A messy but fun way for preschoolers to learn the alphabet!

Cotton swabs make for the perfect disposable paint brushes, making art projects and crafts so much easier when you have little ones. I don’t know about you, but my kids LOVE any craft that involves paint. Of course! Anything messy! Paint, play-doh, slime, sand, mud, you name it. So if they’re gonna get their hands dirty, why not make it a learning game or enjoyable art project?

This simple preschool activity is effortless to set up and prepare with supplies you might already have on hand. Break out your handwriting skills, mom! Simply write the letters of the alphabet on a piece of white paper and then let your kids take over from there.

Supplies Needed

white paper
washable paint
Q-Tips (cotton swabs)
colorful markers for writing the letters
paint tray or paper plate

I chose to write the letters in a variety of vibrant colors because not only does it make it more challenging and exciting for the kids, it’s also a way of working in color recognition for younger children. You can never have too much color when it comes to crafting! Just try to match the marker colors with the paint you have on hand.

Now that my 2 year old is old enough to actually sit still for more than 3 minutes, she’s been enjoying lots of crafts with her older brother. They sat for a long time with this letter recognition project, quietly concentrating on tracing the shape of the letters with the paint, admiring their work as they went along. A total win for mom! Now I just need to head to the store to buy more Q-Tips!

A colorful art project and learning activity wrapped up into one fun craft for kids. It was all smiles around here! 😀

To make this painting activity last even longer, you could make an alphabet page with upper case letters and another with lower case letters, while also explaining the difference to your kids. You could also try this tracing project with numbers and shapes. My 4 year old could have seriously done this for HOURS!

As you can see in the photo below, my daughter wasn’t quite as skilled or as patient as her older brother at tracing the letters with the paint, but she did great with the colors! I was so proud of her ability to focus for such a long time. They grow up so fast! Don’t forget to take lots of pictures and enjoy every moment. Before you know it, they’ll be reading, writing, and then… driving. 😅