Letter A activities

As I mentioned Tuesday in my post, we are learning the Letter A with the family I nanny.  I decided that with the start of the new year I would spend about 2 weeks on each letter.  The kids are 4.5, 3 and 1.  The 1 year old doesn't do most of the activities with us.  Both the 4.5 and 3 year old are in preschool learning their letters, so this is just more reinforcement for them.  I print alot of activities from the Internet.  I will post some of the sites below.

I do alot of coloring sheets ( they love to color!).  But I try and get coloring pages that also have them practice tracing the letter to.  Thanks to Target's dollar bins right now (lots of great preschool learning items in them right now) I got some other great ideas.  I also check dollar tree every other week for things I can use.  I have budgeted $20 to spend every paycheck on items... and I ring everything up separate from personal purchases so it is easier come tax time.  Since I plan to do all the letters and holiday activities too... I have all the future items in a tote right now, when I sit down to plan our next theme, I go through the box and pull out what I have... I already have a good stash for B, C and Valentines.  I also have a lot of good Christmas stuff for December (my contact is till August 2014).

I try and have 2-3 activities per day since we spend 30-60 minutes on our theme activities.  Besides worksheets, I try and have a few crafts.  Last week we decorated foam apples.  Tomorrow we will be making Alligators that look like the Letter A.  I also buy 1-2 toys.  I bought these dollar airplanes that were at Target and they will get those later this week. 

The kids have a lot of books, so at the start of the theme we will go through their books and pull out all books that have to do with that theme and set them in a certain spot... these will be the books we read before nap time.

I found these blank books at Target (love target dollar bins!) And the kids got to decorate the front cover.  On each page inside we pasted the letter we are working on and then I write every A word the boys find.... whether from their worksheets, their books, or just daily life.  Once we fill the books up, they will get to keep them.

Here is where I got most of my activities- but my biggest advice when planning activities with kids- search on google or pinterest... there are alot of great, free ideas out there!

http://www.tlsbooks.com/preschoolletters.htm (free preschool worksheets)
http://totallytots.homestead.com/NowIKnowMyABCs.html (Alphabet crafts)
http://www.learnwithplayathome.com/2012/08/the-z-of-learning-letters-90-ways-to.html (letter activities)
http://www.education.com/slideshow/color-animal-alphabet/ (animal coloring sheets)
http://www.oopseydaisyblog.com/2011/10/a-is-for-apples-massive-packet.html (Alphabet packets)
http://www.homeschoolcreations.net/2012/10/printables-from-a-to-z-from-homeschool-creations/ (lots of great printables)
http://www.first-school.ws/theme/alphaletter/a.htm (letter activities)
http://www.education.com/slideshow/alphabet-shapes/alphabet-shapes-a/?cid=50.413 (Letter Shapes)