When young children are learning to write it is tempting to give them a pencil and paper or tracing template. Before this happens, there are many multisensory activities which can help children recognise the letter, its sound and how to form it.

A useful outdoor starting point is to ask children to make the first letter in their name from natural materials of their choosing. Some may need a letter to copy but others will know this from memory.

At the Skogsmulle International training course, this activity was given to the participants on Day 2 and it gave me a lovely opportunity to illustrate this method, which I’ve used with classes in the past. I think it is a nice activity for starting back at school after the summer and to help children acclimatise to learning outdoors using materials around them.

Here we are getting going…

Sara’s name is made with stones as they start with the same letter as her name…

Lena had the same idea with leaves…

Pauline wanted to make her letter pretty!

I wanted my letter to lookout over the lake…

Trisha’s letter is made from twigs, with additional greenery…

And Caroline found a twig that naturally curved to make her initial letter…

If you have other ideas or activities for introducing letters outside, please do share them.

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