Animal Alphabet Puzzles for Letter Recognition
Looking for some free alphabet animal puzzles? You’ve come to the right place! These free animal alphabet puzzles for letter recognition are so cute, and like any other free printable on my site, I’m sharing with you five different ways to use these letter puzzles, so you have tons of ways to use them in your literacy program.
Yes, these are FREE animal alphabet puzzles, so be sure to grab them from the end of this post.
Animal Alphabet Cards
Alphabet animals seem to be appropriate all year round, and I’m certain I’ll be keeping these alphabet puzzles out with my literacy centers so my preschoolers can enjoy them alongside all our other literacy printables.
Now, like all my printables you’ll find on my blog, you will also find tons of different ways to use these alphabet puzzles. Because the only thing better than free printables for preschooler is having to only print the activity once AND be able to use it for several other activities.
Plus, if you are looking for more literacy support for your preschool classroom, take a look at our literacy center bundle or our daily lessons in preschool literacy curriculum!
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Product on sale* Daily Lessons in Preschool Literacy CurriculumOriginal price was: $135.00.$99.00Current price is: $99.00.
Animal Alphabet Printables & Cards
Each alphabet letter has a corresponding animal name and adorable picture. The vowel Aa includes an adorable alligator and the vowel Ii includes a bright green iguana.
It’s a great opportunity to explain that the alligator opens it’s mouth to make the /a/ sound at the beginning of its name. The iguana might be a new animal to some preschoolers so a short discussion about iguanas, lizards, and perhaps chameleons might be in order.
The letter Qq references the adorable quail bird and the letter Xx is all about the x-ray fish! These more unusual animals provide opportunity for learning about unique animals while still using the beginning sound to learn the letter sounds.
Animal Alphabet Puzzle
These letter puzzles can be printed out and used without any extra supplies, but I really love giving my preschoolers extra letter practice by adding some magnetic letter manipulatives to the activity.
In fact, I have to admit that letter manipulatives are one of my all time favorite teaching tools, so I try to include them many different activities. Plus, while a printable is handy for teaching, adding a manipulative offers a more tactile approach that some preschoolers really benefit from, too.
What You Get
This free printable includes seven pages of animal alphabet puzzles that can be used in all sorts of ways. The consonants are blue and the vowels are red to help distinguish between the two and to use with letter manipulatives/letter magnets.
Additional Materials
- free animal alphabet puzzles
- letter manipulatives (optional)
The Set-Up
Print the puzzles on heavy cardstock and laminate for added durability. Honestly, I don’t always laminate all my preschool printables, but I will always laminate puzzles.
Preschoolers tend to be extra hard on puzzles since the pieces get moved around so much and these animal alphabet puzzles are no different. So do yourself a favor and laminate them. If you don’t have a laminator, this Scotch laminator is inexpensive and has worked wonderfully for me for the last ten years.
Cut the puzzles apart, placing the animal pictures in their own pile and the letter side in their own pile. Place them next to a bowl of letter manipulatives.
These letter puzzles are designed to go along with these magnetic letter manipulatives, however just about any letter manipulatives will work.
Now invite your preschooler to join you in some animal letter matching fun!
Ways to Use the ABC Animal Puzzles
If you have an older preschooler who is already very familiar with the alphabet, you can probably offer the puzzle pieces all at once without your preschoolers feeling overwhelmed.
But, if you have younger preschoolers or a preschooler who is not confident in all the letters of the alphabet, then I suggest you just offer the most familiar letters first, and then work your way to the least familiar letters.
Use the Alphabet Animal Puzzles with Letter Manipulatives
For additional letter recognition practice, use letter manipulatives to match the the letters on the pieces.
The letters can be matched on the tray, table, or whiteboard In fact, if you have multiple sets of letter manipulatives, you can invite your preschooler to find all the matching letters and line them up with the puzzles pieces.
Be sure to encourage your preschooler to say the words of the animals, too, and make note that the animal name is on the letter side as well as the picture side. This is important because it helps preschoolers understand that there is a specific written word for every word that is spoken, and that the written word will always look the same.
So, if a preschooler sees the word “alligator” in one place, they will learn that if they see that exact same combination of words in another place it will also say “alligator.”
When saying the words with my preschoolers, I like to emphasize the beginning sound to help them make the association between the sound and the letters.
This is a jellyfish. /J/, /j/, /j/ jellyfish. The latter j makes the /j/ sound in jellyfish. Do you hear the /j/ sound in jellyfish?
Use the Alphabet Animal Puzzles to Spell Names
You can turn just about any alphabet printable into a name spelling activity. Just pull out the letters in your child’s name and then line them up in order for create the correct spelling.
When doing this, I like to place the animal picture side above the letters, so the child sees the letters in order, but they are still making the association that each letter of the alphabet makes a specific sound, even in their own name.
Use the Alphabet Animal Puzzles to Spell CVC Words
Use a sentence strip to write out a few cvc words (consonant-vowel-consonant), like cat, fat, pig, dig, jug, dot, etc. Cut apart the words and invite your preschooler to find the correct letter cards that match the cvc word.
Like the name spelling activity, place the animal picture cards above the letter pieces. This helps preschoolers sound out the words by being able to reference the picture card with the letter.
Of course, decoding the word is only appropriate if your preschooler has solid letter recognition and sound recognition skills.
More Ways to Teach Letter Recognition with Puzzles
Here are some other ways you can use these alphabet animal activities in your preschool literacy program.
- Select a smaller set of matching puzzle sets and use them to play a game of concentration.
- Match the puzzles with a partner.
- Search the classroom for items that might begin with the same letter as each puzzle.
- If using in a small group, ask your preschooler to name something else that begins with the same sound as they letter puzzle they are working on.
- Play a game of “Slap It”.
- Players take turns drawing a card from their pile and placing it in a discard pile face up. When two matching puzzle pieces are placed in the discard pile one right after the other, a player can then slap the pile and claim the match. The player with the most matches wins the game.
- Add them to an alphabet sensory bin.
Alphabet Books for Preschoolers
Learning the alphabet is so fun for little ones when they can point out letters they know in engaging and brightly illustrated alphabet books. These are some of our favorite alphabet stories that my preschoolers ask to read again and again!
This post may contain affiliate links, which means that at no cost to you, I may earn a small sum if you click through and make a purchase.
- Christiansen, Katie T. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Carmine Falcone (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Smith, R. M. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Jaye Garnett (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Used Book in Good Condition
- Bill Martin Jr. (Author)
- Hardcover Book
- Berger, Samantha (Author)
Printable Alphabet Puzzles
Looking for more printable alphabet puzzles? Practice uppercase and lowercase and beginning sounds too with these fun printables!
- Uppercase and Lowercase Alphabet Puzzles
- Printable Alphabet Puzzles
- Sun Letter Matching Alphabet Puzzle
Grab Your FREE Animal Alphabet Puzzles Here!
Think your preschoolers are going to love these puzzles? Then grab your free copy by clicking the image below.
Looking for more Free Alphabet Printables for Preschoolers?
I’m Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home-mama of five! I’m the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught a range of levels, from preschool to college and a little bit of everything in between. Right now my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction.
Great job, Sarah! Thank you!