Teaching toddlers and preschoolers ABCs can be done with some simple items from Dollar Tree. In this post, I’m showing you some great finds that you can use to create some alphabet learning activities.
Dollar Tree Alphabet Puzzles
Keep your eye out for both the foam and the cardboard alphabet puzzles at your Dollar Tree.
You can of course use the puzzles in a normal puzzle way, or pop out the letters and add them into a sensory bin. Either to match back up with the puzzle spot or maybe you got one of those ABC Bubble Poppers from my other post and you can do some matching that way.
Dollar Tree Flashcards
Play name letters, find letters, or for those kids that are a little more advanced have them put the cards in alphabetical order.
DIY Flashcards
If the Dollar Tree flashcards aren’t exactly what you have in mind, easily make your own! Check either the poster board section or the wall decal section for a set of letters. Also, pick up a stack of index cards from the office supply aisle. There are different sizes and white vs color options. You can even go the extra mile and buy the binding rings, “Book Rings” there. Hole punch the top corners of your set and place your cards on the ring together. You can also head over to the laundry section and pick up a set of wooden clothes pins. Label them with letters and make a matching game out of. This is also a good way to work those fine motor skills.
Letter Hunt
No, we’re not going to do a “word search,” we’re going to do a “letter hunt.” There are so many different word searches and letter scramble options in the book section, you will have no problem finding one that works for you. All your child will do in this activity is circle or highlight all the letters as you call them. For example, I say, “find all the As” and that’s exactly what they do. This is a good one for teaching how to visually scan from left to right as well as visual recognition, and letter identification. It’s really good for the rewriting skills and super easy to put together.
Fun with Letter Stickers
There are so many letter sticker options, check the office or craft section for the type you wish to work with.
For this, all you need is paper, stickers, and a marker/pen/pencil. Make your own matching activities. Like handwriting the letters and having them place the matching sticker over it.
Make letter recognition pages! Write/print on one sheet one letter and let your kid find all the matching letter sticker options to fill the page. (Have a lot of stickers on hand for this idea.)
Letter Stencils
They have so many letter style options! Lots to either work on letter recognition or artwork with letters. These also are great to do with the Do A Dots I shared with shape stencils, but great for these too.
Wood Letters
While you are in the craft section also keep your eyes open for wood letters. Great for art, matching, or sensory bins. These will be easy to reuse and repurpose as your kid gets bigger.
Letter Magnets
These letter magnets are new to my store, but keep your eyes out. I have my kids use them on my magnet dry-erase board that I also picked up at Dollar Tree. Pick up a couple of sets and work on them like the above ideas, but in a different medium.
Workbooks
Okay, this one isn’t a big surprise or secret, you probably already know how great Dollar Tree is for teaching ABCs with these kid workbooks, but I still had to mention them. Look through them all for the right age level or characters to get them to get engaged. You can always pull out pages for the right level.
I hope this inspires you to be creative and put together some things on your own for teaching ABCs to those younger kiddos. I love that budget-friendly options are available to make really easy, fun, and engaging toddler and preschool activities.
For extra BONUS ideas, give my Instagram a follow, I share a lot of quick videos there as well.
Disclaimer: The products featured in this post and video were purchased by myself or sent to me for review for free. Some videos may be sponsored by brands that I enjoy. Make sure to *ALWAYS* use discretion when deciding age-appropriate activities and supervise your children.
MUSIC: courtesy of Soundstripe.
