Apple Tree Find and Cover the Letter Printable Mats
Grab these fun, free printable apple tree find and cover letter mats to practice identifying beginning sounds and build phonics skills this fall!
Apple Tree Find and Cover Letter Mats
Your students will have fun learning their letters with these apple tree mats. The free printable includes an uppercase and lowercase mat with 2 sets of picture cards for more learning opportunities!
The students will practice letter recognition, letter sounds, beginning sounds, and fine motor skills! This learning activity is definitely something you want in your classroom! All of these skills are so important for kindergarten students to learn so they can begin reading.
The students will draw a picture card and determine the beginning sound. Then, they will cover the letter with a small manipulative. You could make it even more fun by having the students use play dough to make apples to cover the letters!
So Easy to Put Together
This apple activity is so simple to get ready to use. You will print the letter mats and picture cards. Then, cut the picture cards apart. Next, slide the letter mats into wipe and write pockets or laminate for durability.
Finally, gather some small manipulatives for game pieces. Beads, magnet letters, mini erasers, pom poms, and play dough would all work great for manipulatives. They could even color in the apples with a dry erase marker.
Setting Up the Apple Tree Find and Cover Letter Mats
Supplies Needed:
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- Apple Tree Find and Cover Letter Mats with Picture Cards (button to download is at the bottom of this post)
- Small manipulatives or mini erasers
- Write and wipe pockets (optional)
- Scissors
Instructions:
- Print the mats and picture cards.
- Slide the mats into write and wipe pockets OR laminate them.
- Laminate the picture cards. (optional)
- Cut the picture cards and store in a baggie.
- Gather manipulatives, such as buttons, mini erasers, etc.
- Store the entire activity in a colorful tray or large zipper baggie.
Playing the Apple Tree Find and Cover Game
This fun apple tree find and cover alphabet game has easy-to-understand directions, perfect for little learners!
To play, students will flip over a picture card from the pile and determine the picture name.
Next, they’ll determine the beginning sound of the picture name.
Finally, students will find the corresponding lowercase or uppercase letter on the apple tree and cover it with their manipulative. Play continues until all of the spaces on the mat are covered.
A Variety of Uses!
This game is so versatile you will love having it in your classroom resource library! It could easily be used in a small group, in a literacy center, at a letter station, for early finishers, for an at-home learning resource, or for an after-school tutoring group.
If you want to challenge your students, you could have them try to write the word that they drew from the picture card deck.
Need to make it simpler? No worries! You can limit the number of cards you give a student to complete or you can only give them cards for the letters they know. You could also give them letter beads or magnet letters to match to the corresponding letter.
Another way to play this game is to use letter manipulatives instead of the picture cards. You can place letter manipulatives in a pile or container and have students draw one at a time. They’ll say the letter and letter sound and find the matching letter on the apple tree, covering it with either the letter manipulative itself or their game piece. This would be a great option for the beginning of the school year as students are only focusing on the letter sounds instead of beginning sounds in picture names.
Even More Ideas!
These apple tree find and cover letter mats would be beneficial to use during:
- Whole group practice (students take turns drawing and covering)
- Small group practice
- Literacy centers
- Partner practice
- Independent work
- Morning work
- Early finishers
- Fall learning activity at home
- After school tutoring
- Apple or Fall unit
As you can see, these letter mats are going to be a huge help in your classroom this year. They have so many uses, are so simple to prep, and are fun and engaging for your little learners!
Click the button below to get the apple tree find and cover letter mats. I hope you love them!
Here are some more apple activities!
Apple Beginning Sounds Matching Mats
Apple Beginning Sounds Write the Room
Editable Apple Find and Cover Words Mats
Apple Tree Addition to 10 Cards