Looking for some letter R crafts and activities?
I have 15 engaging activities that will help your child learn about the letter R! These activities are perfect to use in the classroom, or you can do them right at home! These play-based learning strategies will have your kids hooked on each activity!
Giving your student or child the opportunity to learn one letter at a time will help them remember each letter. By doing these fun activities, your child will create memories of each letter!
Let’s dive into my exciting activities to learn the letter R!
Activity #1: Letter Collages
Letter crafts are a great way to practice letter recognition! Focusing on one specific letter and creating something special will help them recognize and remember the letter.
For the letter R, we used rainbow rice! It was perfect because both rainbow and rice both start with the letter R. This is a fantastic sensory craft for kids, since rice is a great sensory filler.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- cardstock paper
- marker
- rice
- liquid watercolors
- ziplock bag
- art tray
- parchment paper
- glue
B. Set-up
Create the rainbow rice by adding a cup of rice to a plastic container or bag. Add a few drops of liquid watercolors inside. Then, shake it up and dump the rice on a piece of parchment paper that’s on an art tray to dry!
Repeat this process for all the colors of the rainbow!
Lastly, create a bubble letter R on a piece of paper!
C. Activity
Once the rice is dry, add some glue to the letter R. Have the kids sprinkle on the rice to the letter! This is such a fun process! Your kids will love making rainbow rice! Any left overs that you have can be used for other rice crafts or sensory play!
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Activity #2: Do-A-Dot Letter Search
Who doesn’t love mess-free art?! Do-A-Dot paint markers pretty mess-free as long as your little one doesn’t wipe them all over their hand, wishful thinking, right?!
This printable is a perfect way to let you know if your little one can differentiate upper and lower case letters!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- A-Z Letter Do-A-Dot Sheets
- Do-A-Dot markers
A-Z Letter Do-A-Dot Printable
B. Set-up
Print off the pages and get the paint markers ready!
C. Activity
Your little ones with use the paint markers to place specific colored dots on the upper case letter and lower case letters! This is a wonderful way to also work on color-coding skills!
If you don’t have do-a-dot markers, you can use crayons to do this activity as well!
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Activity #3: Tape Resist Art
I love how tape resist art turns out! It’s so cool to see the outline of the object when you are done!
Your kids will be amazed to see their letters jump out at them after they are done painting. This is a wonderful way to include both upper and lower case letters into art for kids.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- colored masking tape
- watercolors
- paintbrush
- art tray
- cardstock paper
B. Set-up
Create an upper and lower case letter R on the piece of cardstock paper with the masking tape! Also, grab some water for the watercolors.
C. Activity
Paint around both of the letters. When they are done, they can pull off the tape gently! They can see the outline of the letters! They will love seeing what they created!
RELATED: The BEST Sensory Bins for Kids
Activity #4: Find and Cover
A great manipulative to use for hands-on learning activities is counting cubes! There are so many ways these can be used.
One of the ways I love to use them is by doing a Find and Cover activity! This is an activity that focuses on one letter at a time. It also focuses on both the upper and lower case letter.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- Find and Cover printable
- counting cubes
Click HERE for your Find had Cover Letter Printables.
B. Set-up
Print off the letter R and any other letter you want to work on with your little one.
C. Activity
Have your child identify the letter. Then, have them tell you which one is upper case and which one is lower case. Explain to them what a key means. Show them that they are to look at the key to see what color represents the upper and lower case letters.
They should place that colored counting cube on the correct letters!
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Activity #5: Play-Doh Letter Building
Whenever I pull out the Play-Doh, the kids play for it for at least a half-hour. You know, that’s kind of a big deal, right? Most of the time, it’s longer than that, but at least a half-hour!
Since Play-Doh is so engaging for kids, it makes for a wonderful learning activity!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- My Letter Play-Doh mats
- Play-doh
- dry erase folders
Click HERE to grab your Letter Play-Doh Mats! (Upper and Lower case letter included)
B. Set-up
Print off the letters that you want to work on! Then, place them inside a dry-erase folder for your little ones to build on. This way, it won’t get the sheet dirty, and you can save and redo it repeatedly.
