercase) with some sort of textile. Wool roving, felt, yarn, ribbon, lace, etc. For some letters, bits of nature work well to make and decorate your letter prints. Ideas that match the letter sound for each letter are given.
On Wednesday, paint your letters with watercolors on a big piece of watercolor paper. You may also like to paint something that begins with your letter on that paper or on another sheet of paper. Another option would be to use crayons to draw your letters first and then paint with watercolors all around your letters.
On Thursday, use your beeswax crayons to draw your upper and lowercase letters in you big blank page lesson book. Draw something from the story on that page with your letter. If your child gets easily frustrated with the drawing, you may wish to print out a picture for the child to color, and then paste the picture into the alphabet book. However, a hand drawn picture is much preferred. Drawing is a skill that should be practiced, even by our littlest learners.
On Friday, spend as much of the day outdoors as possible.
Supplies Needed Each Week for Playing with Letters:
- Upper and Lowercase Letter Cards (included)
- Wooden Letters, Letter Blocks, or Letter Tiles
- Tracing Board, Tracing Cards, or Sandpaper Letter Cards
- Sand Tray with Sand
- Art Prints (A is for Art: A Fine Art Alphabet Book by Lanaya Gore)
- Letter Sticks (instructions included)
Supplies Needed Each Week for Creating with Letters:
- Upper and Lowercase Large Letter Prints (included)
- Homemade Play Dough or Salt Dough (recipes included)
- Wool Felt Sheets in Many Colors (needed many weeks, but not all weeks)
- Watercolor Paints
- Flat and Wide Paintbrush
- Watercolor Paper
- Large Blank Page Lesson Book
- Beeswax Stick and Block Crayons
Suggested Resources:
- Wooden Letters by Elite Montessori (Amazon)
- Wooden Letter Tiles by Bless This Homeschool (BlessThisHomeschool.com) also found on Etsy
- Alphabet Tracing Board or Tracing Cards by Treasures From Jennifer (Treasuresfromjennifer.com) also found on Etsy
- Sandpaper Tracing Cards from Elite Montessori (Amazon)
- Sand Tray by Bless This Homeschool (BlessThisHomeschool.com) also found on Etsy
Watercolors
- Stockmar Watercolor Paints (Amazon)
- Colorations Liquid Watercolor (discountschoolsupply.com)
- Flat and Wide Watercolor Paintbrush (found at any craft store)
- Canson Watercolor Pad, 9x12 or 12x18 size (found at any craft store or on Amazon)
- Waldorf Painting Board (We love the one from Bella Luna Toys, bellalunatoys.com)
Coloring
- Stockmar Beeswax Block Crayons, set of 8 or more (Amazon)
- Stockmar Beeswax Stick Crayons, set of 8 or more (Amazon)
- Waldorf Main Lesson Book for Alphabet, 12x9 or 14x11 landscape (We love the one from Paper Scissors Stone, waldorfsupplies.com)
A Special Note on “Playing with Letters” Supplies
In my list, I suggest wooden supplies whenever possible because I find great beauty in them, I love giving my children beautiful things, and I enjoy using beautiful things in our learning and playing. However, plastic letters, magnet letters, and even Scrabble letter tiles would work just as well as the wooden ones. Also, you could make your own sand tray using a shallow bowl or pan and sand if you do not want to purchase one.
“We must make it our business, as much as in us lies, to bring beauty to places where it is not.”
~Charlotte Mason
A Special Note on “Creating with Letters” Supplies
In my list, I suggest high quality arts and crafts supplies whenever possible because, again, I find great beauty in them, I love giving my children beautiful things, and I enjoy using beautiful things in our learning and creating. However, any watercolor paints and crayons will do just fine.
“Children are worthy of the best, and some half-dozen tubes of really good colours will last a long time, and will satisfy the eye of the little artists.”
~Charlotte Mason
