Top 28 Literacy Activities for Preschoolers and Kindergarten - Education Corner (2024)

Literacy, the foundation upon which reading and writing skills are built, begins not with the rigorous study of letters and sounds, but with playful exploration and meaningful interaction with language.

Our curated collection of literacy activities is designed for the curious and creative minds of preschool and kindergarten kids. This roundup is a treasure trove of engaging, innovative, and joyful ways to introduce young learners to the alphabet, phonemic awareness, and storytelling.

These literacy activities go beyond traditional learning, embracing the playful and dynamic nature of preschoolers. They encourage exploration, imagination, and expression, all while laying the foundational stones for reading and writing.

Contents show

1. Muffin Tin Reading Games

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Introduce your little ones to the delightful world of numbers with the engaging and educational Muffin Tin Reading Games! This preschool math activity transforms a simple muffin tin into a vibrant learning tool that captivates young minds.

Learn more: Growing Book by Book

2. Build a Word Using LEGO

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Building a word using LEGO involves creating letters out of LEGO bricks to form a specific word. This activity encourages creativity and a multisensory approach to language learning, making it suitable for various age groups and learning styles.

Learn more: The Printable Princess

3. Toss the Balloon Sight Word Game

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Toss the Balloon Sight Word Game is an interactive and educational activity where students engage in a playful way to reinforce sight word recognition. Sight words are written on balloons, and students toss them to one another.

Learn more: Gift of Curiosity

4. Magic Letters Activity

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The Magic Letters Activity is an engaging and educational exercise where students participate in various letter-related tasks or challenges to enhance letter recognition and literacy skills.

Learn more: Ma’s and Pa’s

5. Matching Alphabet Beans Literacy Game

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The Matching Alphabet Beans Literacy Game is an interactive and educational activity where students engage in a matching game to reinforce alphabet recognition. Letters are written or printed on small beans or bean-shaped objects, and students match the beans with the corresponding letters on a game board or surface.

Learn more: The Imagination Tree

6. Free Printable Alphabet Scavenger Hunt

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This printable resource is designed to make learning the alphabet an exciting and interactive experience. Equipped with a list of letters or objects corresponding to each letter, children can venture into their surroundings to hunt for hidden treasures.

Learn more: Play Party Plan

7. Letter Tile Names – A Name Recognition Activity

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Start by providing each child with a set of letter tiles and guide them in assembling the letters to form their names. Encourage them to say each letter aloud as they place it, reinforcing both visual and auditory learning. This hands-on approach adds an element of fun to the process, turning name recognition into a captivating activity.

Learn more: Stay at Home Educator

8. CVC Word Family Flowers Craft for Spring

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Celebrate the beauty of spring and cultivate literacy skills with the “CVC Word Family Flowers Craft” – a delightful and educational activity for young learners! This creative craft combines the joy of blossoming flowers with the exploration of consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) word families.

Learn more: Little Zizzer

9. Tissue Roll Paper Activities

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Turn ordinary cardboard rolls into extraordinary learning opportunities! From arts and crafts to educational games, these versatile rolls offer a wide range of engaging activities suitable for various ages.

Learn more: Teach me I’m Yours

10. Play Dough Writing Tray

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The Play Dough Writing Tray is an interactive and educational activity where students use playdough in a tray to practice writing letters, numbers, or words. The tray provides a tactile surface for children to shape and mold the playdough into various characters or forms.

Learn more: Fantastic Fun and Learning

11. Paper Plate & Spinner Literacy Games

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Paper Plate & Spinner Literacy Games offer a dynamic and interactive way for students to boost their literacy skills while having a blast. These games leverage the versatility of paper plates and spinners to transform learning into a captivating experience.

Learn more: Teach me Mommy

12. Train Track Word Building

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Train Track Word Building is an interactive and educational activity where students use train tracks and cars to construct and spell out words. Each train car represents a letter, and students connect the cars to form words along the tracks.

Learning more: Paper and Glue

13. Sorting Baskets Phonics Activity

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The Sorting Baskets Phonics Activity is an interactive educational exercise where students engage in sorting objects or cards based on specific phonetic criteria. Each basket represents a phonetic category, and students place items or cards containing words with corresponding phonetic elements into the correct baskets.

Learn more: The Imagination Tree

14. Read Aloud

Read Aloud refers to the practice of reading a text aloud to an audience, typically done by a teacher, parent, or storyteller. This activity is crucial in early childhood education as it supports language development, listening skills, and comprehension.

