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Thanks to the warmer weather, it’s time to get the kids outside more. So it’s the perfect time to start incorporating natural elements into your children’s learning activities.
The next installment in my 101 Ways to Teach the Alphabet Series is an activity I call sensory nature letters.

I previously created a set of printable Letter Outlines for kids to learn their letters.
I’ve shared how we use these Letter Outlines to make Button Letters and to do Rainbow Writing.
I also make use of my Letter Outlines with this sensory nature letters activity.
I printed outline versions of several letters and placed them on a tray with some glue. I then encouraged my kids to go outside and collect natural elements they could use to “decorate” the letters. My son started by collecting acorns.
Once he had collected enough acorns, he filled the letter outline with glue.

Then he began placing the acorns on his letter.

Here is his completed sensory nature letter – a ‘d’ filled with acorns. (He told me afterwards he wished he had used the acorns to fill in an ‘a’ since acorn starts with ‘a.’)

My daughter created this ‘e’ filled with leaves.

And my son also made this ‘f’ filled with flowers. (He was very pleased with himself for selecting flowers to fill in the ‘f’ since ‘f’ is the first letter of ‘flower.’)

In addition to acorns, leaves, and flowers, your children might also try filling in their letters with pebbles, sticks, small shells, seeds, dirt, sand, small fruits, or anything else they can find in nature.
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More ways to teach to the alphabet
More alphabet printables from Gift of Curiosity:
- Road Letters
- Letter Pin-Punching Pages
- Letter Puzzles
- Beginning Sounds Alphabet Clip Cards
- Letter Slap game
- Uppercase and Lowercase Letter Matching Clip Cards
- Alphabet Lacing Cards
- Dot Sticker Uppercase and Lowercase Letter Matching
- Q-Tip Painted Letter Pages
You can find more ways to teach the alphabet on my Literacy Activities for Kids page and my Letter Learning Pinterest board.