Autumn
Fine Motor
Literacy & ABCsToddlersKindergartnersPreschoolers13 Comments
Combine Fall pumpkins and letter learning in a fun find the letter activity that’s just perfect for preschoolers!
Fall is pumpkin time! Time for picking pumpkins, decorating pumpkins, and just playing with pumpkins!
Of course, it’s also time for pumpkin crafts as well.
Pumpkins also make great learning tools, too.
Fun Fall Find the Letter on the Pumpkin Activity for Preschoolers
I love this “letter search” method of learning! I’ve used it several times, mixing up the theme to fit the time of year.
I’ve made an A is for Apple, H is for Heart, and now a P is for Pumpkin!
I cut a pumpkin out of orange cardstock paper. I mostly drew mine freehand.
Of course, my kids didn’t think I made them very well and didn’t think they looked like pumpkins.
If your kids are picky like mine, find a pumpkin shape to trace if you have trouble. It’s pretty easy to find a printable pumpkin outline using a Google image search.
I added a little green stem to complete the pumpkin look.
Looking at it now I think it would be fun to add in some green curly pieces. A pipe cleaner would work great, or curling ribbon.
Next, I wrote letters all around the pumpkin, writing several P’s first and then filling in around them.
For George, age 5, I wrote lots of different lowercase letters. He’s ready for a find the letter challenge!
For Louis though, I spread the letters out so there was lots of space. Because he is younger, I only used a few different letters, too.
In the past, we’ve used paper clips to clip the letter in our hunts. I’ve found that its hard for little kids to manipulate a paper clip though.
George has the hang of it, but I wanted to try something else this time.
Louis has also tried clothespins, but that was still too hard for him to pinch. I’ll keep practicing this skills since they are great for strengthening little fingers!
This time, we tried a hole punch for George and just snipping the letters with scissors for Louis.
Using scissors is a somewhat new concept for Louis. So, I wasn’t particular about how he was holding it.
I showed him the correct grip a couple of times but didn’t push it. He’ll figure it out in time.
And a hole punch for George. Wow, that’s actually a lot harder!
It takes a lot of hand strength to push them closed all the way.
George kept halfway punching through the paper and then trying again to punch all the way through.
It made is ten times harder to do it when he didn’t get it the first punch. So I encouraged him to really try hard on that first punch.
It made it easier, but it still quite a task for him.
They went around their pumpkins, finding the letter P and punching or snipping it! It was great fine motor practice with added letter learning.
And P is a tricky letter! Lowercase B and D look a lot like a P does.
You might also remind your child to turn the pumpkin around as they work.
I wrote my letters so the tops all faced into the center of the pumpkin. If Louis and George hadn’t been turning the pumpkins, it would have been easier to mix up letters!
Honestly, the boys didn’t get a big kick out of this activity. They found their P’s and did it, and then they were done.
Just disclosing fully here…
They weren’t too impressed. Maybe we’re past the letter find stage?
Next time, I might need to jazz it up some more!
How would you mix up a find the letter activity to make it more exciting? I’d love to read your ideas!
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Glenna Gilliland says
I wrote letters on a small real pumpkin and had my grandson find the P’s by hammering golf tees with a hammer. To extend the activity we then used the pumpkin as a geoboard!
Rene says
I am bookmarking this to try it this coming October with my son. He will enjoy this, and it will be good motor skills practice too.
Have you done any similar crafts for numbers?
Tabitha Lightfoot says
Hi Rene! You could definitely do this with numbers too! This is also a fun way to work on numbers: https://handsonaswegrow.com/vertical-sticker-easter-eggs/
Tonya says
This is such a great activity for preschool students.
Patricia Onizuka says
Thank you for the idea. Instead of a pumpkin, I used an easter egg template. The kids enjoyed it.
My Bored Toddler says
What a great way to learn the alphabet. Thanks for sharing on #toddlerFunFriday
Otilia says
My daughter is always confused. P, D,B…great idea though! Thank you so much for linking with the #pinitparty and don’t forget to check out if you are one of the featured posts next week! Have a great weekend!
Kim says
I just recently bought a hole punch from the Dollar Tree for the kids to use in hopes they would leave my craft punches alone. It was a lot harder for them to use than I thought it would be, but great for building those hand muscles. Thanks for linking up at Made for Kids!
Jamie says
I think your pumpkin turned out terrific!! What a fun learning tool!! Thank you for sharing with us at the #HomeMattersParty
Kim says
I just bought a hole punch from the dollar store so the kids can have their own and build the fine motor.
Denise says
Neat idea mixing in the lowercase B and D! It definitely makes the activity a bit challenging.
Claire says
WQhat a fab idea! So simple and yet great fun! I will be giving this a go for sure!!