15. Rainbow Salt Tray Sensory Writing Activity

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The Rainbow Salt Tray Sensory Writing Activity involves creating a colorful and tactile surface with salt in a tray for children to practice writing letters, numbers, or words. Different colored layers of salt are often used to create a rainbow effect.

Learn more: Natural Beach Living

16. Hidden Sight Word

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Children become word detectives as they search for and uncover these hidden words, combining the excitement of a treasure hunt with essential reading skills.

Learn more: Designing Tomorrow

17. Handprint Reading Card

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A Handprint Reading Card involves creating a personalized card where a child’s handprint is incorporated into a message or artwork. This activity combines art and literacy by allowing children to create a unique card that features their handprint as part of the design.

Learn more: Early Learning Ideas

18. Sight Word Popsicle Stick Game

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The Sight Word Popsicle Stick Game is an interactive and educational activity where students engage in a game that involves reading and matching sight words on popsicle sticks.

Learn more: Teach me Mommy

19. Transportation CVC Sliders for Learning to Read Fun

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Transportation CVC (Consonant-Vowel-Consonant) Sliders for Learning to Read Fun is an engaging educational activity where students use sliders to create and read CVC words related to transportation.

Learn more: Royal Baloo

20. Reading Hopscotch

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This innovative activity not only encourages physical movement but also transforms the hopscotch grid into a learning path. Each square is adorned with a letter or a simple word, turning the game into an interactive spelling adventure.

Learn more: Teach Beside Me

21. Fishing for Spelling Words

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Fishing for Spelling Words is a creative way to hook young learners into the world of spelling, transforming what might be a mundane task into a lively and interactive experience that encourages both fun and learning.

Learn more: Teach Beside Me

22. Make Spelling Practice Fun with Kinetic Sandcastles

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Transform spelling practice into a sensory adventure with Kinetic Sandcastles, a dynamic and enjoyable way for young learners to master their spelling words. In this engaging activity, children shape letters and words using kinetic sand to build mini sandcastles.

Learn more: There’s Just One Mommy

23. Homemade Word Dominoes Game for CVC Words

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As children match and connect the tiles, they not only practice essential reading skills but also reinforce their understanding of simple word structures.

Learn more: Nurture Store

24. Spelling Word Practice with Water Beads

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As children explore the beads, they not only visually encounter the spelling of words but also experience the tactile sensation of the water beads. Retrieving letters and arranging them to form words adds an extra layer of engagement, promoting memory retention and reinforcing spelling skills.

Learn more: There’s Just One Mommy

25. Word Search

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This timeless word puzzle provides an engaging way for individuals of all ages to enhance vocabulary and reinforce cognitive skills. With a grid filled with letters and a list of hidden words to discover, participants embark on a visual hunt, sharpening their attention to detail and pattern recognition.

Learn more: Tree Valley Academy

26. Rhyming Dominoes

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Rhyming Dominoes is an educational game where students match pairs of dominoes based on rhyming words. Each domino has a word, and players need to connect words with matching rhyming sounds.

Learn more: Teach Beside Me

27. Stamp and Spell

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Stamp and Spell is an educational activity where students use stamps to create words. Each stamp typically represents a letter or a combination of letters, and students arrange them to form words.

Learn more: Parenting Chaos

28. Chocolate Sight Word Game

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The Chocolate Sight Word Game is an interactive and educational activity where students engage in a game that involves reading and matching sight words related to chocolates.

Learn more: Natural Beach Living

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Top 28 Literacy Activities for Preschoolers and Kindergarten - Education Corner (2024)

FAQs

Top 28 Literacy Activities for Preschoolers and Kindergarten - Education Corner? ›

Activities like talking, singing, reading, storytelling, drawing and writing help to develop literacy. For babies and younger children, try nursery rhymes, sound games, 'I spy', and books with rhyme, rhythm and repetition.

What are three activities that fall under language and literacy activities for preschoolers? ›

Here are 9 language and literacy activities for preschoolers at home to help them develop essential literacy skills:
  • Read Aloud Together Every Day. ...
  • Talk About The Stories You Read. ...
  • Write Together. ...
  • Play Literacy Games Together. ...
  • Recite Nursery Rhymes And Poems Together. ...
  • Visit The Library Together. ...
  • Use Playdough To Form Letters.

What is a literacy activity for kindergarten? ›

Activities like talking, singing, reading, storytelling, drawing and writing help to develop literacy. For babies and younger children, try nursery rhymes, sound games, 'I spy', and books with rhyme, rhythm and repetition.

