How to Teach Letter Recognition with an Autumn Theme

Looking for a way to integrate letter recognition in a fun and festive way? Try this Letter leaves match and stick activity for some letter recognition with an Autumn theme.

We had done a similar activity before when my toddler wasn’t even quite a year and a half (you can find that one on the post “Fun and Frugal Fall Activities for Toddlers”), but this time I wanted to mix it up a bit.

Ruby is now 2 years old and is starting to recognize letters in her name. I noticed when she pointed to the “y” in our Happy Fall banner and said, “ Y for Ruby.”

I took this interest and combined it with an activity she loved in a festive Fall theme.

If you are looking for a place to start with letter recognition for your toddler, start with the letters in their name. Their name carries meaning to them and, therefore, provides intrinsic motivation.

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Check out more Fall fun on these posts:

“Awesome Autumn Sensory Bin Ideas.”

“Fun and Frugal Fall Activities for Toddlers.”

“10 Unique Toddler Pumpkin Activities“

“Magnetic Halloween Sensory Bin“

How to set up Letter Recognition with an Autumn Theme

Gather your materials:

Brown construction paper
Red construction paper
Contact paper
Faux fall leaves
Permanent marker
Scotch tape

Click on image to take you to the product

First, cut out a tree from the brown construction paper. I just cut it out freehand (your toddler doesn’t care about your artistic abilities).

Next, trace the faux leaves on red construction paper (trace the amount of letters in your child’s name).

Then write the letters of your toddler’s name on the faux leaves and construction paper leaves.

Tape the tree and leaves onto the wall or window and cover with contact paper (sticky side out).

Set the faux leaves in a shallow container next to the hung tree as an invitation to play.

Finally, observe how your child interacts with the materials.

How to encourage learning through play

Before interacting, make sure you stand back and observe. Watch for what they already know and what you could work on next. Listen to what they say. Don’t rush in to correct or quiz them, that will just break their focus.

When you see them get frustrated or start to lose interest you can:

Comment on what you see

“Look you put the ‘u’ leaf on the ‘y’ leaf, I wonder if there is a ‘u’ on the tree.”

“Wow you put lots of leaves on the tree.”

“You matched all the letters, maybe we can add more letters.”

Label and Model

“Here is an R leaf and it matches the R leaf on the tree.” This isn’t giving them the answer, it is teaching them when they don’t know something.

You could also model by narrating what you are doing as you pick up a letter leaf and match it to the letter leaf on the tree.

Ask Questions

“How many leaves did you stick to the tree?”

“Where is the R?”

“Where is the last letter in your name?”

“How is this tree like the trees in our backyard”

How We Played

Both my toddler, Ruby, and 9 month old, Miles, were drawn to this activity. Ruby was able to recognize some of the letters as letters in her name, but didn’t immediately name or match them.

I interacted mostly with observations and labeling/modeling because letter recognition was a new concept for her. Once I showed her how she could find a letter leaf match and then stick the matching leaf on, she attempted to find the leaves with letters and matched a few.

Little brother had a fun time pulling the leaves off and touching the sticky paper.

I hope you enjoyed this activity for letter recognition with an Autumn theme. If you are looking for more activities for toddlers with an Autumn theme, be sure to check out the posts below.