Teaching About the Letter G: Fun Activities for Preschool Students

Introducing Letter G

There are some really simple activities preschool teachers can do to help children learn the letters of the alphabet and in particular, letter G.

To do these activities, students should be able to sit still and listen to a book as well as be able to manipulate small objects such as a crayon or piece of chalk. These tips can be modified for use with other letters or used for the letter G alone.

Literacy Activity

To begin, introduce the letter G by writing the letter on the board in uppercase and lowercase form. Tell students that letter G is a special letter because it can make two sounds. Introduce the sound of the soft g and the hard g sound and ask them to repeat it with you. After a bit of practice, ask students to tell you specific words that use the hard sound and the soft sound of the letter. Then move on to the following literacy activity.

Ask students to sit in the reading area. Present the book Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann. Read the book to the children. This book has limited words but a lot of pictures, so encourage the children to describe what is going on in the book by “reading” the pictures. Specifically, children should try to come up with words that make the G or g sound.

After children have had the book read to them, tell children that the goal today is to use the letter G in a sentence or to recognize when the sound is used by someone else. Give an example and have the students give you a thumbs up when they hear the sound.

Reward students for doing this by creating a star chart and giving them a star each time they do use the letter or G or recognize its use in an object or sentence throughout the day. Use some of the letter G activities listed in the next section to further educate the children in the sounds and shape of the letter G.

Tips and Activities

Here are some activities that provide some fun ways for students to learn about the sound of the letter G as well as how to write it.

• Hand out a coloring sheet with the letter G on it. Ask students which color starts with this sound, then ask students to color it green or gray. Another fun one is to bring in objects for the students to glue to a letter G. This could be fun and edible, like gumdrops.

• Using beads or other small items, ask students to practice filling in the letter G.

• Write the letter G on a piece of paper and ask students to trace it.

• Ask students to look around the room and name objects that start with this sound.

• Ask students to tell you any names of the children in the classroom that have the letter sound in it.

• Have students make the letter using yarn, construction paper and glue.

• Ask students to tell you any of their favorite superheroes or cartoon characters that start with this letter.

Make sure that there are visual aids such as posters and words with the letter G in the classroom and you will be well on your way to having your students well aware of the way the letter looks and sounds!