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.

puzzle cards with matching letter manipulatives text says free alphabet animal matching cards | free alphabet animal puzzles |

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!

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

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!

Free animal alphabet puzzles for letter recognition | Animal Alphabet Printables & Cards | Letters Aa -alligator, Bb- bee, and Cc- cat puzzle cards with matching letter manipulatives | free alphabet animal puzzles |

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.

Animal alphabet puzzles for letters Ee-elephant, Zz, zebra, and Tt- tiger | free alphabet animal puzzles | beginning sounds activities for preschool |

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.

Animal alphabet matching puzzles in letters Jj-jellyfish, Aa- alligator, Mm-monkey, Ee- elephant, and Ss- snake | free alphabet animal puzzles | beginning sound puzzles | preschool literacy |

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.

Animal alphabet puzzles with letters Dd-dog, Oo-owl, and Gg-goldfish | alphabet animal matching puzzles | beginning sound preschool activities |

Of course, decoding the word is only appropriate if your preschooler has solid letter recognition and sound recognition skills.

Alphabet animal matching puzzles letters Cc-cat, Aa- alligator, and Tt-tiger | free alphabet animal puzzles | alphabet recognition for preschool | letter practice in preschool |

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.

  1. Select a smaller set of matching puzzle sets and use them to play a game of concentration.
  2. Match the puzzles with a partner.
  3. Search the classroom for items that might begin with the same letter as each puzzle.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.

Sale
Wild Animal Babies: An Alphabet Book
  • Christiansen, Katie T. (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)
Sale
ABCs of Nature: A Wild & Wonderful Alphabet Experience…
  • Carmine Falcone (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)
Sale
AlphaOops!: The Day Z Went First
  • Used Book in Good Condition
  • Kontis, Alethea (Author)
Sale
Eating the Alphabet
  • Ehlert, Lois (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)
An Alphabet in Space
  • Smith, R. M. (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)
Sale
Peek-a-Flap ABC – Lift-a-Flap Board Book for Curious…
  • Jaye Garnett (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
  • Used Book in Good Condition
  • Bill Martin Jr. (Author)
Sale
ABCs of Kindness: Everyday Acts of Kindness, Inclusion…
  • 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!

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?

One Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *