Use alphabet stencils to promote letter recognition in preschool children. Show students the stencils and state the names of each letter as you do so. Set a pile of the stencils in the center of a table and as you state a letter, children must find the stencil that shows the letter you stated and trace it on a piece of paper. The stencils can also be used to practice letter-sound recognition. As you say a sound, students must find the stencil of the letter that makes the sound and trace it onto a piece of paper.
Stencils are useful for creating art projects in your preschool classroom. Provide students with stencils of various animals, shapes and letters. Encourage them to create pictures by using markers and crayons to trace the stencils onto a piece of paper. Once they have traced a picture they are satisfied with, they can further embellish their pictures with paint and other craft supplies.
Stencils are an ideal tool to use to provide preschool students with writing practice. Set out different alphabet and number stencils, have children trace them onto a piece of paper and then use a pencil or crayon to trace the stenciled image. By tracing the stencils and then tracing the images created by the stencils, the stencils provide two opportunities for writing practice.
The act of tracing stencils provides children with fine motor skill development in and of itself; the images that children create with the stencils, though, can be used for further fine motor skill development activities. Have children trace the stencils onto construction paper, cut out the images and glue them to another piece of paper; cutting and gluing also allow children to exercise the small muscles of their hands. For more fine motor practice, have students trace the stencils onto construction paper, cut them out and use a hole puncher to punch holes around the perimeter of the shapes. Again, tracing and cutting provides fine motor practice, as does using a hole puncher.