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Learning the letter Ll with your toddler or preschooler can be fun and engaging. It should be filled with lots of conversation and hands-on practice.
As soon as I added That’s Not My Lamb and That’s Not My Llama to our home library, the activities included in this 16-page letter l learning booklet were born.
We love the touchy-feely sections on each page of these books and the repetitive text pattern is perfect for my 3 year old. These books are ones my kiddos enjoy reading together, which I love. My daughter “reads” them to her little brother and he loves touching each page. That’s Not My Lamb and That’s Not My Llama provide a hands-on and engaging reading experience for my kiddos. Plus, the books provide a context for learning the letter Ll.
After we read the books, we get to work on our letter Ll activities. My daughter is very interested in cutting and gluing at the moment so I nurture that with the activities included in this learning booklet. The more we can practice cutting and gluing, the stronger and more confident she becomes. This set of Toddler Safety Scissors are our favorite. This style cuts the best, in my opinion. We’ve tried the plastic ones, but they do not cut as well and my toddler quickly became frustrated. As always, be sure to sit with your child and monitor him/her as he/she uses scissors.
The pace of the activities depends 100% on my 3 year old’s mood and interest level during the day. Some days we move through several of the activities before she is off and dancing through the house singing “Into the Unknown” at the top of her lungs. Some days we only complete one activity. And that’s okay! It is more about the opportunity to sit and work with her, nurture her mind and grow her as a reader one small step at a time. Plus, this is the perfect set of activities to engage in during the spring.
Cut & Glue
The first activity of this 16-page booklet is cutting out lambs and llamas. These animals, once cut out, get glued onto the uppercase letter l. The purpose of this activity is to recognize the shape of the letter. Also, this activity builds a connection between the letter shape, name, it’s sound and something that starts with that letter. In this case, the focus is animals that start with the letter.
I’ve included more lambs and llamas than will fit on the letter. The extras can be glued onto a piece of paper. Count them. Then, add details to the paper with crayons or markers to create a picture. Discuss the habitats for each animal. Lambs graze in green pastures filled with trees, bushes and flowers. Llamas call the mountains home.
Lamb & Llama Coloring Pages
The next activity included in the booklet is coloring. There are two coloring pages for each animal. My daughter enjoys coloring. I enjoy coloring, too 🙂 It is a great stress reliever and welcomes creativity and conversation. The picture of the lamb is my favorite because it is budding with life. The butterfly, duck and flowers scream spring’s arrival. The llama can be colored like one of the five llamas in That’s Not My Llama. A llama with brown fur or patches. Let your child choose!
Letter L Craft Project
The third activity is a craft. I’ve included a list of materials, picture of the finished product and templates to cut and trace for making a lamb and a llama, using the uppercase letter l as the body. For the lamb, there is a bonus craft. You can work with your child to build a lamb using a paper plate! If you don’t have a paper plate, trace a large circle onto a piece of white paper and use that for the lamb’s body.
The craft activities are super easy and use materials you already have in your house. I want these activities to be fun and engaging for your toddler, and you too! All I want is for you to be inspired and have fun creating something with your child 🙂
Hands-On Letter L Practice
The fourth and final activity includes two sheets for building the letter Ll. The first one is a Play Doh mat. Create a long snake with Play Doh. Then use the sheet as a guide for shaping the snake into the upper and lowercase letter. I recommend putting this sheet into a plastic sheet protector or laminating it so it can be reused over and over again.
Using Play Doh creates a sensory experience for your toddler. It is a hands-on way to reinforce letter shape. We are a Play Doh loving household, too! You can also use Model Magic or make your own Play Doh! There are so many recipes out there 🙂
Another way to use this mat for a sensory experience is to place it on a cookie sheet. Then, sprinkle plain (or colored) sugar, colored sand or rice over top, just enough to cover the sheet. Have your child use his/her finger to trace the letter shape in the material. Once again, putting the sheet into a plastic sheet protector or laminating it will help it last longer.
This letter Ll mat can also be used with pipe cleaners or Wikki Stix. Just create the upper and lowercase letter with each material.
The other letter Ll mat (one with circles covering the shape) is for building the letter out of small items like pom poms, mini marshmallows, pieces of cereal, small snack crackers like Goldfish, dried beans, or candy like M&M’s.
One pom pom or one piece of cereal goes on each circle. This allows you to focus on one-one correspondence and practicing some hand-eye coordination.
You can also use stickers or Do-A-Dot markers to create the letter. One sticker per circle and one dot per circle. Finding stickers of things that start with Ll would be pretty cool, but definitely not necessary. There are sheets of smiley face stickers at the Dollar Store that would be perfect for this activity. The point is to reinforce the shape of the letter, have fun using stickers and practice the concept of one-one correspondence.
Writing the Letter Ll
The final page of this 16-page learning booklet is for writing the upper and lowercase letter. You can place this lined sheet into a plastic sheet protector or laminate it. Then provide your child with a dry erase marker to write the letter. Write a few to model. Hold your child’s hand for a few to guide. Then give them a chance to practice independently.
In summary, learning the letter L can be fun and engaging for your toddler. The activities included in the 16-page booklet I created will keep your little one interested from start to finish. Pairing the activities with books about a lamb and a llama create a more balanced learning experience for your child. The touchy-feely books are super engaging for those little hands and the perfect length for reading with your busy child.
Click the image below to learn more about the Lamb & Llama Letter L Learning Booklet and start learning the letter L with your toddler!
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