If you’re making your way through the alphabet with your preschooler, it’s easy to get stuck on what seems to be the simplest letters! In trying to find inspiration for the later letters in the alphabet, I realized that so many activities for learning the letter “s” are about snakes. Yikes! I know I hate snakes, and maybe you and your kid do too. What if you want something a little more fun and seasonal? 

For this activity, we’re going to be focused on one of my favorite flowers, and one of my favorite “s” words: sunflowers! This activity is perfect for the spring and summer, which are also great seasons to get your preschooler familiar with the letter “s”. Today, we’re making paper plate sunflowers! This craft is simple, inexpensive, and uses materials you’re likely to already have around your house! 

Here’s what you need: 

• 1 paper plate
• 1 craft stick
• 1 piece of green foam paper
• Yellow paint
• Green paint
• Handful of sunflower seeds
• Scissors
• Glue

First, cut small triangles out of the rim of your paper plate. Show your child how to cut on an angle so the gaps look like flower petals. Cut all the way around the plate. Then, paint the craft stick green and the paper plate yellow. Let the paint dry and then begin to glue the sunflower seeds to the middle of the plate. 

At this point you can also cut two small leaves from the green foam paper and glue them to the craft stick. Now you’re ready to glue the craft stick to the back of the paper plate to act as your stem, and your paper plate sunflower is complete! 

Looking for more ways to teach your child the letter “s”? Check out the printable coloring page of a beautiful sunflower field below! 

ROOOOOOOAAARRR!

That’s the sound of a lion, and it’s also the sound of today’s featured letter – R!

Many parents and little ones are cooped up inside right now and craving connection with the outdoors, which is why our letter “R” activities are all about nature and the outside world.

Along with letters, animal names and sounds are among preschoolers’ favorite things to learn and explore. How many “R” animals can you think of together? Here are some animal names that begin with R:

• rabbit
• rooster
• rhinoceros
• raccoon
• rat
• rattlesnake
• reindeer
• ram

Preschoolers love imaginative play, so a great way to learn this letter is pretending to be “R” animals together! Emphasize the letter “R” as you turn yourselves into rabbits, rattlesnakes, or roosters. For more immersive fun, print and cut out these adorable animal masks to complete your transformation.

Another great “R” word is RAIN! You can enjoy the soothing sound of rainfall even indoors by making a rainstick. Here’s what you’ll need:

• Pencil
• Scissors
• Paper towel roll
• Aluminum foil
• Brown paper grocery bag
• Rubber bands
• Dry beans or rice
• Colorful yarn or ribbon (optional)

Your paper towel roll will serve as the body of the rainstick, while the grocery bag will be used to cap the ends. The aluminum foil will be coiled up inside the tube, helping to slow the beans and rice as they fall and creating that familiar rain sound.

Begin by gathering all of your supplies.

Trace the end of the paper towel roll onto the grocery bag.

Then, draw a larger circle around the traced one, leaving about two inches of space between the circles. Do this two times. Cut out your circles and set them aside.

Use the aluminum foil to create a spiral. We recommend making one skinny spiral and one fat one, then nesting one inside the other. This will do the best job of filling up the tube and making your “rain” fall nice and slowly.

Measure out ¼ to ½ cup of rice or beans to go inside the tube.

Now it’s time to put it all together! First, cap one end of the tube by folding a grocery bag circle over the end and securing it with a rubber band. 

Next, insert your foil spiral. After that, you’ll want to carefully pour in the beans and rice. Finally, cap the second end of the tube just as you did the first.

And that’s it! If you want to decorate your rainstick, you can add some pretty ribbon or yarn to cover the rubber bands. If your preschooler wants to color on the tube or decorate it with stickers, it’s best to do this before the rainstick is assembled.

The letter “g” is associated with so many fun activities and objects. One in particular that comes to mind is the guitar. 

Music is a fantastic way for children of all ages, from preschool and beyond, to express themselves. Music allows children to dance, sing, and exert energy in an uplifting way. It also can help them learn new things, like memorization and motor skills. 

One of the most popular musical instruments is the guitar. The guitar is a string instrument and comes in two forms: acoustic and electric. Lots of music genres use the guitar, some of these include country, punk rock, pop, metal, jazz, and more.

This letter “g” activity is a fun musical activity that allows preschoolers to be creative and make them feel like a real-life rockstar. While most of us don’t own a guitar, you might be surprised at how easy it is to make one at home with just a few items. This activity requires scissors, so please make sure a parent or guardian is available to help cut.

To make your very own shoebox guitar, you will need the following items: 

• 1 Shoe Box
• Cardboard
• Rubberbands 
• 1 Pencil 
• 1 Pen
• Scissors
• Tape
• Stickers (optional) 

Watch this YouTube tutorial below to create your own!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqY9JqKdvBU&feature=emb_title

If you don’t have any of the above items readily available at home, there are a few other fun activities you can do instead that involve the instrument. You can listen and sing along to popular songs that use a guitar or you can download, print, and color in the guitar illustration below.

Let us know in the comments below how your shoebox guitar turned out and what songs you played with it!