Prepare index cards and print letters on them. Choose eight letters you would like your preschooler to recognize and print each letter on two cards. Shuffle the cards and then lay them face down on the table in rows. Each player turns over two cards on his turn. If the cards match, the player will keep the set. If they do not match, turn them back over. Play continues until all of the matching cards have been found. Have the child say the letter name as he turns over each card to reinforce the learning. To make variations on this game, prepare the letter cards with capital and lower-case letters so that players have to match each capital letter to its lower-case counterpart. As students become more familiar with letter sounds, prepare cards with pictures and letters, and players will match a letter with a picture beginning with that sound.
Help preschoolers identify the shape of letters with a grab-bag game. Place two plastic magnetic letters inside a small bag that the child cannot see through. Make sure the bag has a small opening at the top, or one that can be drawn shut. Call out one of the letters that you placed in the bag and have the child reach inside to feel for that letter. Once they have found it, the preschooler should pull it out and say the name of the letter. If you are working on letter sounds, have them name the sound for the letter they found as well. Once they are familiar with more letters, place three or four letters in the bag at a time.
Give preschoolers a tactile way to create letters by letting them use play-dough. Show them how to roll it into long thin pieces. When children are first learning to form letters, provide them with mats with the letter printed on them. Have the children place their rolled-out play-dough along the shapes of each letter. As they become more familiar with letters and their formations, have them make the shape of each letter from memory or by looking at an alphabet chart.
As preschoolers are learning their letters, teach them the sounds of each letter and have them search for items that begin with each sound. Give pairs or small groups of children old magazines and scissors. Invite them to search through the magazine for pictures of things that begin with the letter you are focusing on. The children will cut out the pictures and glue them onto large pieces of paper to create a poster. Label the posters with the letter at the top and hang them to compare the number of items that each group found.