The ABC's of Learning Toys and Manipulatives: F-J

If you’re new to This Reading Mama, WELCOME! I’m on day 2 of a Kid Blogger Network Series I’m calling The ABC’s of Learning Toys and Manipulatives. If you missed Day 1, where I posted learning toy and manipulative ideas for letters A-E, click on the image above or here to get caught up! Today, I get to post ideas for the letters F-J.

FARM ANIMALS
FEATHERS
FELT BOARD
FILE FOLDERS
FINGER FLASHLIGHTS- my three oldest kiddos LOVE these!
FINGER PAINT
FINGER PUPPETS

FISH BOWL- one of NSis’ (10 months) favorites right now
FISHING POLE
FLASHLIGHTS
FLASH CARDS
FLOOR PUZZLES
FLOWER PEDALS-real or silk (submitted by a Facebook reader)
FOAM

FOLDING LAP DESKS- my oldest three got these for Christmas this year and already we’ve used them quite a bit!
FOOD- real and pretend, my kids (even ALuv at 7 years) like to cut up the pretend food
FOOD DYE-squeeze drops into water (fine motor) mixing primary colors to make secondary colors
FRIDGE TOYS- We have about any fridge toy that Leap Frog makes and LOVE all of them. I have rotated ours to the dishwasher, microwave, and even a metal cookie tray.
FUNNELS

GEARS
GEL GEMS
GEL PENS
GEMSTONES
GEOMETRIC SHAPES
GEOTRAX

GLASSES- these are great to wear for play or to “read” or “write” the room
GLITTER
GLOBE- I’d love to have one like this, but currently this inflatable globe works just as well for us
GLUE
GOLDFISH
GOLF BALLS
GOLF TEES
GUMBALLS/GUMBALL MACHINES

HATS
HEXBUGS
HOLE PUNCHER- great for fine motor and for creating your own lacing cards, use a regular one or a shaped hole punch
HOOLA HOOPS- use for a gross motor game or overlap to create a Venn Diagram
HOPSCOTCH
HOT DOGS & HAMBURGERS
HOUSE

ICE- dump a bunch of ice outside on a hot day for some fun play time with dump trucks, scoops, or buckets
ICE CREAM SCOOPS- these were instrumental in teaching MBug (currently 2.5 years old) her colors

ICE TRAYS- use regular ice trays and spruce them up by adding numbers, letters, or colors or use different-shaped ice trays (molds) to fit your theme for that letter
INK & INKPADS
INSTRUMENTS
IPAD- Some of our favorite apps for letter learning are: Teach Me Toddler, Junior Bingo, Preschool Adventure, Wee Sing, iWrite Words, Starfall ABCs, Witty Bits (if I must be honest, the songs are annoying and addictive, but it teaches letters sounds and letter names, FREE, and my two preschoolers LOVE it), and Magnetic ABC (my 1st grader uses this one quite a bit as well). We have the full version of all of these, but many of them offer lite versions for free.

JARS- reuse those baby food jars or peanut butter jars
JELLY BEANS
JEWELRY
JEWELS
JUMBLES- by Crayola; these are perfect for NSis, but the boys like to build with them
JUMP ROPE

Tomorrow, I’ll post ideas for letters K-O. There’s also the amazing giveaway for HearthSong’s wooden marble runaround (ends January 11th)! Click HERE to enter.

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~Becky

Enjoy looking through all the bloggers in the ABC’s of series posting about literacy! I know I will.