Ice Cream Letter Match for Preschoolers
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This FREE, fun, and hands-on Ice Cream Letter Match activity is perfect for summer and will help your preschoolers practice letter recognition and match uppercase and lowercase letters.
The Ice Cream Letter Match pack comes with 10 pages featuring uppercase ice cream scoops and lowercase cones. You can get it at the end of this post.
Ice Cream Letter Match
This activity helps preschoolers develop concentration, visual discrimination, letter knowledge, one-to-one correspondence, set creation, eye-hand coordination, fine motor skills, interactive play, and language development.
Give children plenty of opportunities to recognize and name the letters of the alphabet and say their sounds so they can later blend sounds into syllables, then words, and finally words into phrases.
It can be used in different areas and ways, such as:
- Small group activity.
- Writing center option.
- Reading area option.
- Take-home game
- Quiet area option.
Getting Your Ice Cream Letter Match Activity Ready
This low-prep activity is straightforward to put together. You only need a handful of materials, which are:
- Free Ice Cream Letter Match printable found at the end of this post.
- Printer.
- White cardstock.
- Scissors.
- Laminator
- Small basket or Ziploc bag.
To prepare for the activity, fill out the form below to download and print out the free printable. Print each page using white cardstock, then cut out and laminate the scoops and cones to make them last longer. Place them in a small basket or Ziploc bag to protect them.
How To Use the Ice Cream Letter Match Activity
This activity can be played individually or with a partner. To begin, preschoolers will get the basket or Ziploc bag with the pieces. They need to identify the letter on each scoop, find the matching cone, and place the scoop on top of the cone.
If your kids are starting to learn letter names, start with just a few pairs. Then add two or three more each time they play.
When your kiddos know all the letter names, have them say the sound each letter makes as they match the scoops and cones.
Other Ideas:
- You can use this activity as a folder game. Just cut out the cones and paste them into a manila folder. Then cut out the scoops and place them in a manila envelope or a Ziploc bag to keep them safe.
- You can have the children match the letters with magnetic, foam, or wooden letters as an alternative.
- They can find words that start with all or some of the letters and match them with the appropriate ice cream.
- Prepare centers using this one and my other Summer activities. You can find them below.
Ice Cream Related Books
I have said multiple times that there is no such thing as too much reading. The more you read to your children, the better, and to keep them interested in books, it is essential to rotate your library periodically by theme and season.
These are some good suggestions you can use. You can find all these books at your local library, a used bookstore, and on Amazon. You can use the links in each title to get them through my Amazon links, so you can grow your library fast for years to come.
- The Ice Cream Shop by Saffia Abdul-Haqq. This rhyming book lets a child imagine going to the ice cream shop and experiencing an exceptional taste sensation.
- Milk to Ice Cream by Lisa M. Herrington. Using vivid photos and engaging text, this fun and fact-filled book lets kids follow the exciting step-by-step process as milk goes from the farm to the factory, where it becomes cold, creamy ice cream.
- Isaac’s Ice Cream Tree by Angela Henderson. This sweet story and its magical exploration through the colors of the rainbow, the days of the week, and some of our favorite fruits talk about Isaac, a boy who loves the sugar maple in his yard, and decides to give it a gift because its branches are winter-bare and he’s sad about it. Then the tree returns the favor in the new morning snow, presenting him with balls of ice cream!
- Do Turtles Like Ice Cream? By Latisha Y. Langston. Baby Bear is about to find out if turtles like ice cream, as she and her friend Turtle learn the importance of sharing with friends.
- Curious About Ice Cream by Bonnie Bader. This excellent Smithsonian book explains where ice cream came from, how its popularity spread, and many other interesting facts about ice cream.
- I Like You More Than Ice Cream Finger Puppet Board Book by Brick Puffington. This fun book features a finger puppet toy built into the board book, encouraging interactive play, hand-eye coordination, and language development.
- Splat the Cat: I Scream for Ice Cream by Rob Scotton. This Level One I Can Read book is perfect for children learning to sound out words and sentences, with short sentences, familiar words, and simple concepts to support children eager to start reading on their own.
- Ice Cream: The Full Scoop by Gail Gibbons. The author details the many firsts in ice cream history, from the earliest ice cream crank to the original waffle cone, helping children follow the ice cream’s journey from farm to factory to freezer.
Pin It For Later
If you are in a rush and don’t have time to read the post and download the printable, but want to save it for later, pin this to your literacy or Summer board on Pinterest.
I hope you find this Ice Cream Letter Match activity helpful, entertaining for your kiddos, and a little easier to plan during the summer. Don’t forget to get your FREE printable! Click the button below to download it and start using it.
Be happy, safe, and creative. I wish you well.
Love,
P.S. Let me know if this activity works for you, and don’t forget to write me if you would like to see an article or get a free printable about something specific. Iwill do my best to create it for you so I can reach my goal of helping you in any way I can.
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