Use this activity to promote tactile sensations in your preschool children. Buy a series of wooden or plastic letters and place them in a small bag. Walk through the class and stop at each student. Ask them to place their hand in the bag and grab a letter. Give them a moment to feel the shape of the letter and then ask them if they can guess the letter. After they guess, they pull the letter out of the bag to check. State the name of the letter for the student and have them repeat the name with you. Move to the next student and repeat the process. Encourage the students with letters to continue looking at the letters and moving their fingers around its shape.
Take your preschool students to a computer lab or use the computer in your classroom for this activity. Go to a preschool educational game website such as Internet 4 Classrooms and open up the letter section. Pick a game and let your students play it for several minutes. Explain how to play the game if necessary and help students who may not understand how to use a computer. These type of games are usually focused on matching letters. For example, a small spaceship will fly past and students have to shoot it down by clicking on or typing the letter imprinted on the front of the ship. Monitor their game play to make sure they don't detour to any inappropriate sites.
Use a preschooler's understanding of their name to help them learn the alphabet. Write a random letter on the board. Ask the children to name the letter. Say the letter several times with them and then ask the students to raise their hand if their name starts with that letter. Gently remind students who don't raise their hand at the right time. Tell these students to "follow my directions" and then give them a small activity to perform. For example, they could put their hand under their chin, stand on one leg or do five jumping jacks. Integrate this game throughout the day, such as using it as a way to dismiss students to get snacks or to get ready for home.
Making and playing simple alphabet card games can give your students double the letter practice. Hand out 26 index cards to each of your students. Write a list of letters on the alphabet, including the lower and upper cases. Tell your students to write one letter on each card, with the lower case on one side and the upper case on the other. Show them how on an example card. Go through the activity one letter at a time together, starting with "A." Say the letter name, repeat it a few times and then draw it on the board with them. After you're done, take their cards, place each student's in an individual bag and label the bags with the student's name. Take them out for matching games.