Through games, music, books, crafts, and more, today we learn all about the letter Q! Kids will love and learn from these creative and hands-on Letter Q activities for preschool. This post includes all you need to teach the free preschool lesson plan Q is for Quilt.
This lesson continues ouralphabet lesson plan seriesand is intended to help make your experience teaching preschool in your home easier, educational, and more fun.
Preschool at Home
Most importantly, the best part of doing preschool at home is the chance to teach my kids (and whatever buddies are with us) the things that really matter, laugh together, and shower them with love at this young and important age. My hope is that these lesson plans and activities help you in your efforts to do the same.
If you haven’t seen myquick tips for getting started with successful home preschool, check them out.
Use and share these plans to talk, sing, read, write, and play your way through the alphabet; these kinds of activities are thefoundation of building strong readers. You can use our full lesson plans, or, of course, pick individual activities to do with the Littles in your life. Lastly, I am also a budget-friendly Mama, so no worries there: our activities are always easy on the pocketbook. Now, let’s get to it!
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Visit thePreschool Lesson Plan Indexto see what free plans are published or in the works!
Update: You can now get ALL of the Alphabet Lesson Plans, Checklists, and Printables, (plus Bonus Ideas and 75+ exclusive preschool printables!) all in one budget-friendly digital product…A to Z and Beyond! Preschool Curriculum.
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INTRODUCTION
First off, gather on the floor for circle time and start with a welcome song. We have been singing,“Hello to All the Children of the World”.Each week we have been briefly spotlighting one of the countries or features in the song.
Last week we talked about how to be a good friend, which goes along with the last line of the song. The song also says, “We speak in many different ways!” Throughout the course of preschool so far, we’ve learned a little bit about some of the different ways to speak that are represented in the song.
Another way to speak that is not in the song is with sign language. For the next couple weeks, we will learn some signs for words in the song. The first sign is hello. It’s like a salute.
Next, we’ll learn children, which is like patting kids on the head and world, which is making a W with both hands and rolling them around each other. Each of these words can be found in this super helpful signing dictionary.
Write: Triple Writing with Letter Q
I introduced how today we are learning about the letter Q. The capital letter Q looks like a round shape with a line through one side. The lowercase q looks like a round shape with a tail.
Next, we practiced drawing the letter Q with triple writing, which is a super simple yet fun way to write. You simply hold three markers at once while you write or draw.
We used the backs of several pieces of scratch paper, so we could practice writing the letter Q many times.
Sing: The Sound of the Letter Q
In order to introduce the sound of the letter Q, we sang and danced to the Letter Q Song. This song has a strong beat and introduces some words that begin with Q. The Q sound is repetitive in the song which is helpful for kids.
Periodically as the song played, I stopped the music and said, “Quiet!” (A Q word!) This made it a freeze dance and was more interesting and fun.
Write: The Sound of the Letter Q Worksheet
I made a worksheet to help us practice the sound of the letter Q. With this Free Printable Letter Q Coloring Worksheet, preschoolers can color the words that begin with the letter Q and cross off the pictures that begin with a different letter.
In this coloring worksheet, the words that begin with the letter Q are quilt, queen, quarter, quack, and quiet.
Play: Quiet Games (Quiet Game and Charades)
One word that begins with the letter Q is quiet, so we played one round of the quiet game (first one to make a sound loses). It is really helpful to practice this skill at this age!
Next, we played the Quiet Acting Game, also known as charades. We took turns acting out different things without making noise for the others to guess. Charades is a great game that never gets old, no matter who is playing.
Play: 20 Questions
Another word that begins with the letter Q is question, so we played 20 Questions to guess what word we would learn more about next.
Twenty Questions is a fun game that gets kids using their critical thinking skills. To play this game, the kids ask yes or no questions to figure out what I’m thinking of. Typically, we take turns thinking of something, but this time I just thought of one.
Examples of good questions include, “Is it alive?” and “Do we have one?”
While many people keep track of how many questions have been asked and end at 20, we don’t count. Instead, we just keep asking until it’s figured out. The word for this game is blanket, or more specifically quilt.
Talk: Quilts and History
Looking at the history of quilting is a unique way to look at history in general.
We talked about how quilting is a way of making blankets. People have been making blankets to stay warm forever. We talked briefly about the pioneer and frontier era women who wasted very little. They would often piece together scraps of fabric or worn blankets in order to make a new quilt.
Later, when fabrics became more common place, women could put a lot of creativity and art into the quilts. The quilts would often tell a story or become a cherished family heirloom. Quilting skills were passed down from mother to daughter or granddaughter.
We have some quilts made by my husband’s grandmother, so as I showed those quilts, we talked about her and our specific family history.
If you want to dig in more, here is an informative history of quilting in America.
