Free Printable Alphabet Flashcards to Color: and How to Use Them!

A set of free printable alphabet flashcards to color, in blackline format to be printer-friendly and easy to prep: Just let the kids cut and color them!

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FUN & Creative Ways to Use Alphabet Flashcards (Plus a FREE Set)!

Flashcards can get boring. Kids know that it’s work – to learn or memorize something. Use the flashcards in different ways, however, and the learning becomes fun and engaging! Flashcards can be one of the best ways how to teach pre-reading skills to preschoolers.

FREE Printable Alphabet Flash Cards to Color: And How to Use Them!

Explicit teaching – First, you can use alphabet flashcards to learn, review, and repeat the letters. Start with a small stack of letters.
A few at a time – Introduce more letters, but take some letters out so it isn’t overwhelming.
Within sight – Display the letters around the house to practice them as you go throughout the day. Change the display periodically to continue the process.
Letter sounds – Upon learning the letters, you can then introduce letter sounds with the alphabet.
Common words – Then, you can incorporate common words that begin with individual letters. This could be a good time to use the letters to spell the child’s name.
Watch letter recognition videos such as Leapfrog Letter Factory, alongside the flashcards.
ABC Order – Alphabetical order is another step in the sequence of learning the letters.
What’s missing? – Try lining up the letters and pull several out to figure out the missing letter.
Timed races – Who can find the most vowels? Who can pick up all the letters in his/her name?
Memory Match – great for sets of flashcards with upper AND lowercase, you can play a fun memory game with them.
Unscramble the letters – Using all the letters, or just a few, have kids unscramble them to put them in order, or to create common words.
Playdough – use playdough to form each letter’s shape.
Go Fish – “Do you have a letter D?” No? Go fish!
Letter Theme of the Day – pick a letter of the day and correlate everything to that theme – food, entertainment, toys, games, etc.

Movement Inspired Ideas

For your kinesthetic learners, here are some fun ways you can use alphabet flashcards. Learning can involve movement (and laughter), and still be educational!

Scavenger Hunt – hide the flashcards around the house and search for them in alphabetical order. OR – find objects around the house that represent the letters.
Musical Letters – similar to musical chairs, but using letters.
Race & Gather – spread the flashcards all around and race to pick them up in alphabetical order.
Fishing – Make a fishing rod with a magnet and fish for letters (letters have paperclip attached).
Alphabet Stomp – scatter the letters on the floor and call out letters to stomp on.
Twister – scatter the letters on the floor and assign body parts to touch the letters.
Mother May I? – identify the letter correctly and move forward; repeat until you reach the end.

Games

Sometimes a fun game is the best way to make concepts stick. Alphabet flashcards are perfect for these exciting games.

Swat – swat the assigned letters with a fly swatter.
Charades – act out something that begins with letter L, etc.
Zipline – make a zipline and send the letters down the line identifying each one.
Pictionary – draw something that begins with letter B, etc.
Bingo – create a bingo board and play a game – 5 in a row, outside corners, postage stamp, cover all, or other variations.

quote The two best predictors of early reading success are alphabet recognition and phonemic awareness - alphabet flashcards

Letter & Word Play

I’m Going on a Picnic – pick up a card and choose something to pack in a picnic basket with that letter. This is easily adapted for other themes like toys, animals, etc.
Identify & Sort – which letters have holes? curved lines? all straight lines? tails? etc.
Alphabet Worksheets – use resources such as these free alphabet worksheets for preschool to help you teach.
Word Search – how many words can you find in a magazine that start with letter A? etc.
Match – match a lowercase with an uppercase flashcard.
I Spy! – have a race to pick up the assigned letter on the table of assorted cards. Modify this game to searching for letter sounds.

Fine Motor Skills & Coordination

Target Practice – use nerf guns to target assigned letters, perhaps taped to a wall.
Sand & Shaving Cream – practice writing letters in sand or shaving cream.
Dry Erase – write the words on a small dry erase board and then trace to erase them.
Dry Erase Writing – trace the letters using dry erase marker on laminated flashcards.

Learning will be more permanent and fun when there is a playful component to working with flashcards! I hope these ideas inspire you! Let me know in the comments if you have other favorite ideas!

Free Printable Alphabet Flash Cards to Color

I love black and white, coloring pages, they save on ink, and my artsy kids have always been ones to enjoy coloring and decorating their own learning materials. That’s why I created these black and white printable Alphabet Flashcards. Yes, they’re flashcards, but they are so much more!

They can not only be used in the typical flashcard fashion, holding up a card and your child says the letter or letter sound. But, you could also print them on cardstock and use them as posters, letting the children have a part in the homeschool room decor by coloring them before hanging. Alternatively, you could print them out to serve as painting or coloring sheets.

I took the time to create these because my 4-year-old preschooler is currently struggling to remember his letters and letter sounds. He knew them last year, but somehow has forgotten half of them, so we’re revisiting the basics this week. His 6-year-old sister is helping him too! I’m sure that together they’ll enjoy working on coloring and learning together. I plan to laminate these printable alphabet flashcards as well so that they’ll last long enough to serve us for some time.

Included in this printable blackline set:

Capital letters, along with lowercase letters
a coloring image that begins with the letter sound (vowels are short)
the word that describes the picture, which can also be colored in

Why is revisiting letter names and sounds important in preschool and kindergarten? Because repetition helps to keep things fresh in a child’s mind and gives them confidence in mastery. This leads to a lifelong love of learning in the end, because the child feels capable and proud of his/her accomplishments and achievements. They want to continue learning and growing! And, well, if you don’t – they can forget everything they’ve learned! Yikes, not good.