Letter A: Alphabet Activities for Kids
Fun Ways to Learn the Letter A!
Today's stop on the Alphabet Journey is with the Letter A!
All crafts, activities and recipes will be centered around letter recognition in a way that makes letter learning fun and interactive.
Also included are fun videos focused on the individual letter and links to free worksheets and coloring pages!
Alphabet Food and Snacks
These foods are a fun way to incorporate letters into any Alphabet Activity Day! You could serve them the way they are, and make a game of finding the letter you're focusing on. Or you could be all OCD like me, and actually separate out all the As, Bs, and Cs, etc., put them in little baggies and only serve one letter at a time, to help strengthen recognition.
Alphabet Activities Binder
To help keep all of our projects and worksheets together in one place, I purchased a binder to put everything in, separated by letter.
This is my daughter pasting a construction paper A onto the A page of dividers. We did this first, and then added our projects as the day went on.
Letter A: Apple Slices
As a fun way to add some fruit to breakfast, I sliced some apples and used my cookie cutter to punch out some As.
Cut slices from the sides of the apple, avoiding the core with its seeds. The slices should be a little thin, to get the cutter through easily, but thick enough that they don't break. At least a quarter of an inch thick.
Cookie Cutter Set - Including Alphabet Letters
Letter Sorting: A is for Apple Trees
To make a sorting game, I printed capital and lowercase letter As onto a sheet of red construction paper and cut them out in a rounded shape that vaguely resembled apples.
The day before we studied letter A, I cut out 2 tree shapes and glued them onto a piece of white construction paper. Then I glued one capital A apple onto the left tree and one lowercase A apple onto the right one.
I had my daughter pick out the "apples" from a pile and decide which "apple tree" they belonged upon, explaining that capital As were on one and lowercase on the other.
We put drops of white glue on the trees for each apple. She did the first couple drops of glue, but then wanted me to do the rest, so I had her point to where she wanted it. Then she stuck on the apples.
Once dry, we punched holes in the paper with my three-hole-punch and added it to the binder.
A Words to Encourage Your Little One
Amazing
Awesome
Adventurous
Admirable
Amusing
Artsy
Letter A: American Flag
The next activity we did to celebrate the letter A was an American Flag. If you'd like to do more flags, you could also do one for Australia, Austria, Argentina, Algeria, Alabama and Alaska, too!
I had cut out the red stripes, blue rectangle, and white stars ahead of time. We used glue sticks for this one, attaching the stripes first and then the blue paper. Next, we both drew a thick layer of glue with the glue sticks over the blue paper and my daughter stuck on the stars one-by-one.
I helped a little, once my daughter had placed the shapes where she wanted them, so that the pieces were mostly on top of the white background page, which I had cut to be 8.5" by 11". Again, once dry, this was added to the binder, too.
Star Punch - What I used to save myself the trouble of hand-cutting stars.
Gummy As
Letter A: Acorns
These were sooooo cute and yummy! ... okay, okay, my daughter was a little too excited by the platter of chocolate cookies and candy in front of her to focus on building the acorns, so I did most of the work, but it still provided us with an opportunity to discuss the letter A when Daddy arrived home and we showed him our chocolate acorns! :)
(Scroll down for directions.)
Letter A: Making Chocolate Acorns
We used three ingredients to make these. Hershey's chocolate kisses for the bottom, mini Fudge Stripe cookies for the top, and a miniature chocolate chip for the stem.
We used melted chocolate chips to attach everything. I squeezed some melted chocolate from a plastic baggie onto an upside down cookie. Then my daughter placed a kiss on top.
Next, I squeezed a bit more chocolate into the hole on top of the cookie, and we dropped in a miniature chocolate chip to represent the stem.
Letter A: Chalk Tracing
My daughter loves playing outside. So we spent some time outdoors, doodling with chalk. And since it was Letter A Day, I drew some large capital and lowercase As, and let her trace them and color them in.
Letter A Collage
I took old magazines (like All You, Women's World - including some my mom had been hanging onto since the '90s - and the IKEA catalog) and cut out objects that started with all letters of the alphabet. I put the pictures for each letter in a different envelope and pulled out the An envelope for A Day.
While I was clipping pictures ahead of time, I let my daughter use a pair of kid scissors to practice cutting. If you're children are older, then they can cut out their own pictures, if you prefer.
I provided a glue stick and paper to attach everything to, and let my daughter place the pictures where ever she wanted while we discussed what they were.
Our A objects included apples, apple pie, angel, arrow, airplanes, artichokes, almonds, accordions, animals, and, of course, American flag.
Cookie As
Letter A: Apple Pies
I love making these cute, little pies. They're great for Letter A Day, especially because it's so easy for my daughter to help make them!
(Scroll down for directions.)
Letter A: Making Mini Apple Pies
I didn't add a recipe, because we didn't make anything from scratch. You could always use your favorite recipe for pie crust and filling, but I was trying to balance teaching the two-and-a-half-year-old with entertaining the eight-month-old. Didn't have time for scratch.
Anyway, we unrolled a refrigerated pie crust, and cut out little pie crusts with a flower-shaped cookie cutter. Then we placed the mini crusts in a cupcake tin that had been coated in non-stick spray.
Next we emptied a can of apple pie filling into a bowl, and I used my kitchen shears to cut the slices into smaller pieces. This isn't necessary, but makes it a little easier to scoop the filling into the cupcake tins. Add a rounded tablespoon or two.
Then I sprinkled the pies with a cinnamon and sugar mixture. You can buy this premade, but I've always made my own. I never measure because my mom never did. I'd guess it's about one part cinnamon to about 4 parts sugar.
Then bake them according to the pie crust directions, but a few minutes less because they're small. If you need help getting them out of the pan, try using a plastic spoon to avoid scratching the pan.
Let cool slightly. Enjoy!
Letter A Printables: Worksheets, Coloring Pages and Handwriting Practice
I printed out plenty of coloring pages and worksheets to keep us busy. My daughter may be a little young for handwriting practice, but she enjoys it. Probably because she enjoys doing whatever I'm doing. Either way, I held her hand steady to let her trace the letters on the handwriting practice sheets, and we discussed the Letter A while she was coloring all the pages. Then she reviewed them again when Daddy got home and she showed him her masterpieces. :)
Listed below are links to free printables.
Free Worksheets and Coloring Pages for the Letter A
- Ariel Coloring Page
Disney's The Little Mermaid Ariel Coloring Pages - Alligator Coloring Page
An alligator in the shape of an A - Apatosaurus Coloring Pages and Handwriting Worksheets
Coloring Pages and Handwriting Worksheets for Dinosaurs and Extinct animals - Angel Coloring Pages and Handwriting Worksheets
Coloring Pages and Handwriting Worksheets for Bible images - Alphabet Printables
Dot-to-Dot Worksheets, Coloring Pages, Mazes, Word Searches, and More - Letter A Activities
Coloring Pages, Word to Picture Matching, Phonics Worksheets, and More - Letter A Worksheets
Coloring Pages, Word Searches, Flash Cards, and More - Alphabet Coloring Pages
Cute illustrations for each letter of the alphabet - Alphabet Coloring Sheets
Fun illustrations for each letter of the alphabet - Sign Language Letters Coloring Sheets
Illustrations of the hand symbols for each letter of the alphabet