C. Activity
Your little ones should roll and create the letters using Play-Doh. You can have them match the colors that are on the sheet, or you can use whatever color you’d like. They should try to create the letter by following the lines!
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Activity #6: Salt Painting
Have you ever tried salt painting? It always turns out SO pretty!
Kids love watching the paint flow throughout the salt. It’s a relaxing way to paint, and the kids will love trying a new way to create art.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- cardboard
- pencil
- glue
- salt
- watercolors
- paintbrush
- art tray
B. Set-up
On your piece of cardboard, draw the letter R with a pencil. Then, outline the letter in glue. Make sure to place the cardboard on an art tray for the next part! Shake a whole bunch of salt all over the glue, then dump the access in the trash.
*You have to let the glue dry before you start painting, or else it will be REALLY messy!*
C. Activity
Have your little ones use watercolor paints to paint the salt! It looks terrific, too, when you mix different colors throughout the letter.
RELATED: 15 Easy Letter B Activities
Activity #7: Hidden Letter Search
You gotta love free printables! This hidden search-free printable is the perfect way for your little one to work on recognizing the upper and lower case letter R.
All the letters of the alphabet are included in this freebie pack! So you can practice each of the letters using my sheets.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
Click HERE for your FREE Hidden Letters Printables
B. Set-up
Print out my sheet and grab some coloring supplies!
C. Activity
This printable can be used in two different ways.
- You can have the kids find and color the letter on the sheet
- They can color in all the other letters but that letter!
See if they can tell what letter they created when they are finished coloring!
RELATED: FREE Alphabet Printables
Activity #8: Beginning Sounds
Talking about animals or objects that start with the letter will help bring the letter to life for your little one.
These beginning letter worksheets are a perfect way to show your little one some fun things that start with the letter R!
How to do this activity:
A. Materials you need
- Beginning Sound Letter Sheets
- crayons
Click HERE to grab your Beginning Sound Letter Sheets.
2. Set-up
Print off the worksheet and grab your crayons!
3. Activity
Go through each of the objects or animals inside the letter R. Say each thing’s name and make each object’s beginning sound before saying the whole word. This will help your little one understand the starting sound of each picture they see.
They will color each thing that starts with the letter R!
I have beginning sound sheets for each letter of the alphabet! Create a booklet to go over each of the sounds that the letters make. This will make for a great resource to use repeatedly.
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Activity #9: Geoboard Letters
Do you remember using these boards as kids? I remember loving when my teacher pulled them out so we could play and create with them!
Work on creating letters with the geoboard! This is not only a wonderful way to work on letter-building skills, but it’s a great fine motor activity for kids!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- geoboard letter printable
- rubberbands
- geoboards
Click HERE to grab your Geoboard Lower Case Letter Printable.
B. Set-up
Use my geoboard letter worksheets to help your little ones build the letters! Print off the letter R and any other letter you want to work on.
C. Activity
Your little one will use the rubber bands to build the letter R. Younger ones can use the worksheets to help guide them on building the letter. Older children can be challenged by trying to do it on their own!
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Activity #10: Robot Toilet Paper Craft
These little robots were one of my biggest hits on Instagram! We had so much fun making these. We made these robots on Earth Day!
Robots start with the letter R, so this is such a fun one to try with the kids.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- toilet paper rolls
- aluminum foil
- water bottle caps
- acrylic paint
- gems
- Fruit Loops
- googly eyes
- buttons
- pipe cleaners
- poms
- hot glue
B. Set-up
Wrap the toilet paper roll in aluminum foil! Then, create a face for it using acrylic paint and googly eyes!
C. Activity
Add on gems, Fruit Loops, buttons or any other craft supply you’d like for the robots “buttons” on the front.
Paint some bottle caps using acrylic paint. Then, once they are dry, glue them on using hot glue.
To create the arms, create a hole using scissors or a box cutter slide the pipe cleaner through the tube and curl them up!
Lastly, we added on a pipe cleaner at the top of the robots and a pom. Use hot-glue to paste the pipe cleaner to the inside of the toilet paper roll.
Now you are ready to play! I love creating crafts that the kids can play with after! They enjoy it so much more too!
Activity #11: Rainbow Cutting Craft
This rainbow craft is easy to put together, it’s perfect for a letter R craft and it works on cutting skills!
