Hello everyone! Welcome back! I am so happy you are checking out this blog post! I know as a parent it is important to educate your children and help them build a bright future. I strive to bring you all great activities and crafts to successfully do so!
About me
I remember being pregnant and saying I did not want my child to be absorbed into this “phone screen” era. If you know me personally or you have been following along on my blog journey you know my daughter Aliza had open heart surgery when she was 5 months old. This required numerous doctors appointments and echo-cardiogram examinations.
I remember during the echos, Aliza was forced to stay completely still. I tried everything to make this possible. I would breast feed her on the table, sing to her, wiggle my fingers in her face, stick a pacifier in her mouth, play musical toys, but was never successful. She would be hooked up to 9 cords, a blood pressure cuff and an o2 ox, how could I expect her to stay completely still?? I remember the nurse just telling me to play the ABC’s on my phone. I did what I had to do to get my baby through the toughest times of her life. If it took playing the ABC’s on my phone to keep her calm then that’s what I did.
My husband and I now think it was actually quite beneficial. At 2 years old she recognized 75% of the alphabet and at 3 years old she knows all 26 upper case letters of the alphabet! We love using ABC Mouse as an educational tool but I love finding hands on activities to implement this skill into her life. Overall, the phone definitely benefited her because of the things my husband and I would allow her to watch but I do prefer hands on educational techniques.
What You Need for Activity
- Letters of the alphabet
- Container
- Brown rice
- Cardboard
- Marker
Letter Hunt
Fun and easy alphabet activities are so great for toddlers. Put all your letters into your container, then dump your rice into the container to cover all the letters. Mix them around and hide the letters… Good! Now, write all the letters of the alphabet on your cardboard mixed up.
Sensory Activity for Toddlers
I love using rice for sensory activities. The rice has such a nice texture for little ones to play with. Using their hands they will have to dig through the rice to find letters. Every time Aliza found a letter her face would light up of excitement. This was great motivation to keep digging. There were even points that she would just sit there playing with the rice and watching it fall through her fingers. Sensory play is beneficial and important to help build those nerve connections.
Letter Recognition for Toddlers
Digging for letters is fun but matching them on an answer key is even better. Once your little one finds a letter, have them match it to their board. This activity could really help your little one start recognizing and remembering their letters. Seeing a letter on a screen is a great way to learn letters but having a tangible letter in your hand and matching it will help master this skill.
Visual Scanning Skills for Toddlers
This was a great activity to work on visual scanning skills. All the letters of the alphabet were mixed up on the answer key board. This forces your little one to scan the whole board in front of them to find the letter they are looking for.
Aliza loved this activity! It kept her busy for quite some time and she even wanted to do it again later and the next day! I love activities that I can save and have easily available to do when she looks bored or just needs something to do! Feel free to make this activity your own. You can use numbers, lower case letters or a mix of upper and lower case letters.
This activity will give your little one a great sense of accomplishment! You may have to clean some rice off the floor but nothing a broom cant take care of! Check out some of my other favorite activities that involve letter recognition and sensory:
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-COTA MOM