Making letters with straws and play dough {101 Ways to Teach the Alphabet}

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If your child enjoys play dough, he or she will love the activity I’m featuring in today’s installment of my 101 Ways to Teach the Alphabet Series. With a ball of play dough and some cut up straw pieces, your child will be learning letters and developing fine motor skills while having a lot of fun.

I call today’s activity making letters with straws and play dough.

Click here if you want more information about teaching the alphabet in a fun, hands-on, and multi-sensory way.

For this activity, you need some play dough and a bunch of cut up straw pieces. I cut my straw pieces to about 2″ tall. Then I put the materials on a tray.

My daughter began by flattening out a ball of play dough to a pancake about 1″ thick. The exact thickness of the pancake isn’t important, as long as it is thick enough to stick the straws and keep them standing upright.

I provided XGirl with some sandpaper letters to give her a model for the letter she was to create.

She selected straws and poked them into the play dough in the shape of a ‘v.’

Then I gave her another letter to copy, and she began again.

This time she made a ‘d.’

If the play dough pancake gets too thin or hole-y to support more straws, your child simply needs to gather it into a ball and flatten it again. Then it will be ready for more letters!