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Letter Recognition Flowers

We’re embarking on learning more and more letters and I wanted to create a reusable activity that I could pull out and use for reinforcement exercises with the new letter sets and blends when needed without having to explain how to do it or get creative first and spend more time creating an activity than sitting down to do it. So for this weeks #playfulpreschool theme of flowers T and I set about creating a reusable summer flower garden which with her we are going to be using initially to help with letter recognition and sorting but I’ve also used it with my first grader to work on addition and subtraction and I can see me being able to use it time and time again.

Letter recognition flowers - help preschoolers learn their letters with this DIY summer flower garden to work on letter recognition skills

Materials Needed

Large Sheet of White Paper (we used some from our easel roll!)
Blue wax crayon
Green Paper
Yellow Paper
Coloured Paper for Flower Petals
Laminating pouches & Laminator – OR Contact Paper
Scissors
Dry Erase Marker

Glue or Double-sided sticky tape.

Learning Objectives

  • Recognise and sort letters

Preparation

I like involving T with the preparation if I can and this was a great opportunity to do so. We started off by creating the sky – after removing the paper from around a wax crayon she turned it on its side and coloured in all over the white paper.

Letter recognition flowers - help preschoolers learn their letters with this DIY summer flower garden to work on letter recognition skills

We then used the green paper and she cut out some grass to go along the bottom of the paper randomly going up and down to produce spikes of longer and shorter grass.

To get the flower heads and the sun in the sky we used a bowl and drew around it and then cut out the circles. For the sun, she snipped around the outside – a good skill turning with one hand and snipping with the other hand working on coordinating so that you don’t end up with some of the parts cut out.

Letter recognition flowers - help preschoolers learn their letters with this DIY summer flower garden to work on letter recognition skills

I then drew out 10 petals per flower head and set 4 of the flower heads and the petals through the laminator and then cut them out. Glue the grass in place along the bottom of the paper add some stems of strips of green paper and attach the flower heads to the top.

Letter recognition flowers - help preschoolers learn their letters with this DIY summer flower garden to work on letter recognition skills

Letter Recognition Flowers

Decide on the letters that you want to work on – 4 at a time is a good number as they start to learn the letters. We settled on s, a, t, p the first 4 letters that are taught in the UK and two that I knew she recognised easily the s and the a and the t which she recognised in upper but not lower case and introduced the letter p. In the centre of the flower heads write a letter.

Letter recognition flowers - help preschoolers learn their letters with this DIY summer flower garden to work on letter recognition skills

With the petals I mixed up the colours and wrote the same letter on 10 different coloured petals and repeated with the next letter and then the other two letters – so I ended up with 10 sets of s, a, t and p.

Letter recognition flowers - help preschoolers learn their letters with this DIY summer flower garden to work on letter recognition skills

 

We then sat down together and reviewed the letters in the centre of the flower heads, then as we choose a petal which letter was on it and matched it to the respective flower.

Letter recognition flowers - help preschoolers learn their letters with this DIY summer flower garden to work on letter recognition skills

When you have finished wipe down the letters and it can be reused again for another letter set or to reinforce the same letters on a different occasion.

Letter recognition flowers - help preschoolers learn their letters with this DIY summer flower garden to work on letter recognition skills

 

Extension

As I mentioned I have also used this with my older child, instead of simple letter recognition in the flower heads I wrote a number between 1 and 20 and then on the petals I wrote a number of different ways to work out that number using addition and subtraction to make those numbers.

I have also used it with word families reading the word as we put the petals down around the flower head and with T to order the numbers 1 to 10 around each flower head using petals of the same colour.

10+ Flower Garden Learning Activities for Kids

Alphabet Activities: Flower Vases by Growing Book by Book
Spring and summer are full of opportunities for preschoolers to pick flowers from the yard. Bring a bouquet inside and have fun arranging them while learning about the alphabet in this fun and playful activity.
Lavender Scented Sensory Paint and Pre-Writing Practice for Preschool! by The Preschool Toolbox Blog
There are few things that excite our senses like the fragrance of flowers! Come try a lavender scented sensory paint to enhance pre-writing skills! Free lavender pre-writing printable for use at home (or in the classroom)!
Flower Hunt by Color by Mom Inspired Life
Get outside with your preschooler and explore nature while hunting for flowers by color! Use the included printable to record your findings and then practice various math concepts with your data.
A Honey Bee Craft and Science Activity for Kids from The Educators’ Spin On It
Flowers are not just beautiful, they have a purpose too! Many flowers turn into the food we eat. Honey bees are to thank for this! Grab your markers and celebrate the pollinators with this bee craft and science activity for kids.
 Kid-Made Cupcake Liner FlowersChildren love to create art using a variety of materials. Grab some colorful cupcake liners, buttons, and pompoms and watch their creativity bloom!  – Fun-A-Day
Chalk Art: Flower Power Letter Matching from Tiny Tots Adventures
Take learning outdoors. Fill the driveway with letter flowers and provide your child with plenty of opportunities to practice writing, matching, and tracing the alphabet.
Number Flowers by Still Playing School
There is so much playful math involved with our Flower Number Garden! Our kids especially loved the “magical” way we made them “grow!”
Colors and Numbers Flower Sensory Play for Preschoolers by Life Over C’s
Learn colors, count, and practice fine motor skills with flower sensory play for preschoolers!
Make an easy word family game with paper flowers to practice reading simple CVC or consonant- vowel – consonant words.

Finger Print Flowers by Powerful Mothering
Ask your child to make a beautiful flower garden with their fingers, sit back, and watch the magic.

Letter Recognition Flowers by Rainy Day Mum
Work with preschoolers on letter recognition with this reusable flowers activity that is simple to make and can be used again and again.

Letter recognition flowers - help preschoolers learn their letters with this DIY summer flower garden to work on letter recognition skills

Author
Cerys Parker

Cerys is a marine biologist, environmental educator, teacher, mum, and home educator from the UK. She loves getting creative, whether it is with simple and easy crafts and ideas, activities to make learning fun, or delicious recipes that you and your kids can cook together you'll find them all shared here on Rainy Day Mum.

6 Comments

  1. The lower case letters are a little tricky and this is a great way to learn them. Our kids would love this activity.

  2. Wonderful idea! This is perfect for preschoolers!

  3. Your article reminded me that I have a flower learning activity set packed away somewhere from my oldest child. I love saving good activities that are already prepared for the next kid!

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