Ideas and resources
Kids, both young and old, will have a blast making suncatchers that are perfect for adding some color to a window or to give as a gift. These suncatchers are made by placing pony beads
in metal cookie cutters 
and then placing them in an oven. Let the kids watch as the beads melt!
Follow these directions from Tracey and discover how easy it can be to make your own suncatchers.
I did a post earlier this year with activities and ideas for teaching the alphabet, but a lot or learning letters and recognizing them just has to do with seeing them and working with them a lot.
That means coloring, tracing, identifying things that start with different letters and more.
One way to reinforce the letters is through little activity books like these cute printable alphabet books from Life Over Cs.
These are available for free when you subscribe to her newsletter, and I’d say that’s well worth it if you have a little one (or a group of little ones!) working on the alphabet and letter recognition.
Each mini book includes a collection of things that start with that letter to color, color and read with words that start with the letter, tracing the letter, finding the letter in a grid and other coloring pages with objects that start with that letter.
These little books are super useful reinforcing the different letters and giving kids different activities related to the letters.
If you do a letter of the day or letter of the week you can use a new book for each one, and then keep the copies in your reading center or in a basket where kids can look at them again.
And of course you can add in all the other letter activities you like, go on a scavenger hunt for items that start with that letter, read alphabet books, practice writing letters in rice or with pompoms or playdough or whatever sensory activities you like.
You can grab the free printables when you enter you email address at Life Over Cs, and check out her other great alphabet resources and activities while you are over there.
Do you have favorite activities for teaching letters to kids? I’d love to hear about them!
[Photo: Life Over Cs]
Sun catchers are supposed to be clear enomugh for the sun to shine through them… these look so solid … they might be pretty, but I wouldn’t classify them as a sun catcher… a window decoration… maybe
Actually, these are made using transparent pony beads so they are a little see through. 🙂
Doesn’t the plastic release toxic fumes? I wouldn’t want children near that.
We have done these and we use a muffin tin or other sized / shapes of pans on our grill outside. We have also used a toaster outdoors. It’s lots of fun for kids and depending on the beads you use….they are transparent!