Hot chocolate and winter go hand in hand around here, so sometimes it’s fun to do some fun hot chocolate activities. We’ve done a lot of hot chocolate math and science activities, and we’ve even shared some fun hot chocolate sensory activities in the past. Throughout the year I also like to weave alphabet activities into our preschool themes. We often use alphabet mats for letter building and sensory alphabet activities. During our winter theme we used these Hot Cocoa ABCs Preschool Alphabet Printables to practice letter recognition and letter formation. Here I’m outlining some of the ways we use them. You can get your own free printable 106-page set of hot cocoa alphabet mats at the end of the post.
HOT COCOA ABCS PRESCHOOL ALPHABET PRINTABLES
GET A FULL WEEK OF WINTER THEME ACTIVITIES IN OUR PRESCHOOL WINTER LESSON PLANS.
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The free printable hot chocolate letter mats are designed one to a page. This gives you a lot of flexibility for printing. Some activities require a full page per letter, while others work best with a smaller 1/2 page or 1/4 page format. Simply change your printer options to print 1 per page, 2 per page or 4 per page to get the desired layout for your activities. All mats are also available in black and white for your convenience.
I also highly recommend laminating these or using dry erase pockets so you can use them over and over again and even have kids practice writing the letters on them with dry erase markers.
SEE THIS PRINTABLE IN ACTION
Watch this quick video clip to see some of the ways we use these Hot Cocoa ABC mats. There are a lot of fun possibilities!
WAYS TO PLAY & LEARN WITH THE HOT COCOA ABCS PRESCHOOL ALPHABET PRINTABLES
These alphabet mats make excellent options for the alphabet center or morning table choices in preschool. Set them out with your favorite manipulatives and kids can build the letters on their own.
Here we’re using white pom poms as pretend marshmallows. You could also use small cotton balls, white buttons, or glass gems.
RELATED: TOP WAYS TO TEACH THE ABCs
You can even try using real marshmallows….kids LOVE this option, of course.
Tip: I always let kids know the marshmallows on the table are not good to eat, but that we’ll have a special taste test when everyone is done. This keeps nearly all kids from eating the marshmallows.
If you’d like to add another sensory component, add in some play dough! Not only does it up the fun factor, it adds in some extra fine motor practice that is needed for strengthening those hand muscles.
You can use storebought white Play-Doh or try out your own edible marshmallow play dough.
If you’re more of a chocolate lover, whip up some chocolate play dough and use that instead.
Use small white pony beads for kids to press into the dough to weave in even more fine motor work.
GET YOUR FREE HOT COCOA PRESCHOOL ALPHABET PRINTABLES
The free printable Hot Cocoa ABC Mats set includes four complete alphabet options:
- Uppercase Letter Mats in Color
- Lowercase Letter Mats in Color
- Uppercase Letter Mats in Black and White (print on colored paper for added fun)
- Lowercase Letter Mats in Black and White (print on colored paper for added fun)
Interested in more alphabet mats to use throughout the year?
This bundle includes expanded versions of all six of our Seasonal ABC Fine Motor Mat activity series. These tools help children learn to recognize, build and write the letters of the alphabet.
Get 2 free sets when you buy the full bundle!
The emphasis in this series is on providing a hands-on and playful way for children to interact with letters using a variety of multi-sensory materials. Choose between play dough, loose parts, and dry erase markers to mix it up and keep the activity fresh for extended use.
The expanded versions of the alphabet mats also includes eight optional recording sheets that can be used for students to track and review the letters they make during the activity.
Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers.
PRINTABLE WINTER THEME LESSON PLANS
Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. We have a variety of lesson plan sets that work well as winter themes. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.
This set currently includes active hands-on learning ideas and the following printables:
1) 10 Little Trees Winter Song and Number Cards (in color and b/w)
2) Get Dressed for Winter Activity Mats and Clothing (in color and b/w)
3) Hot Cocoa Counting Mats 1-20 (in color and b/w)
4) Winter Color Matching Puzzles
5) What Can We Do in Winter? Emergent Reader (4 versions)
6) Child and Snow Angel Uppercase and Lowercase Alphabet Matching (in color and b/w)
7) Winter Number Cards 0-35 (3 versions in color and b/w)
8) Winter Roll and Graph (in color and b/w)
9) Winter Tree Dice Game (in color and b/w)
10) Winter Picture-Word Cards
GET YOUR LESSON PLANS
Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers.
Tiffany Swain
I tried to get the hot cocoa pages & the adorable gingerbread ABC mats were sent instead.
Shaunna Evans
Oh no! Thank you for letting me know about that mix up. It should be fixed now 🙂