LHTH’s Letter Activities Box of Plans
This “Inside the Guide” series provides a quick snapshot of Little Hands to Heaven (LHTH)! It’s a handy “how-to” reference, just one box of plans at a time. Have you ordered Little Hands to Heaven from Heart of Dakota? Thank you – so fun! Are you getting excited to start? Totally understandable! Well, here’s your quick-start “Inside the Guide” for…LHTH’s Letter Activities box of plans!
Quick Start Info
Time It Takes: 5 minutes
Days It’s On: Days 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
Description: Letter Activities teach a new letter of the alphabet each week. They emphasize the same letter and sound as the weekly Fingerplay, which in turn matches the Bible Story. As parents hold up letter flashcards, children say the sound and do the matching motion. To highlight letter shapes, children use fine motor skills to paint, draw, and decorate letters. To incorporate whole body movement, children “trace” large masking tape letters on the floor. They tiptoe, hop, scoot themselves or toy cars, dolls, or blocks along the letters, as they say the letter sound. Creative tactile activities further draw attention to letter shapes. Finally, kiddos play letter “hide and seek” by locating the letter in lines of the Fingerplay. This helps children find letters in context, while also training them to track left to right.
A Handy How-ToÂ
Children get a new letter flashcard each week. Flashcards fold in half. As children look at the letter, they say the sound and do the matching motion. Meanwhile, parents look at the back of the flashcard for the “hint” and “motion”, if the child needs help. Varied once-a-week masking tape activities have kiddos doing something new and fun! Weekly Hide and Seek letter pages teach left/right directionality and uppercase/lowercase letters. Creative once-a-week tracing activities teach kiddos to properly “write” letters without requiring a pencil. Every five weeks, there is a review week. Review weeks provide fun ways to focus on whichever letters/sounds your kiddo needs help remembering most. Since Letter Activities also match the chronological Bible stories, they act as a mini review of history.
Box Specific Notes
I photocopy all the flashcards and Hide and Seek pages at the start of the year. That way, they are in a folder ready to go! The masking tape directions call for putting toy blocks, cars, animals, etc. on the masking tape letter you put on the floor. I like to put the tape on an area rug – cushier and easier to peel off at the end! Also, the bigger the letter, the better! Kiddos put items on the masking tape letter in the exact order of pretending to “write” it. They also say the letter sound each time they place an item. So, the bigger the masking tape letter, the more items they put on, and the more they practice the letter/sound. My sons LOVED doing this long after the “school” day was done!
I like to do letter activities involving glue/cereal pieces, ice cube/construction paper, finger paints, etc. at the kitchen table on top of a laminated placemat. There are many inexpensive “letter” placemats, and they are so easy to wipe clean and reuse. Also, don’t worry about having EXACT supplies! The plans suggest alternate options, and you can easily catch the drift and use whatever you have on hand!
The first week of plans gives important directions for the Hide and Seek pages. Read them carefully! I like to teach my kiddos to make their marks in each line in order, from top to bottom, left to right. This habit helps with learning phonics/to read later! Washable markers are bigger and easier to hold than pencils; they also “glide” nicely.
I try to lightly hold my hand over each of my son’s hands like I am writing, guiding them to try to properly hold the marker as they mark letters. I do the same thing with the bottom of the Hide and Seek page! We work left to right, as I lightly guide them as they trace the dotted line. I like to say (for example), “Let’s help the mama ‘C’ find her baby ‘c’.” They think that is so funny! Eventually, I stop guiding their hand altogether, and I just put the marker/crayon properly in their grip at the start.
A winning order to do these boxes in might be Bible Story, Bible Activity, Fingerplay, Letter Activity! These letter activities seem so fun, it’s easy to miss how much they teach! My sons all had an easier start to phonics and writing letters thanks to these Letter Activities… not to mention the left-right brain coordination, memorization, letters/sounds/motions, and Bible stories – so much there!
Finally, have FUN with the Letter Activities! If you do, your children will – attitudes are catchy!
