Letter H Preschool Activities and Free Lesson Plan: H is for Hands!

Today we are exploring the sense of touch with the Lesson Plan Letter H is for Hands! This is part of our alphabet lesson plan series. It is also the last lesson in the set of free lesson plans about the five senses. We’ll cover a lot of fun, hands-on activities for preschoolers!

I hope your home preschool adventures are going well and that these lesson plans are helpful for you. If you haven’t seen my quick tips for getting started with successful home preschool, check them out.

Feel free to use and share these plans to talk, sing, read, write, and play your way through the alphabet. You can use our full lesson plans, or, of course, pick individual activities to do with the Littles in your life. 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 the Preschool Lesson Plan Index to 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

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 briefly spotlight one of the countries in the song. This week we found Germany on a World Map.

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Next, we talked about some famous German people and shared some quick facts about Germany for preschoolers.

We also learned how to say a few words in German. My favorite is ich liebe dich: I love you!

PLAY: Build the Letter H with Alphashapes

Introduce the letter H! Using a small whiteboard or paper in a plastic page protector, write a capital H and lowercase h. Have the kids do the same. Then, let the kids use alphashapes to build H and h.

These Alphashapes are fun. You can build all the letters of the alphabet, upper and lowercase, with them. A friend bought a set a long time ago, and at the time I thought it would be neat to make our own. Well, I finally got around to it, and they were a success!

Use this Free Printable to make your own Alphashapes. A copy of Alphashapes is also included in the Free Lesson Plan Checklist.

Afterwards, try to make a G and g from last week. This is a good challenge as it takes several pieces. Additionally, kids can practice making the first letter of their names and any other letters they know.

PLAY: Practice the Sound of Letter H with a Matching Game

Introduce the sound of the letter H. It’s helpful to have the kids put their hands in front of their mouths and feel the air leaving as they make the laughing “ha ha ha” sound. Then leave off the a. Practice making short repeated H sounds and then holding it as long as possible until you run out of air.

Use the following simple matching game to practice the sound of H and the other letters learned so far.

Before preschool begins, gather eight items from around the house, one that begins with each letter of the alphabet learned so far, A through H. Get simple flash cards, or write each letter on a separate piece of paper. For a little variety, you can also use pieces of yarn as “connectors.”

During preschool, have the kids put the letters in alphabetical order.

Next, have them match each item to its starting sound.

SING: Hokey Pokey

A fun song that starts with the letter H is Hokey Pokey. Get everyone up and moving as they sing and dance along. The more into it you are as a parent or teacher, the more fun the kids will have with the song.

TALK: Review the Senses

Talk about the senses that we’ve learned about so far (taste, hearing, smell, and sight). Introduce the concept of touch and how we usually use our Hands to touch things and learn about them.

READ:  The Five Senses: Touch

The Five Senses: Touch by Maria Ruis, J.M. Parramon, and J. J. Puig is a great way to start a discussion about the sense of touch. Alternately, go to your local library and search the sense of touch. Most libraries have a series about the senses.

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Briefly talk about the biology of touch. We have different receptors in our skin that sense temperature, pain, or a change in touch. Those receptors send a message to the brain, which then decides what to do with the information. Ask the kids if they have questions about the sense of touch.

SING: “Where is Thumbkin?” 

Do the hand motions while you sing about each of our fingers with “Where is Thumbkin?” You can also throw in some super simple math here with counting the fingers and then figuring out that five plus five equals ten. You can make this math more difficult. How many fingers are there if we have two people?

PLAY:  What’s Hiding under My Handkerchief?

Before preschool, gather several items of different sizes and textures.

During preschool, hide one item at a time under the handkerchief. Have kids one by one describe the touch of the item (hard, fluffy, cold, slimy, etc.) and guess what it is. Alternately, you could have each child try to guess each item.

WRITE: Sense of Touch Craft 

Practice writing the Letter H by having kids either write or trace the phrase, “H is for hands!” on a piece of colorful paper. Or have the kids write a big H and little h, and the teacher can fill in the missing letters.

Trace both hands on the paper. Glue various items with diverse textures onto each finger. Consider tafita, cotton balls, buttons, tissue paper, bits of fabric, velcro, or whatever else you can find around the house. Some of the things Little #3 chose were too big to stay with glue, but some heavy-duty packing tape did the job!

READ: Never Touch a Monster

Kids will enjoy the interaction and fun images in Touch and Feel Never Touch a Monster From Make Believe Ideas. It’s also a fun way to introduce another side of the conversation. Are there things we shouldn’t touch? What about things that aren’t ours? Or things that aren’t safe?

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TALK: Important Choices

Discuss how we can make a lot of important choices with our hands. What are some of the Happy choices you can make with your hands? Some ideas are raise your hand to speak, don’t touch dangerous things like hot stoves or electricity, clap for others, help a friend, etc.

SING: If You’re Happy and You Know It

Sing If You’re Happy and You Know It. Clap your hands, snap your fingers, or rub your palms. You can also jump up and down, spin in circles, or do whatever motion the kids want.

READ: Look, Listen, Taste, Touch and Smell

If you have time, read Look, Listen, Taste, Touch, and Smell: Learning About Your Five Senses (The Amazing Body)by Pamela Hill Nettleton. This is a good review of the senses. It’s also a great background for snack time!

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EAT: Foods that Start with the Letter H

Here are a few ideas for snack time: hummus and veggies, honeydew, mini ham sandwiches, hot dogs cut with ketchup for dipping, or anything with honey.

TALK: Closing Up

As this is the last week we’ll spend on senses, we did a final short review of the five we’ve learned about. Discuss how blessed we are to live in a beautiful world and have so many ways to discover that world. We have learned about five ways or senses, but there are other ways to discover and learn too. Do you have a favorite sense? 

SING:  Goodbye Song

Sing your goodbye song and see you next week. Our next preschool lesson will be Letter I is for Igloo. It’s going to be a fun one!

Leave a comment to let me know 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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