Helping our kids see past themselves and into a different era is a helpful way to build empathy.
Related: Raising Compassionate Children in a Conceited World
Read: The Queen’s Quilt: A Quest about Creativity
As I held up a small baby quilt, I asked, “What could we use this quilt for?” I encouraged creativity to think of more and more answers. Then I told a story called The Queen’s Quilt.
In The Queen’s Quilt, the queen is sent on a quest to take care of a troublesome dragon. She takes along her trusty quilt, which starts as her queenly cape but is used in all kinds of ways. Her quilt is a tent for her and a sail for her boat. The quilt fans a hot troll and, in the end, soothes the restless dragon who really just needs a little love.
I made up this story as I went, using the small quilt as a visual and including all the creative ways to use the quilt that were mentioned, plus others. However, if you’re not comfortable making up a story, you can find a version of The Queen’s Quilt story in the Lesson Plan Checklist.
Storytelling in this manner, without a book or pictures, is another way to connect with kids and help them develop a different listening skillset.
Play: Quilting Shapes Patterns
Patchwork quilts are made by piecing together different shapes. Before preschool, I cut out squares and triangles of various colored construction paper.
We named these shapes and colors, and then we practiced making patterns from them. Some of the patterns were AB patterns, such as triangle, square, triangle, square, or red, blue, red, blue.
We also tried a few more advanced ABB patterns, like triangle, square, square, and ABC patterns like red, blue, yellow, red, blue, yellow.
We took turns creating the patterns and having the other person continue them. Understanding patterns and how to continue them is an advanced skill. If your preschoolers aren’t there yet, don’t worry. Even introducing the idea and getting them thinking about patterns is a good step.
Play: Paper Quilt Craft
Our next activity was using those shapes to make paper quilts.
Paper Quilt Supplies:
or 
Paper Quilt Instructions
- Before preschool, cut out triangles and squares from various colored construction paper.
- During preschool, have each child choose a piece of construction paper for their quilt and punch holes around the edge.
- This is great for coordination. You might need to help to be sure they don’t make holes off the edge.
- Glue triangles and squares in patchwork fashion.
- “Sew” the ribbon or yarn around the edge. Alternately, you can cut the ribbon into about four inch pieces and make tassels.
The kids enjoyed making this craft. Plus, the punching and sewing were good skills we don’t practice as often.
Read: Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems
My mom has made quilts for our kids, so for this next activity, I pulled out those quilts. Each child snuggled in the quilt, and we talked about how sometimes quilts, other blankets, or a stuffed animal can bring us comfort. They can help us fall asleep or feel calm.
We read Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems
. In this story, a fun trip to the laundromat turns bad when Trixie doesn’t have the words to tell her dad that her favorite toy was left behind. Mom figures out what’s wrong, and together they save Knuffle Bunny.
Click image for purchasing information.
Read: The Kindness Quilt by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
Even if we don’t have our special snuggly, we can help each other feel good. In The Kindness Quilt by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
, kids learn about random acts of kindness.
Click image for purchasing information.
After reading the story, we talked about different ways we can be kind to each other. What have you done recently to help someone? Additionally, share what others have done to help you.
Play and Sing: Musical Quilts
We folded the quilts into squares, and put them in a circle on the floor. I turned on The Quilt Song, and we played Musical Quilts (just like Musical Chairs). We played a few rounds, and by the end, we could sing along to some of the words.
Play: Quack, Quack, Honk
This is another variation game on a popular classic. Rather than Duck, Duck, Goose, we made the sounds of the animals because quack begins with the letter Q. Thus we played Quack, Quack, Honk.
The kids loved this of course. We ended up playing with various animal noises.
Eat: Foods that Start with the Letter Q
There aren’t too many foods that begin with the letter Q. However, here are a few: quinoa, quick bread, quick oats, quiche, and (probably the kid favorite on this list) quesadillas.
Alternately, be creative, go with that Quack, and make a duck-themed snack. Go with simple duck-shaped crackers, or I found this cute duck-themed snack at Still Playing School.
That’s blueberry yogurt on there, not frosting, making it a healthy option that I think kids would enjoy putting together.
I found these Qwackers, a gluten free duck-shaped snack
. I haven’t tried them before, but if you do, let me know how they are!
Sing: Goodbye Song
We closed up by reviewing our letter of the day: what Letter Q looks and sounds like.
Lastly, we sang our goodbye song and see you next week!
Our next preschool lesson will be Letter R is for Recycle. It has a lot of fun and educational activities!
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Leave a commentand share what activities your Littles are enjoying, what types of posts you’d like to see, or any other questions or thoughts you have. I love hearing from you. Share pictures on social media using #lovinlifewithlittles. Thanks for visiting, and Happy Preschooling!
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