Literacy activities don't have to be boring! Add some excitement to your next literacy lesson with the help of our 28 fabulous activity ideas. Literacy activities are incorporated into childhood education to help little ones better both their communication as well as creative skills. Language skills are developed when writing and reading skills are practiced on a continued basis and these skills certainly shouldn't be neglected in the formative years. Check out the activities below to get inspired for your next literacy class.
1. Rainbow Salt Writing
This colorful writing activity is the perfect opportunity for learners to practice their writing skills in a new and exciting way! Simply place salt on a colorful tray and challenge your students to copy the words from the cards they're given.
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2. Lego Sight Words
By writing letters and simple sight words on giant Lego blocks, your students have the chance to practice spelling in a fun way. Task them with spelling out different words and then joining the blocks one on top of the other in order to create sentences.
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3. Feed The Dog
This sight word activity puts a unique spin on learning to read and write. Before feeding a bone to the class dog, they are required to write it out and spell it aloud. When spelling aloud encourages learners to first sound out the letters and then pronounce the letters themselves.
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4. Toss The Balloon
Perfect for entertaining an individual child or an entire classroom! Individual learners can bounce their balloons around- reading the words as they catch the balloon each time. To play in a group, have the students pass the balloon between one another, reading the word facing them as they catch it.
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5. Letter Art
This adorable activity is best suited for learning each letter individually. Students can decorate their letter so that it resembles an animal that begins with the same sound. For example, A can be embellished so that it looks like an alligator.
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6. Easter Egg Speller
These plastic eggs are a great addition to your next literacy lesson. Students gain good practice in the formation of words whilst, at the same time, being exposed to words that rhyme. Hot tip: Keep the eggs and reuse them for sensory bins or Easter and Spring time activities.
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7. Pool Noodle Copy Cat
By threading cut-up pool noodles onto a wooden dowel and writing a few letters around it, students can play a game called spin and spell. They are required to spin the pool noodle and write down the word that appears in front of them.
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8. Beach Ball Letter Learning
This activity provides a revision for both number and letter recognition. Find a beach ball with dots and write the letters of the alphabet as well as numbers on each individual dot. Challenge learners to locate the letters in chronological order before moving on to do the same with the numbers.
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9. Alphabet Hopscotch
Playing hopscotch is always fun! To turn it into a learning game, replace the traditional squares with letters- having your students say the letters as they land on that row.
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10. Letter Lids
Letter lids require students to practice matching lowercase letters to their uppercase counterparts. Make sure that you have two different-sized lids and 26 of each in order to place the lowercase letters inside the bigger uppercase lids.
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11. Finger-painting
Artists of the class will adore this fun finger painting activity. Write out a few letters on a blank piece of paper, ensuring that you leave space on the right-hand side of each. Then equip each of the students with a piece of paper and a tub of paint- instructing them to first trace over your letter and then rewrite it in the space on the right.
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12. Sound Cups
Get your students familiar with what real-life objects begin with which alphabet letters. Simply gather assorted classroom toys for your students to place into pre-prepared plastic cups labeled with different letters. Spice things up by dividing your class into teams before seeing who can sort their objects the fastest.
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13. Mystery Bag
This letter activity is rather simple, but nonetheless fun. Gather 3 objects that begin with the same letter and place them into the mystery bag. One of the students can approach the bag and pull out an object. The rest of the class should be tasked with guessing the letter and what other objects could be lingering inside.
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14. Letter Sound Cards
This activity requires students to look at the picture, say the word aloud, and then select what letter it begins with. For an extra challenge, have your learners pair up and one can describe the picture to the other without saying what it is. Once their teammate guesses the picture correctly they can then state the beginning letter.
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15. Letter Tile Mats
The object of this activity is to match a given letter to a picture of an object that begins with it. This game can be played in a calm and non-competitive manner. Alternatively, it can be likened to bingo where the teacher calls out the letters, and the first student to cover their mat correctly wins.
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16. Four In A Row
This game requires students to partner up. Each receives a different colored marker and should take turns naming an object on the sheet. If named correctly, they can mark it off. The first one to get four in a row wins!
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17. Letter Sounds Race
Letter recognition and letter sounds are revised in a fun way with this letter race activity. It requires that students listen to their teacher as they call out a letter, locate the magnetic letter in a pile on the floor and then run across the room to place it onto the magnetic board.
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18. Backyard Alphabet Hunt
This activity is the perfect way to entertain your students on a sunny day and get them outdoors. Write out a few letters in various columns and have your students search for items that begin with the letter before placing them into the correct column. This activity may require that teachers hide a few items beforehand.
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19. Rhyming Clip Cards
These cards are amazing for emergent readers. The activity requires students to place a clothes peg over the picture along the bottom of the card that rhymes with the main visual and word at the top.
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20. Watercolor Painting
Which preschooler doesn't love a little bit of water play? This is a great at-home activity through which learners can revise what they have learned at school. Parents can write assorted letters on the sidewalk using chalk and their little ones can trace over them using a paintbrush dipped in water.
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21. Spray The Letter
Not only does this activity encourage letter recognition, but it also helps to develop motor skills! On a sunny day, label plastic cups with different letters. Call them out and have your preschooler spray the correct letter with a hosepipe.
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22. Rhyming Puzzle Pieces
Another great activity for emergent readers is this rhyming egg activity. Students are tasked with scratching through a sensory bin to match two halves of an egg together- ensuring that the two words form a rhyming pair.
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23. Syllable Sorter
This fun literacy activity is perfect for working on oral language development. The aim is for learners to recognize how many syllables are in a given word and be able to place the pictures under the correct number. Encourage your students to clap out the words to aid them in identifying the number of syllables.
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24. Letter Sound Freeze Dance
Not only will this activity get your learners moving, but it will also give them an opportunity to practice their letter recognition. Play a song for your students to dance to and as you pause it, call out a letter. Students should then locate the letter and freeze once standing on it.
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25. Letter Fishing
This is a wonderful activity for a Summer day. Write the alphabet onto assorted shapes of aquatic animals. Place them into a shallow pool and equip your little ones with a lightweight net. Call out a letter and have them fish it out.
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26. Digging For Letters
Get stuck into the garden with this enjoyable activity. Bury a bunch of letters, preferably plastic so that they can be easily washed off afterward, and have your students dig them out. To ensure that this is a learning activity, upon digging up a letter have your student state the letter and what sound it makes.
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27. Word Kites
This is a learning activity and artwork all in one! Using wet chalk, students can decorate their kite before either writing the letters of their name onto the bows or alternatively writing out a set of rhyming sight words.
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28. Washing The Letter Dishes
This activity keeps your little one occupied in the kitchen whilst you're busy cooking. It also gives them awesome practice in letter recognition. Write a bunch of letters onto plastic lids and have your child wash them and name the letters as they go. Challenge them by asking them to name a few things that begin with the same letter.
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