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Hello, fellow craft enthusiasts! As a stay-at-home mom, I’ve discovered the joy of blending playtime with educational experiences for my two-year-old daughter. In our latest quest to explore the alphabet, we focused on the letter “A” with a series of crafts that not only sparked creativity but also taught valuable skills along the way. Here’s a roundup of our seven easy letter A activities, perfect for preschoolers!

1. Letter A is for Alligator – Chomping Paper Plate Craft 🐊

This fun craft involved turning a simple paper plate into a chomping alligator! We painted and decorated the plate, cut it in half, and glued the pieces on a clothespin to create the chomping motion. This craft was a fun with some really satisfying play chomping at the end.

Materials Needed:

Paper plates
Green paint or markers
Googly Eyes (or you could draw them)
Clothespins
Scissors
Hot glue (I did this part)

Steps:

Cut the plate in half with a zigzag pattern
cut the top and bottom of your left over plate to give it a more boxy/rectangular shape
Cut rounded eye sections out of the scrap plate paper you cut off
Cover the teeth with painters tape or sticky notes so they stay white
Paint the eyes and paper plate green.
Let it dry, then remove the tape or sticky notes.
Glue on the eyes.
Hot glue each half of the face to a clothespin.
Let your little ones play by opening and closing the clothespin!

My daughter was thrilled with her chomping alligator, and I have to say, we both enjoyed this one immensely. I’d give it a 10/10!

2. Letter A is for Exploding A’s 🎉

For this one, we created triangle A’s using five popsicle sticks. When tossed in the air, they explode apart! While my older children found this idea fun and engaging, but building these was too hard for my little one.

Materials Needed:

Five popsicle sticks
A fun tossing space

Steps:

Bundle the popsicle sticks together by layering three together with their tips touching
Basket weave two more sticks into the bottom, letting the pressure of it hold the stick together
Toss and enjoy the chaos

Although this craft was a hit with my older kids, my daughter found it tricky. She rated this a 2/10 for her age group!

3. Letter A is for Acorn Paper Plate Craft 🍂

We transformed a paper plate into a cute acorn! With a little paint and packing paper for the cap, this craft was both creative and straightforward. My daughter really enjoyed the painting and the gluing parts.

Materials Needed:

Paper plates
Brown paint
Packing paper
Scissors
Glue

Steps:

Cut the bottom of the plate to give it an acorn shape.
Paint the plate brown.
Crumple packing paper to create the acorn cap and glue it on top.
Add a small stem.

This craft was fun and relatively easy, and I’d rate it a solid 7/10!

4. Letter A is for Animal Alphabet Soup 🥣

We dived into imaginative play with this craft! We slowly added toy animals into a big pot and we made their sounds while mixing and playing. This activity was super easy to set up, and my daughter loved using my adult pots and pans!

Materials Needed:

Toy animals
A big pot or bowl
Something to mix with

Steps:

Add the toy animals to the pot.
Encourage your child to make sounds and say the names of the animals while playing.

My daughter was super engaged with this simple activity. I’d give it a 6/10 because of how easy it was to prep!

5. Letter A is for Arrows 🏹

Using an old cardboard box, we cut out the letter A and made q-tip blow darts to shoot through it. This movement game was silly and fun! And… it took a try or two for my little one to realize she needed to blow out of the straw rather than sucking in.

Materials Needed:

Cardboard box
Q-tips
Straws

Steps:

Cut an A shape out of the cardboard.
Place q-tips into the straws.
Challenge your child to blow the q-tip through the letter A.

My kids loved this active game, giving it a rating of 8/10. It was excitement, fun, full of movement, and my older kids were also eager to get in on the action!

6. Letter A is for Apple Sensory Bin 🍏

Why We Did It: I thought a sensory bin would be a fantastic way to reinforce color matching and fine motor skills. Plus, who doesn’t love a good sensory play experience?

Materials Needed:

Cardboard
Red, green, and yellow paper clips and pompoms
Green Pipe cleaners
Rice for the sensory bin
Tongs or small tools for picking up the pompoms

Steps to Complete:

Cut out the shape of apple trees from cardboard and paint them to match.
Glue the paper clips (hook side out) on top of the trees.
Glue pipe cleaners in hook shape to the pompoms to make apples that can hang
Fill a container with rice as your sensory bin base.
Place your apple trees in the bin and scatter the pompoms around.
Let your child use tongs to match the colored pompoms with the paper clips on the trees.
*Bonus* Have color matching barrels to put the apples in after picked.

My Experience: I have to admit, this craft took a bit more prep work, but once it was all set up, my daughter was absolutely captivated! She enjoyed using the tongs to match colors and loved playing in the rice. I’d rate this one a solid 6/10 for effort but a great 10/10 for fun!

7. Letter A is for Ants Finger Painting 🐜

Why We Did It: Finger painting is an excellent way to tap into creativity while developing those fine motor skills. Plus, we got to learn about ants and their colonies!

Materials Needed:

Colored construction paper (red, green, or checkered for a picnic theme)
Washable paint (in black and brown for ants)
Q-tips (optional for more detailed work)

Steps to Complete:

Cut out a large letter A from construction paper and glue it onto another sheet to look like a picnic blanket.
Using fingers or Q-tips, create dots in clusters of three with paint to represent the ants.
Once the paint dries a little, add legs and details to the ants with a fine brush or marker.

My Experience: This craft was a hit right from the start! My daughter loved getting her fingers messy and creating the little dots, and clearly went a little wild with her art, but I think these crafts are more about connection than the actual creation, in which case this one was a win. The quick setup made this an 8/10 in my book, and we ended up with some adorable chaotic ants.

More crafty fun can be found in the ABC ideas section of my blog, along with lots of fun and free printable. These activities are not just about making art; they’re about learning through play and making memories that I hope will last a lifetime. Happy crafting! 🎨✨

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