Preschool Alphabet Activities - Please Mind Your P's

Please mind your P's

Learning the letters of the alphabet is among the top priorities for a preschool curriculum, since the alphabet provides the foundation for learning to read and write. The best way to approach learning the alphabet is one letter at a time with a variety of games and activities. These preschool alphabet activities focus on the letter P.

The key to choosing preschool alphabet activities is in choosing which words or concepts best illustrate the chosen letter. For the letter P, try focusing on peace, pets and pizza. Also, any person whose name begins with the letter P can act as an official spokesperson for that letter, which means they can begin or lead the preschool alphabet activities for that letter.

Give Peace a Chance

It's important to introduce the concept of peace to children at a young age, especially given the violent nature of today's world. Perhaps the best and most visual way of illustrating peace to young children is via the peace sign, which these two activities draw from.

Children can draw peace signs on paper plates, and decorate them with glitter, paint, markers, or whatever other craft supplies are on hand. After the peace sign paper plates are complete, streamers can be added to the bottom of the plate, and they can be hung on the wall to demonstrate the commitment to peace in the classroom.

Another fun activity using the peace sign has children forming the shape altogether on the floor using the bodies. Arrange the children on the floor either outside or inside the gym in the shape of a peace sign. Take a few overhead photos to show the children the final result.

Pick your Favorite Pet

Next, here's a series of activities on pets, another great P-word to learn about the letter. First, try this craft called "Pet Stained Glass", where the children cut out a shape of their pet from home or if they don't have any pets, whatever type of pet they'd like to have most. If there isn't any contact paper on hand, waxed paper can be substituted, but glue will also need to be applied.

Once the shapes are cut out, decorate the pets with tissue paper, googly eyes, and yarn. After the decorations have dried, they can be hung in the window for a gorgeous stained glass effect.

When learning about pets and the letter P, try this simple game where the kids match the pets with their respective houses. Cut out a number of pets from magazines or drawings as well as pictures of their homes. Have the children match the pets with the homes. This activity can be also be done with a variety of animals, some pets and some not, and the kids have to ascertain which ones belong in the home and which ones don't.

Pizza Time!

Finally, another of my preschool alphabet activities for the letter P is pizza, since it's delicious and fun to replicate. Try decorating a large, round cardboard pizza as a class using markers, cut outs of toppings, red paint for the sauce, and whatever else the kids can think of. Once the pizza is decorated, cut out the pieces and allow the children to reassemble the pie.