Letter of the Week: N

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I took an unannounced break over the summer and totally dropped the ball with these letter of the week posts! But now that we’ve gotten into our groove with the new school year, I’m getting back to finish up what we started, and do some awesome alphabet activities along the way! So, picking right up where we left off: today I am sharing some activities for the letter N.

We had a really great summer, but I’m excited that the school year has started! Last year we really only did these letter of the week activities, and this year we are learning a whooole bunch of stuff! But doing these letter activities was such a hit that I knew Lu would want to continue with them. It’s a great way to reinforce the alphabet, but is also just a jumping off point for so many other great learning activities! 

Here are this week’s activities for the letter N:

N is for Night Craft

This marble-y paint craft was super easy and (mostly) mess free! You’ll need painter’s tape, a piece of thin cardboard, such as a cereal box, blue, purple, and black paints, and a gallon freezer bag. You can also add either glitter or little stars!  

Start by taping an “N” onto the cardboard with the painter’s tape. Squeeze the different paints all over and carefully place it in the freezer bag, trying to avoid touching the paint to the bag until it’s all the way in. Then just close up the bag and let them push the paint around! This is a great sensory activity that will keep them occupied for quite some time.

One the paint was done, we pulled the cardboard out and stuck little stars on to complete our “Night” craft. Another idea would be to use glitter, which is what I wanted but we are out, *gasp*! Either way, you’ll end up with this beautiful little painting and a great illustration for the letter N 🙂

Pin the Tusk on the Narwhal

Here’s a game to add to your next narwhal party haha! Use the printables below to print out a picture of a narwhal, with it’s famous “horn” separate. Did you know their horn is actually a tusk– a super long spiral tooth? I did not know that until I was preparing for our activities, so Lu and I both learned something fun this week!

Cut out the narwhal’s body and tusk, tape the 2 halves of the body together, and tape the whole thing on a wall. If you have a laminator and feel so inclined, we decided to laminate everything to keep it sturdier, which also allowed us to play this over and over again. Then play the same way you would “Pin the tail on the donkey”, but instead trying to get the tusk on the tiny X by the narwhal’s mouth!

Noodles Numbers and Letters Sensory Play

It’s incredible how well kids can absorb info by adding a sensory-rich element to the lesson. For the letter N, naturally that meant we had to use some noodles! A noodle sensory bin is super easy– just cook up some spaghetti and put it in a bin for them to play with! For extra sensory fun, you can dye the noodles different colors.

We dyed ours by dividing it into thirds and placing them in separate bowls. For each group we put 2 food coloring drops and then added some water to help it spread easier. Then I ran the newly dyed spaghetti under water to get off extra color. It did make the noodles lose some color, but that’s better than having your kiddo with super bright hands! Although it did still color them a little.

To add another learning element, encourage them to take individual noodles and shape them into different letters. You could set them up with a plate with several noodle pieces on it and a flash card standing up for them to look at and try to imitate! This provided an interesting challenge for Lu, but the fun of the noodle texture kept her interested long enough to really work at it!

Nature Journal

Keeping a journal is an amazing way to both save memories and record growth/improvement/changes. A few weeks ago I shared the nature journal that we recently made, and it’s been such a fun addition to our nature walks! Incorporating nature into your lessons is great for kids, not only on N week, but every week!

To further use this as one of your activities for the letter N, have them gather different pieces of nature such as leaves, flowers, etc.Then they can bring them together to make an “N” with the items! To preserve it for later, you can press the leaves/flowers and then glue the N into the journal.

Nap time for N’s

This silly printable helps with picking out the Nn’s from other letters. The premise of this week’s printable is that all the letters have taken a nap. Your kiddo has to look through them all to find the big and little Nn’s and wake them up. You could have them simply circle the letters, but if you want to run with the idea of waking the letters up a bingo dabber might work better!

N is for Nest Craft

Time to make a nest with your little birdies! In addition to being a great letter of the week activity, this one helps them work on fine motor skills by using scissors and glue. To complete this craft, you’ll need brown/tan paper, another colored paper to use for the eggs as well as one to put everything on, scissors, and glue stick. 

For the first part, give your kids the brown paper and scissors to cut strips and various shapes out of. I do allow my daughter to use regular scissors when being monitored. But safety scissors work just as well for construction paper! Once they have a good little pile of brown scraps, let them glue each of the pieces down with their glue stick.

Once they have their nest down, draw some ovals on the last piece of paper to be the eggs. Let them cut the eggs out and write “N” on each of them. They can glue those eggs onto the nest and their nest craft is complete! 

Matching Nations

Teach your little one about the letter N, get familiar with some countries from around the world, AND work their memory skills with this fun activity. Snag this printable along with the others below with 13 matching pairs of country flags. This is another one I suggest to laminate, or at least print on thicker card stock! That way grabby hands won’t bend the pieces as easily.

One you have your flag cards all printed and cut out, simply set it up as a normal game of Memory! Flip all the cards over so that the white side is showing. Line them all up next to each other.

Then let your kiddo flip over two at a time to try and flip two of the same flag on the same turn. If they get a match, they can put those in a side pile and continue until all the pairs are gone!

Here are your Letter N printables!

These activities for the letter N were so fun! We really enjoyed all the crafting, sensory play, and silly worksheets. It’s always a good idea to mix it up to keep kids engaged and wanting more. I hope your family enjoys these learning activities!

If you’re looking for a full curriculum that won’t break the bank, check out our favorite Playing Preschool! It’s play-based learning that is perfect for little ones.

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