Mosaic Letters – A Scissor Practice Letter Craft
Letter of the week crafts are a really fun way to support early reading skills in preschool. And they’re really effective, too, because teaching letter recognition and sounds through hands-on activities helps young children stay engaged and retain what they’ve learned. From colorful mosaic letters to playful letter recognition activities, these simple ideas make learning the alphabet both meaningful and developmentally appropriate.
As teachers and preschool parents, we’re always looking for effective and engaging alphabet activities. Letter of the week crafts and letter recognition activities are a great way to make phonics lessons more hands-on and fun. It’s not just about keeping things playful, either, it’s about having the right kind of letter activities in your daily plans makes a real difference in how children connect with the alphabet.
In my own preschool, I follow the Daily Lessons in Preschool Literacy Curriculum with 100% fidelity because it’s that effective. And I still love adding even more alphabet activities like this one. Parents especially LOVE these mosaic letters. We create one each week, and by the end of the school year, every child has a full, colorful alphabet wall to display at home.
But here’s the best part…the alphabet letter template can be used for loads of fine motor activities that help develop letter knowledge. These activities support letter recognition, letter sounds, and fine motor skills.
Read this: The Best Letter Activities for Preschoolers to Build Reading Skills Fast
Benefits of Letter Crafts
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 Craft 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 to use scissors takes time, patience, and lots of practice. It challenges fine motor skills and requires children to coordinate both hands, which is a skill called bilateral coordination. Cutting can be tough at first, but with the right support and activities, your preschooler can build confidence and improve quickly.
Here are some resources about scissor cutting skills.
- The Ultimate Guide to Teaching Scissor Cutting
- Tips For Teaching Scissor Cutting
- How Your Preschooler Might Be Using Scissors the Wrong Way
How to Make Mosaic Letter Craft
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
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.
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!