It’s finally October and I am so excited to share these new pumpkin centers with you!! Usually, I like to blog about my preschool activities after I’ve used them. But I am planning on using these one or two at a time all throughout the month and want to get them to you ASAP. So hot of the press, here are 7 pumpkin themed literacy centers to enhance your students’ phonemic awareness, alphabet knowledge, and handwriting skills.
Phonemic Awareness
I’ve noticed early literacy teachers are always on the lookout for phonemic awareness materials WITHOUT print. I designed two activities with this in mind: Pumpkin Rhyming Cards and Pumpkin Syllable Count Clip Cards.
The rhyming cards include 8 sets of rhyming picture cards. Students can use these to play a game of Concentration. For my youngest players, I like to adapt the game by allowing them to leave their cards face up in their place. On the very first turn, the player flips two cards, and every turn after the players flip one card, collecting matches as they are discovered. This allows students to focus solely on the task of rhyming and not worry so much about remembering where the matches actually are.
The syllable clip cards also have only pictures for students to say aloud and count the syllables as they say them. Once they’ve determined the number of syllables in the word, they can clip the corresponding number on the card. Then continue on through the cards until each one is complete. If students are having trouble counting out syllables, challenge them to say the word without opening their mouth and count how many times their air tries to “escape.” You can also have them put their hand in front of their mouth and notice the breath hitting their hand as they talk.
Alphabet Knowledge
A lot of parents assume that learning the alphabet is an “easy” task for kids and figure that they should catch on quickly because the alphabet is so basic. Well, if you think about it, learning the alphabet requires the ability to recognize uppercase and lowercase letters as well as recall the phonetic sound that each letter makes (and several letters make more than one). Added up, learning your ABC’s actually involves retaining 96 pieces of information. That is a tall order for little people!! Luckily, kids are like sponges, and when you make it fun, they soak it right up.
These Pumpkin Alphabet Puzzles allow kids to connect uppercase and lowercase letters to make the pumpkins whole again. When I use these, I am mindful of how many letter puzzles I use at a time. I rarely use all 26 together because 52 little cards is just too much to manipulate. I usually choose the most recent 5 or 6 letters that we are still learning then add in another 5 or 6 letters that my preschooler has mastered. Keeping a high ratio of cards that your students have mastered in the game will actually help them retain the few that they encounter and are still trying to get right.
For those kiddos who are ready to practice their letter sounds, I created the Pumpkin Spin & Cover Beginning Sounds game. There are four variations of this printable, each with 6 different letter sounds to practice. All you need to do is print and gather something to cover up the corresponding pictures with. I used acrylic pumpkins that I found at the dollar store, but mini erasers, dot markers, crayons, or BINGO chips would also work perfectly. Students just take turns spinning the pumpkin spinner, identifying the letter sound, and covering up a picture that begins with the same sound.
Handwriting Skills
In my experience, handwriting is one of those things that kids either love or hate. Trying to compose the letters perfectly within the lines is intimidating and requires a lot of hard work. I designed three handwriting activities to help make writing more fun.
These Pumpkin Alphabet Tracing Cards are simple and can be used with dry erase markers after they are laminated. Kids can very quickly see their progress as they flip through and trace the given letters on each card. And the pumpkins are so cute!!
The Pumpkin Letter Draw activity can be very easily individualized depending on your students’ needs. As I said above, I wouldn’t choose to use every single alphabet card at one time. There is a set of uppercase and lowercase cards that you can choose from or pick just a few individual letters if you want your student to practice the same few letters more in depth. Have the students lay the cards face down in a draw pile then take turns picking one card at a time and recording it in the boxes on their recording sheet. It can be cooperative by filling up the board together or competitive by seeing who can fill their board first.
If your preschooler is ready to write words, the Pumpkin Write the Room activity is a perfect place to start. Simply hang the word cards throughout the room and have your students match the icons on the word cards to their recording sheet and write the corresponding word. You can display the pumpkin words in a pocket chart afterwards or leave them available to refer to in your writing corner.
If you are interested in adding these Pumpkin Literacy Centers to your collection click the button below. Have fun learning with Mrs Mama Bird!!
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