Mosaic letters is a colorful way for children to learn their letter names and sounds, and an equally great exercise that reinforces fine motor and scissor skills. It’s one of our regular letter of the week activities we add to our preschool phonics lesson plans and one of our favorite letter of the week printables.
Mosaic Letters for Kindergarten and Preschool
As teachers and preschool parents, we are always looking for more alphabet activities. And it’s important to have the right kind of letter activities in your daily lesson plans. In my own preschool, I follow the Daily Lessons in Preschool Literacy Curriculum with 100% fidelity because it is that effective.
And then I add in even more alphabet activities like this one.
Parents LOVE these mosaic letters. We do one per week so by the end of the school year, each preschooler has a beautiful and colorful alphabet wall at home.
Benefits of Mosaic Letters Activity
This isn’t just a letter activity for young children. Here are some other benefits.
- letter recognition
- letter sound practice
- fine motor work
- scissor skills practice
- pincer grasp work
This is also great for a homeschooling activity for preschoolers and kindergarteners, too. Letter identification and fine motor activities are perfect for learning analytical skills.
What’s Included
With this printable set, you get the entire alphabet in both upper case and lower case letters. It has a big bubble font, allowing for lots of room to create the mosaic.
But you are not limited to only making mosaic letters with these alphabet pages. I have lots of other ideas I share further down about how to use these pages in creative ways. Gotta’ keep your preschoolers engaged!
Mosaic Letters Alphabet Activity
If you’re looking for more ways to develop fine motor skills while also working on alphabet skills, then this is the printable for you!
Materials
- fine motor letter formation mats (alphabet pages)
- construction paper
- scissors
- glue sticks
- cardstock
The Set-Up
Print the fine motor alphabet mats on heavy cardstock. I used plain printer paper, but in retrospect, I should have used cardstock.
In advance, take your construction paper and cut it down into long strips about one inch wide. Use several colors to make this letter of the week activity with even higher visual interest.
How to Teach Scissor Skills to Preschoolers
Learning how to use scissors is a life skill that takes time, patience, and practice. It involves using hands and fingers in just the right way, challenging all those small muscles and fine motor movements. It’s tough!
As a parent, you’ve probably noticed how challenging it can be for your little one to master scissor cutting. It can be a frustrating experience for both you and your child. However, with the right skills and guidance, your preschooler can become a pro in no time.
At the core of scissor cutting lies the need for bilateral coordination. This vital skill allows your child to use both sides of their body to conduct separate tasks simultaneously. With patience and practice, your little one can quickly develop the motor skills required to become a scissor-cutting expert.
More Reading About Teaching Scissor Cutting to Preschoolers
How to Make Fine Motor Mosaic Letters
Invite your preschoolers to begin snipping the strips of construction paper into small pieces. When they are cutting with scissors, be sure to look for the following things:
- scissors are used in the dominant hand
- thumb facing up toward the ceiling
- elbow tight to the ribs
- cutting and snipping away from yourself
For more tips on how to teach scissor skills to preschoolers, read this post.
Once all the paper has been snipped, offer each child a letter of the week printable. I pair these the Daily Lessons in Preschool Literacy Curriculum, so we do whatever letter corresponds with the curriculum.
Once the students have cut a nice pile of “mosaic tiles”, hand out the glue sticks and invite them to paste the tiles onto a letter you have already printed out.
Next, offer some glue sticks and invite your preschooler to start gluing down his mosaic tiles. Preschoolers might choose out only their favorite colors, only one color, or they might try to use every color.
Fun Ways to Use These Letter of the Week Printables
While I love using these as DIY alphabet cards to display on a wall, there are so many more ways to use these alphabet pages.
Use Them for Coloring
Even scribbling has its place in the development of holding a pencil. These can be used for rainbow writing by really challenging preschoolers to focus on curved and straight lines in the letter. Use a variety of writing utensils.
Use them for Beginning Sound Activities
These can be really powerful in reinforcing letter identification skills and letter sounds.
Try using a related beginning sound item instead of using construction paper. For example, glue on popcorn for letter p, or Dulpo block paint stamping for letter d. Be creative!
Use Them with Small Objects or Manipulatives
We’ve used all sorts of manipulatives with these alphabet printables. Try out some of the following:
- floral pebbles
- wiki stix
- playdough
- thematic manipulatives
- pipe cleaner
How to Get These Letter of the Week Printables
These alphabet pages can be found here.
More Letter of the Week Printables
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.
I love doing this with the first letter of the kids names because that is what we focus on at the beginning of the year. I have some young 3’s coming to preschool so I am a bit nervous about scissor time! 🙂 But thank you for reminding me about this activity–a great one that works on many skills!
You know, I did this activity with my summer preschool class which was mainly made up of 3 year olds. Because the strips of paper were so thin, it only took one snip to cut across the strip, making it more manageable for those little hands. The larger task was to make sure that each student was holding the scissors safely and properly. But…most of those 3 year olds hadn’t had any exposure to cutting before this activity, and they were so proud of themselves for being able to cut!