Palm Tree Find and Cover the Letter Mats for Preschool and Kindergarten
Engage your learners all summer long with these free palm tree find and cover letter mats, perfect for practicing letter sounds over the summer.
Palm Tree Find and Cover Mats
Practicing beginning sounds skills and letter recognition is key for students in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. It’s important that they keep up with these skills over the summer in order to grow as readers and prevent the summer slide.
These palm tree find and cover letter mats are the perfect way for students to practice their letter and letter sound recognition skills all summer long. They’ll be having fun as they practice with this game-like alphabet find and cover activity.
This hands-on alphabet activity would be the perfect addition to your literacy centers, small groups, partner practice, independent stations, or to send home with your students over the summer. There are a ton of different ways to use this versatile activity.
As your students practice, they’l learn letters and letter sounds as they practice saying the words, determining the beginning sound, and matching the picture to the correct letter on the game board. Once they find the match, they’ll cover it with their game piece.
Included in this free printable are 2 palm tree-themed find and cover mats. One mat is all lowercase letter while the other is all uppercase letters. There are 2 sets of picture cards included, giving students many opportunities to practice with each letter.
Easy Prep Lesson Plans
This palm tree letter activity makes planning for and prepping your lesson plans a breeze. All you need to do is simply print the find and cover mats and slide them into a write-and-wipe pocket or laminate them for durability. Print and laminate the picture cards and cut them out, and prep is finished!
The great thing about having prep this easy is you’ll save so much time during your planning period. You can use these over the summer and pull them out throughout the year for some palm-tree inspired learning fun!
Setting Up the Palm Tree Match and Cover Mats
Supplies Needed:
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- Palm Tree Match 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)
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 Palm Tree Find and Cover Game
This palm 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 palm tree and cover it with their manipulative. Play continues until all of the spaces on the mat are covered.
Options for Differentiating the Palm Tree Game
This palm tree find and cover game can easily be differentiated to meet the various needs of your students and their skill level. Students who need more practice and support with letter identification can use magnetic letters, letter beads, or another alphabet manipulative to cover the letters on the mat. This gives them a little bit more exposure to what the letter looks like and helps them make those connections.
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 palm 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.
If students need more practice with lowercase or uppercase letters, you can assign the mat that matches their individual needs.
For students ready for a challenge, you can put both mats and both piles of cards out, giving them extra opportunities to practice.
These palm 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
- Summer learning activity at home
- Summer school activity
- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom unit
Your students are going to have a blast this summer practicing their letter sounds with these palm tree find and cover letter mats. They’ll be having fun learning until school starts back up again.
Click the button below to grab your free copy of the Palm Tree Match and Cover Activity.
Here are some more summer themed activities to check out!
Ocean Addition and Subtraction Mats
Pirate Treasure Beginning Sounds Match
Editable Ocean Theme Word Work Digital Mats