This fun learning activity for preschoolers and kindergartners combines fine motor practice with learning the letters of the alphabet!  My 3 and 5 year olds both loved this, and it’s a piece of cake to set up.

Preschoolers love to use clothespins.  Working a clothespin is also great for strengthening hand muscles and developing fine motor skills.  I grabbed 26 index cards and 26 clothespins to make our alphabet activity.  You’ll also need markers, 26 pennies, and tape. (More on the pennies below.)

We discovered that the cards flip upside down when you pin them to the clothesline since the cards are lighter than the clothespin.  I taped a penny to the bottom of each card to solve that problem.

I tied a piece of yarn between two chairs.   Then I asked Jonathan to pin all the letters on the clothesline in alphabetical order.  He absolutely loved this activity!  The best part was that after pinning each letter, he sang the alphabet song as he pointed to the letters so that he could figure out what letter to grab next.  Such great reinforcement.

Janie couldn’t wait to have her turn when he was done.  She is not ready to put the letters in order yet, but we talked about each letter as she pinned it on the clothesline.

You’ll need a long clothesline to fit in all the letters!  We had to squish our letters to make it work, but we got the entire alphabet on there.

Need more alphabet ideas?

4 Comments

Post a Comment
  1. Mary Jane Aug 11, 2017

    I'm a grandma whose grandkids are home schooled. I have followed you for several years now. Originally I was intrigued because we also had four boys. We finally had a girl too. I love so many of your ideas and will enjoy the letter ones with the 4 year old. Her six year old brother knows most letters but he will be involved too.

    Reply
  2. Sandra Wade Aug 16, 2017

    Use flash cards instead of index cards and colorful ribbon instead of clothesline.

    Reply
  3. Markie Sep 15, 2017

    Thanks for this! My 7 yr old is still having trouble with the alphabet order although he knows many letter sounds. He was been slower with literacy than my others but since we homeschool I am trying not to stress about it. This is an excellent activity. Thanks! I love your site.

    Reply
  4. Kate20 Jul 27, 2018

    Use flash cards instead of index cards and colorful ribbon instead of clothesline.

    Reply

Post a Comment