Montessori-Inspired Spring Phonics Activities with Small Objects

If you’ve studied Montessori sensitive periods, you know that children from ages 1½-4 have an extreme interest in small objects and details. You can use that interest to make teaching phonics easier at home or in the classroom. I’ve put together some spring phonics activities using  small objects that my 2-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, has been having fun with lately.

Note: With children under age 3, be extra careful if you use small objects. If your toddler still mouths objects, you will need to constantly supervise any activity and put it up out of reach as soon as you’re finished or use one of  the other ideas for preventing choking when using small objects.

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Montessori-Inspired Spring Phonics Activities with Small Objects

If you’ve been following my spring posts, you probably already have the free printables needed for these activities. If you don’t have them, you’ll find them in the links below.

Letter F Do-a-Dot Frog Printable with Wooden Dots

I printed out the free do-a-dot frog printable at 50% to use with the Spielgaben wooden dots. If you don’t have Spielgaben wooden dots, you can print it out at 32% to use with 1/4″ color coding labels (dot stickers). I just used a bamboo paper plate holder with a small bamboo condiment cup for the wooden dots.

This was a fun way to emphasize the phonetic sound for f, saying “/f/ is for frog.” (See my DIY beginning Montessori phonics post for presentation ideas and YouTube video telling how to pronounce each letter sound.) This is also a great fine-motor activity and activity that develops concentration. There are exactly 20 dots needed for the activity, so I placed exactly 20 dots in the cup.

Zoey concentrated until she was finished with her work … and then she was proud!

Letter F Do-a-Dot Frog Printable with Dot Stickers and Letter Stamp

For this activity, I again used the free do-a-dot frog printable except printed at 32% to use with the 1/4″ color coding dot labels. I also added a tiny lowercase “f” letter stamp along with a blank Colorations stamp pad from Discount School Supply with liquid watercolor (which can be used for MANY types of activities). You could use a different type of washable stamp pad if you prefer. I found the tiny lowercase letter stamps at (I think) a Barnes and Noble bookstore over a year ago. You can find small alphabet stamps on Etsy if your child prefers to stamp a letter “f” in each dot. Otherwise, your child can use stickers for the dots and stamp f’s anywhere on the paper. I put everything on a medium-size Montessori Services tray.

Zoey was proud of this work, too!

Letter B Salt Writing Tray with Butterfly Figures

Zoey loves this salt writing tray … and she loves the tiny butterfly! I used the salt writing tray before by using salt with food coloring, wooden tray from the Melissa & Doug Lace and Trace Shapes, and 2 of the butterfly letter b’s from my Montessori-inspired butterfly pack (subscriber freebie, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password – or check your inbox if you’re already a subscriber).

I changed the tray by using only one letter card, a blue morpho butterfly from the Safari Ltd. Butterflies TOOB, and a mini butterfly from the  Safari Ltd. Good Luck Minis Garden Fun Pack.

Phonics Basket with Letters and Small Objects

This phonics basket uses a Montessori Services basket, small wooden movable alphabet letters (I have a lovely movable alphabet from Alison’s Montessori, although a movable alphabet is also available on Amazon from Kid Advance.) You really can use any type of small letters, though. I just like using movable alphabet letters because they’re beautiful, feel nice, and will be used a lot later on if you’re a Montessori homeschooler.

The Safari Ltd. Good Luck Minis Garden Fun Pack is great for spring because it has a bumblebee, butterfly, frog, flower, ant, snake, cardinal, and ladybug. You can use part or all of the objects. They’re handpainted but “no bigger than a paperclip” with a rubbery texture, which Zoey finds very appealing.

More Montessori-Inspired Spring Activities

You’ll find more ideas here for Montessori-inspired spring activities with Spielgaben {with free printables}.

You’ll find phonics activities scattered throughout the various spring themes on Living Montessori Now.

And don’t miss the activities using Montessori Services language objects for any time of year! There are so many ways to have fun with learning using small objects!

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