This engaging and low-prep tabletop activity will provide your students with the opportunity to develop their letter recognition skills in a hands-on way.

To prepare this task, simply print your choice of the included Alphabet Apple Tree Mats and provide pom poms and tweezers (or a suitable alternative, such as play dough). Your students will love the challenge of using tweezers to pick up a pom pom and place it on the correct letter, as determined by the focus letter on the tree trunk. The action of picking up a pom pom with a pair of tweezers develops students’ hand and finger muscles, preparing them for everyday tasks, such as using a pincer grip to hold a pencil or tying shoelaces.

This hands-on resource includes detailed instructions, with a list of required equipment, and three sets of Alphabet Apple Tree Mats: upper case, lower case and mixed case. Alternatively, use our editable Alphabet Apple Tree Mats document to add your own letter combinations in a font of your choice. We recommend printing on thick card and placing the mats in write and wipe sleeves for longevity.

As students complete this activity, we recommend making observations of how they engage with and complete the task, as this will help you to assess their developing letter recognition skills. For example, can they match upper and lower case letters, do they know the names of each letter, and for students demonstrating proficiency, can they make the sound the letter commonly makes?

This resource is available in our basic fun font, all Australian state fonts, and an editable version to suit your needs.