Kindergarten Lessons: Fun and Interesting Activities for Letter O

On the 4th week of school days; you are now ready to teach Letter O to the young kids. If you have successfully taught the three letters – A, E, and I to the kids; it is more likely that you can also teach O successfully. Letter O is often the easiest letter that the kids memorize. They also easily recognize the sound. Perhaps because it is round and the shape of the mouth when it is sounded is also round.

Before starting to teach Letter O; do not forget to review the previous lessons.

Review the Past Lesson:

Use the flash cards again and ask the kids to say the letters you are flashing. Say, “What letter is this?” every time you flash a letter. After asking them to tell what letter you flashed; you ask them also about the sound. Don’t forget to use the hand action so that the kids will have fun learning about the letters.

The next thing to do is to let each child say the letters (A E I). This activity should be a daily routine so that the kids will memorize the letters of the alphabet.

After that, you can now introduce Letter O.

Say, “Our new letter today is Letter O. Everybody say O.” The kids will then say O. You can now let each child say O as you flash the card to each child. Every child must recite in order for them to recognize letter O.

The next thing to do is say the sound of O. Say, “The sound of O is oooohhh.” Use hand action by forming a circle with your fingers and emphasizing the sound by rounding your lips.

Show and Tell:

You can use real objects or three dimensional objects here instead of pictures so that the kids will see the real object. Remember that when you are using three dimensional objects you have to choose those that look like the real objects. Say for example you cannot show the kids an orange that is color violet or an octopus that does not look like an octopus. It is very important to show the kids objects that look like real ones. You can buy objects that look genuine even if they are made of plastic or rubber.

What to do?

Show each object to the kids and tell the name of each. Here is a list of some popular objects and words that begin with O.

1. Ostrich
2. Orange
3. Octopus
4. Onion
5. Orangutan
6. Okra
7. Oyster
8. Open – use a closed door or closed box and demonstrate the word open.
9. Over – explain the meaning of over in your own way.
10. Oven
11. On – you can put a book on the table and explain the meaning of on.
12. Ox – of course you can only use the picture to tell the kids about the ox.
13. Orchard – use a picture here too
14. Orphan – use a picture too

Tracing

Tracing is always important for beginner learners. After showing the kids objects and pictures that begin with O, you can now show them how to write O. It is sometimes easier to tell the kids that O is a small circle because they understand better the shapes than the letters.

Kids love drawing but it is very difficult to trace letter O so your guidance is needed here in this activity. You will find out that without the dotted letters for tracing, the kids could easily draw O on their own because they know that O is a round thing. Young kids often draw circles better than straight lines.

Coloring

Coloring is one of the activities that young kids enjoy. It does not matter if their coloring is all messed up for as long as they are coloring the correct object that you told them to color. They will soon learn how to color as you go. If you want the other children to color nicely, choose the best colored work in class and show them saying, “Look at this work. It is very good. I know you can do this too.”

It is always good to appreciate the nice works of kids but as much as possible do not always compare the works of the kids. Avoid saying, “Look at John. He is very good. Why can’t you work like him.” You can instead say, “John’s work is nice. I know all of you can do it too.”

Matching

This activity can be done using all letters. Say, match the letters that are the same. Or you can use pictures and letters. These are all fun activities for young kids.

Pick, Show and Tell

Here’s another fun activity for the young kids. Prepare a box with all the objects that begin with O inside then call each child to pick an object, show it to the class and tell the name. You will have some problems here if one kid says he likes what the other kid is holding and the other kids will follow. If this happens; learn to handle the situation. It is always best to tell the kids that all of them will have a share of the picking but they have to wait for their turn. Allow the kids to choose on their own so that they will have fun.

Art Works

Kindergarten is all about different activities so that the young kids will have fun learning. Art is one of the best fun activities that you can have in class. You can work on an ostrich or octopus. Say for example give the kids some cut outs but do it one at a time. Usually, the different parts of the ostrich or octopus are separated so start by getting the body and pasting it on the paper. Guide each child to do this. Then paste the wings, then the legs and so on until the ostrich is done. After pasting all the parts, you can let the kids color but it is better to use colored paper here.

For the octopus; you can use the toilet paper roll as the body then let the kids attach the tentacles using colored paper.

All these and more are fun activities that the kids will enjoy doing.

Here are some activity sheets instructions that you can use for teaching letter O:

1. Color all the objects that begin with O.
2. Trace the letter that goes with the picture.
3. Put a ring around the correct beginning letter.
4. Put a ring around the letter that goes with the given picture.
5. Match the picture to the beginning letter.
6. Math the letters that are the same.
7. Encircle all the letter O.
8. Draw a circle around the correct beginning letter.

Giving the kids various activities will make them enjoy going to school and learning various things. If you make learning an enjoyable experience to the kids; there is no reason why they will not learn effectively. It is the responsibility of the teacher to make learning fun for the kids.

Teachers must be creative, resourceful and innovative in order to become effective. The way you handle the class and the kids is a must in the teaching profession. You can only be an effective teacher if you do your part as a good teacher.

Read more of my articles:

How to Teach the Alphabet to Young Kids

When Can I Teach my Child?

Fun Activities for Letter I