Welcome to our collection of Tot Tray ideas featuring ALPHABET ideas.  This is our second post in a series for our Ultimate Tot Tray Idea Collection, our first post featured Transferring Ideas for Tot Trays.

Alphabet Tot Trays?

Working with letters in a fun and playful way is a natural and effective way to work on letter and sound identification with young children. Many tots will soak up this knowledge without ever having to directly be taught.

Use purposeful language as you engage with your tot, focusing on simply having fun.  The learning happens naturally. I never “taught” my tots to identify letters, yet they learned by the purposeful play we did together.  Letters were a part of our everyday play and they soaked up knowledge naturally.

Not familiar with Tot Trays?  Learn all about them here!

 

What You Need for ABC Tot Trays ~

• letters
• something fun to do with letters {see ideas below}

Much fun can be had with a variety of letter toys.  Think outside the box and use one set of magnetic letters, a set of ABC bean bags, or an alphabet puzzle in many different ways.  It isn’t about having more toys, it’s about doing more with what you have!

Here’s some alphabet toy ideas to get your brain spinning, don’t buy all {or any} of these, look at the list to think about what you might already own and can use! You can easily make your own set of letters using bottle tops, rocks, or other basically free creative option.

Some Alphabet Tot Tray Ideas

Note ~  All ideas are presented with the understanding that you are playing WITH your tot, these are not all independent activities as some of the items are choking hazards. Please only use ideas that you feel comfortable with and feel you can ensure your tot’s safety.

Alphabet puzzles make great ABC Tot Trays.  The key is to NOT use all of the pieces at once.  If your tot is very young, only use one or two pieces!  Add more as your tot progresses.

{the puzzles shown were bought at a discount store, many years ago}

 

Matching upper and lower case magnets on a tray can be matched up on a magnetic surface.  You could provide a cookie sheet, or use another surface such as the dishwasher which Krash is using below.  Again, not the entire alphabet is given, adjust to developmental level of your tot.

 

Alphabet Bean Bags can be used for many Tot Tray activities. Below you see some of ours in a box along with some other letters to be matched up.  My mom made our bean bags, but you can find them online too.

 

Hammering bean bag letters is a fun activity for active tots. You call out the letter and the child hammer’s it!

 

Bottle cap letters and name cards are a great way for older tots to work on names!

 

 

Alphabet magnets {or puzzle pieces} can be stamped into play dough.

 

If you have any large letters {ours are from a foam ABC floor mat}, use these with play dough to make the letters.

 

Use alphabet printable pages {these are from Tot School Printables} and make the letters together and then poke the play dough!

 

Poke the letters with an object that begins with that letter ~ {keys for K, pencil for P, small toy cow for C}

 

Press another small object into the play dough {gems shown below} for some great fine motor work.

 

Use letter cookie cutters with play dough, and objects to press into the play dough too!

 

Hammering our foam puzzle was a VERY favorite of Krash when he was a tot. Ladybug loved these puzzles too.

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See more ABC ideas here on our Tot Tray Ideas ~ Alphabet Pinterest Board

Follow {1plus1plus1} Carisa’s board Tot Tray Ideas ~ Alphabet on Pinterest.

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