Interacting with your child and a busy basket is a fun way to reinforce the phonetic sounds of letters. Prepare a busy basket by filling it with small objects, magnetic letters, index cards with letters written on them, and index cards with glued images such as photos or illustrations cut from old magazines, junk mail, or other disposable paper objects. Use old business cards to glue images or letters (or letter stickers) onto as well. Place the full basket on a table in front of the child and allow the child to reach into the basket and pull something out. Have the child identify the letter and the sound. Discuss other objects that start with the same letter and sound. As you go through the basket, have the child form piles on the table of like sound/letter objects/cards. Change out the items in the basket occasionally to keep the objects fresh and to challenge your child.
Purchase alphabet and handwriting practice activity books or print online worksheets (see Resources) featuring traceable dot-formed letters. Allow the child to trace letters. Print or use purchased large rule handwriting paper (see Resources) intended for younger elementary students to have the child practice writing uppercase and lowercase letters. Using this specially ruled paper helps the child because the paper has a top, bottom and broken center line which serves as a height guide for practiced written letters. As the child writes, reinforce the phonetics of the letter by saying the sound and providing examples of things that begin with the letter the child is engaged in writing. Toddler and preschool hands may require fat crayons instead of pencils.
Purchase or print worksheets (see Resources) that feature an image and a row of letters which requires the child to circle the letter that sounds like the object pictured; or purchase or print a worksheet full of images and one letter which requires the child to circle all of the images on the page that sound like or start with the letter featured on the worksheet. Teaching supply stores, online home schooling websites, discount and some grocery and toy stores sell many types of alphabet and alphabet writing practice activity books. Reinforce the letters being learned by discussing other objects in the room around you and the child that also begin with the letter/sound featured on the worksheet.
Fill a basket with magnetic letters or index cards with letters written on them (or letter stickers). Have the child pull out a card or letter. Instruct the child that she should find five to 10 (depending on the child's skill level) objects in the room or house that begin with the letter or sound that she has pulled from the basket. To provide a more difficult challenge, set a timer for three to five minutes for the completion of the scavenger hunt. As an additional learning reinforcement, provide a small reward for an accomplished hunt that also begins with the letter/sound of the letter the child has pulled from the basket; for example: if the letter is R, give the child raisins.