Learning The Letter B

While my daughter was learning the letter “B”, we were playing a game where she was giving me clues to guess words that started with B. For one word, her clue was, “A game that you play with a ball”. So, being the intelligent soul that I am, I guessed baseball and then basketball. Seeming very frustrated with me, she finally sighed. “Mom, don’t you know? It’s bolleyball!”. I should have guessed. 

Fun Preschool Activities For Learning The Letter “B”

Anyway, this is B week! So put up a big picture of the letter B along with several pictures of things that start with B (which may or may not include bolleyball). Practice the sound a few times with your preschoolers, and then dive into these fun activities for learning the letter “B”:

Practice Your Balance 

Make a balance beam by taping a long piece of masking tape to a carpeted floor. Practice walking back and forth on the balance beam without stepping off. Then try making up different gymnastics routines with somersaults, leaps, and cartwheels. Maybe add some ballet and some music for fun.

Create A Marching Band

Make some pretend instruments and create your own marching band! Here are some creative instrument ideas. 

• Put a handful of dry beans in two paper plates or pie tins, and tape or staple them together. 
• Put a handful of uncooked rice in a toilet paper or paper towel tube and cover the ends with paper and a rubber band or tape. 
• Cover a comb with a folded piece of wax paper to blow on. 
• Wrap a tissue box with some rubber bands and strum away. 

Add a couple of pots and wooden spoons for drums, turn on some marching music (John Philip Sousa is good) and have some fun! If you want to be extra courteous, you can warn the neighbor’s first. Maybe invite them to join in! 

Bird Watching With Binoculars

Take your binoculars outside to a somewhat secluded spot to do some bird-watching. If you don’t have actual binoculars, you can always make some pretend ones out of toilet paper tubes taped together. Try to decide what kinds of birds you see. If you can, take some pictures of the different birds and try to find out what species they are using a library book about birds or the internet. You could do the same activity with different kinds of bugs. 

Make “B” Bookmarks 

Gather several objects that start with B, such as buttons, bows, balloons, beans, and any blue, brown, or black things you can find. Cut some bookmarks out of paper and decorate them with the objects. You could also braid blue, black, or brown yarn to make a bookmark. Make sure to read a book and use your bookmark to save your place for later.

Bake Some Bread

Mix and bake a batch of homemade bread! Have fun watching it rise, shape it into fun shapes (maybe butterflies, balloons, bears, braids or blocks), then bake it. While it is baking, pour some cream and a pinch of salt into a baby food jar and shake it until it becomes butter. After you are done playing with your shapes, butter your bread and enjoy! (If you don’t do yeast bread, try banana or zucchini bread and cut it into shapes after it bakes).

Having Fun With “B” Week

I hope you had fun with these activities while learning the letter B! Have you tried them out at home yet? Or have any other ideas for “A week”? Let us know in the comments! Remember that the object in all of this is to have some fun with your children and help them learn a little at the same time. If the kids are getting bored or lose interest, drop what you are doing and head for the sandbox.

Originally published July 6, 2005 in the Crossroads Journal.