What activities help children with literacy? ›

Use word and language games, songs, poems, nursery rhymes, books, and fingerplays every day. Use nametags. For young children, the most important letter is the first letter of their first name.

What literacy activity is important and appealing all through the first three years of a child's life? ›

Early literacy is learning about sounds, words and language. You can support early literacy development by talking, reading books, singing songs, playing with rhyme, and drawing. Children learn best through everyday activities like singing, talking and playing games.

What is an example of a pre literacy activity? ›

Kick the Alphabet

To play this game, take four large paper or plastic cups and write one letter on each of them. Set them up in a row, leaving a generous amount of space between them. Then, ask a student to kick a soccer ball at a certain letter. This reinforces letter recognition.

What reading activities help struggling readers? ›

The recommended seven hands-on learning strategies that can promote learning and support for struggling readers during literacy instruction include Build the Words, Feel the Words, Whole Body Letters, Five Finger Retell, Sight Word BINGO, Elkonin Boxes, and Word Swat. Young children learn in a variety of sensory ways.

What is a literacy activity for school age children? ›

Find Words within Words (Kindergarten - 6th grade)

Show young learners how small words can sometimes “hide” in bigger words (the word can hide in candy, the word pot hiding in potato). Make a game of it–encourage students to find other examples in books, newspapers, signs, advertisem*nts, and other print media.

What are examples of literacy instruction? ›

  • Comprehensive Literacy Instruction.
  • Writing.
  • Read Alouds.
  • Oral Language and Emergent Literacy.
  • Phonemic Awareness.
  • Phonics - Making the Letter Sound Connection.
  • Spelling.
  • Fluency - The bridge between phonics and comprehension.

How do you teach preschoolers literacy? ›

What are some engaging activities for building early literacy skills in preschoolers?
  1. Alphabet pillow jumping. This alphabet pillow jump activity is great for keeping children active at home and teaching them literacy skills simultaneously. ...
  2. Magic letter painting. ...
  3. Songs and rhymes. ...
  4. Playdough. ...
  5. Scribbling. ...
  6. Drawing shapes.

Which is the best early literacy activity to motivate children to write? ›

Model writing stories, making lists, or labeling objects, and then encourage your preschoolers to write a response letter to a character in a story, create their own storybook, or write a wish list or a shopping list. Such a variety of writing experiences will also build their generative knowledge of writing.

How do you engage students in literacy? ›

Here are ten suggestions for how any teacher, teaching any subject can participate in this mission, and how parents and administrators can help.
  1. Read. ...
  2. Share your reading experiences. ...
  3. Invite students to socialize around reading. ...
  4. Organize a Read-a-Thon. ...
  5. Take a field trip. ...
  6. Listen to audio books. ...
  7. Invite authors to speak.

What are early literacy skills for preschoolers? ›

Children's early literacy experiences include drawing, modelling, building, digging, painting, scribbling, listening, talking, pretending, oral language recognition and use, block and toy play, dramatic play, dressing up, and various print mediums as well as all kinds of reading and looking at books.

What are the three early learning goals for literacy? ›

There are three different aspects for the early learning goals for literacy:
  • Comprehension.
  • Word Reading.
  • Writing.

What are three early literacy skills? ›

  • Print Motivation.
  • Print Awareness.
  • Letter Knowledge.
  • Vocabulary.
  • Narrative Skills.
  • Phonological Awareness.

What is language and literacy for preschoolers? ›

For preschoolers, Language and Literacy are distinct domains. They reflect children's growing skills as they begin to grasp differences between spoken and written language, as well as how they are connected.

What is a language activity for preschoolers? ›

Games like Scrabble, Pictionary or a round of Charades also encourage vocabulary development and communication skills. Jokes. Telling age-appropriate puns will also help foster good humour and creativity in children. This also encourages wordplay and imagination.

What are examples of activities that you could use to support children's language and literacy development? ›

Songs and rhymes offer fun ways to explore the sounds and patterns of words. Poems with actions and repetition help children listen to the structure of spoken language and explore new words. Reading stories aloud and sharing books supports children to develop language and understand new concepts.

How do preschoolers promote language and literacy? ›

With one-on-one conversation, dramatic play, and engaging read alouds, preschool teachers can promote children's language and literacy development. Learn about research studies on the characteristics of preschool environments that prepare children to become readers.

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