Place the Beads in the Afro: A Black History Month-Themed Educational Alphabet Matching Activity

by learningstepbystep | Jan 18, 2024 | DIY Crafts & Activities | 0 comments

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Hi Friend,

We have started adding some fun Black History-themed activities to our learning journey! Some of the activities we will share will not be based on a particular historical event but will be geared towards integrating fun and educational activities centred around opening discussions on diversity and racism while focusing on the skills we are reviewing or currently learning.

My little ones are now at the age where they are realizing that there are different skin tones and types of hair. My goal is to help them understand that in the world we live in, we are all different on the outside but the same on the inside, created equally by our Loving Heavenly Father.

I aim to foster love and a sense of pride in them for their beautiful chocolate skin through repeated exposure and positive discussions about the beautiful chocolate skin they live in.

I intend to develop unwavering confidence in their identity and help them understand that everyone deserves love and acceptance despite their colour or race. I need them to know that no matter what others think of them, it should never affect how they love themselves because an opinion does not affect the beauty and uniqueness of their skin.

Activity: Place the Beads in the Afro: A Black History Month-Themed Educational Alphabet Matching Activity

Did you know that a child must memorize four sets of letters: uppercase manuscript, lowercase manuscript, uppercase cursive and lowercase cursive in order to read proficiently in the English Language? Our littles must be able to identify letters by their names and sounds in their many contexts and forms to read proficiently. So even when our children can identify the letters of the alphabet and reproduce their corresponding sounds, it is always good to provide them with opportunities to practice what they know about the English System of letters.

The goal for this simple yet educational activity was to work on the following:

Phonemic awareness by reviewing letter names and their corresponding sounds.
Concept of print- I wanted to emphasize that letters produce a specific sound no matter what forms they appear in.
Fine motor skills

Materials you will need for this activity:

A learning journal
Black and brown construction paper
Markers
Stickers
Glue
Scissors

How to create this simple fun educational activity:

Step 1: Draw a circle on brown construction paper for a face, cut it out and glue it to black construction paper.
Step 2: Draw the shape of an afro onto the black construction paper and cut it out.
Step 3: Glue the face with the afro into a learning journal or onto a piece of paper, leaving space to draw on a shirt. Draw the shirt on from the base of the face and colour the shirt in a colour of your choice.
Step 4: Use a black marker to draw in the facial features. You can also allow your little ones to complete this step. You need not be an artist, as you can see.
Step 5: Use your white chalk marker to write the lowercase letters onto the afro and put a circle around them as well.
Step 6: Write the uppercase letters onto your stickers, and there you have it! You are ready to learn with your little ones in six easy steps!

How this simple and fun activity was presented to my little ones:

My girls know all their letters, uppercase and lowercase and their corresponding sounds. However, I intentionally provide them with opportunities to review what they already know every week. Providing young children with these opportunities is very important because repetition is key to learning in the early years.

Here is the simple, straightforward way in which this activity was presented to my little ones.

Step 1: We started by identifying the letters written on the stickers by their names. They were not written in any particular order.

Step 2: They were instructed to touch each letter and produce the corresponding sound instead of the letter names.

Step 3: After producing all the sounds for the uppercase letters, they touched and identified all the lowercase letters on the afro, sharing a word that begins with each letter.

Example: “e” the letter name. /e/ The letter sound. Egg the name of an object.

Step 4: I then gave them the stickers, and they worked independently to match the uppercase letters on the stickers to the lowercase letters on the afro.

Step 5: When the activity was completed, we quickly touched each sticker/bead, said the name of each letter and made the corresponding sound again.

There you have it! A simple, intentional lesson that helped me reach our educational goal of:

Reviewing upper and lowercase letters
Reviewing letter sounds
Working on fine motor skills
Building vocabulary

This activity is also great for working on:

Focus and concentration
Hand-eye coordination
Visual scanning
Spacial awareness
Pincer grasp
Cognitive skills
Organizational skills
Biliteral hand coordination

Who is this activity Suitable for?

This activity is suitable for anyone who is learning/reviewing letters of the English Alphabet.

Other ways in which this activity can be utilized:

When I create these simple learning journal activities, I am always thinking of other ways in which they can be used to enhance learning for others who might not be learning or practising the particular skill my little ones are working on.

When I created this activity, I thought it could be used for:

Teaching/reviewing colours
Teaching CVC words by placing the stickers with the words onto the vowel on the afro that corresponds with the short sound little ones hear when they read a CVC word.
Name recognition: Little ones can find and match the letters that are in their names.
One-to-one correspondence by placing numbers on stickers and corresponding amounts onto the afro.
Patterns: Create a card with patterns for them to follow in order to place the beads in the afro.
Number recognition
Just for fun: This activity can be used with little ones for fun while strengthening their tiny muscles.

How would you use this simple activity?

We do hope you find this simple activity useful.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us by sending us a message or visiting us @learning.stepbystep on Instagram, Learning Step By Step on Facebook and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for educational resources that will help you and your littles on their learning journey as they continue to Learn Step By Step!

Thank you for being here!

Kimberlee and the Learning Step By Step Team.