Scissor skills are important for kids to work on before they head into kindergarten. This is a fantastic way to practice those skills.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
B. Set-up
Create a cloud shape and cut it out! Then, create the rainbow by cutting strips of colored paper.
Attach the colored paper to the back of the cloud by using tape or a glue stick. Lastly, draw some lines on the strips. You can create them as easy or hard as you’d like depending on the skills of your little one.
C. Activity
Have your child use scissors to cut along the lines you created! They should try to stay on the lines the best they can.
To make it easier for them to cut, tape down the cloud to a flat surface.
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Activity #12: Rocket Name Craft
Rocket starts with the letter R! This is such a fun and easy name craft for kids!
I love it also incorporates using glue and scissors too. This easy craft takes only a few minutes to do.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
B. Set-up
Cut the number of strips to create the rocket for your child’s name using construction paper. Then, either you can write their name, or they can write their name to practice handwriting skills!
Cut a triangle for the top of the rocket as well!
C. Activity
Using a glue stick, have your child paste the letters of their name in the correct order to form a rocket!
To create the fire at the bottom, make some lines with glue and sprinkle some red, orange, or yellow glitter at the bottom.
Lastly, we added some stickers around the black paper to look like it was in outer space!
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Activity #13: LEGO Letters
Got a kiddo who loves to use building with blocks? This activity will be right up their alley!
LEGO’s are an open-ended toy that I absolutely love using for learning activities. The possibilities are endless when it comes to using them!
Building letters is just one way that they can be used! This is a wonderful hands-on learning activity that helps kids understand how each letter shape is formed!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- LEGO Letter Building Mats
- LEGO’s
Click HERE for your LEGO Letter Mats
B. Set-up
Print off the sheets and grab your LEGO’s.
C. Activity
Your child will use the blocks to create the letter R. You can have them use little or DUPLO blocks for this activity. This activity asks them to identify each letter is they create and how many blocks it took for them to create the letter.
If you decide to do more letters than just R, they can see the letters’ differences!
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Activity #14: Popsicle Stick Letter Building
Building letters with popsicle sticks work on SO many different learning skills.
This specific activity works on letter recognition, counting skills, STEM skills, and pre-writing skills! It’s perfect for school centers or just for home learning!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- popsicle stick letter cards
- popsicle sticks
- pencil
Click HERE for your Popsicle Stick Letter Cards
B. Set-up
Print off the letter cards and grab the popsicle sticks!
C. Activity
Your kids will use the cards to help them know how to create each letter! Count how many popsicle sticks it takes to create the letters.
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Activity #15: Color Coding Letters
Want to try a beginner color-coding activity that’s perfect for preschoolers? I love that it works on several skills with just 1 easy setup as well!
This activity works on color recognition, color matching, number recognition, and letter building! Wow, that’s pretty amazing if you ask me.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- cardboard
- plastic bottle caps
- Sharpie
- dot stickers
- pom poms
- kid-friendly tweezers
B. Set-up
Inside the bottle caps, place a dot sticker with the numbers 1-3 written on them. Older children can have more numbers and colors!
Create the letter R on the cardboard with the bottle caps in a mixed-up order. Write what each number signifies on the side; you can use a pom too for younger ones. Older kiddos can work on color sight word recognition.
C. Activity
Have your child use the key to place the correct colored pom in each bottle cap to create the letter R! This works on letter building, color recognition, and number recognition!
Want to add in some fine motor skills? Have them use tweezers to pick up and place the poms inside the caps!
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Final Thoughts and Conclusion
Individual letter activities are a fantastic way for kids to really grasp letter recognition of each letter of the alphabet! Doing some of these activities will help your little ones remember each letter of the alphabet.
To go along with these activities, I suggest reviewing the alphabet letters once a day for at least 5 minutes. That’s it! 5 minutes is all it takes if you consistently go over the information with them; you’re going to see how they can pick up the information if repeated daily.
Do you have a favorite activity that you do in your classroom or at home with your kids for the letter R? Our community would love to hear about it! We all benefit from sharing our teaching strategies and activities. Leave a comment below to let us know about some ways you like to teach the letter.
Happy Learning!
