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    Home » Learning Activities for Preschoolers

    Published: Aug 9, 2018 · Modified: May 8, 2023 by Fynn · All activities should be supervised by an adult. This post may contain affiliate links.

    Apple & Caterpillar Letter Matching Activity and Printable

    Apple Caterpillar Letter Matching

    Apple and Caterpillar Letter Matching Activity

    My secret to getting kids interested in a learning activity?

    Create a fun context around it! Say hi to our cute popsicle stick 'caterpillars'. They are looking for apples with matching letters and they are going to munch holes in them. Now that's how we do letter matching here!

    apple theme letter activity

    Preparing the activity

    • Print out this printable.

    apples letter matching

    Bonus: This printable can be found on my subscriber-only Printable page. As a bonus for joining my mailing list, you get access to ALL my printables. Get this printable here>>

    • Write the 26 letters on 26 popsicle stick caterpillars.

    popsicle stick caterpillars

    • Cut a slit (that's big enough for the popsicle stick to go through) in the center of each apple.

    apple theme letter activity

    • Invite your child to help the 'caterpillars' find their apples and inserts the popsicle sticks through the apples.

    apple theme letter activity

    What ages is this activity for?

    2 to 3 years old can do the simple letter matching, either all uppercase or all lowercase letters at one time. TIP: For the young toddlers,  do only 5 to 8 letters each time. Doing all 26 letters at the same time will be overwhelming for the toddlers who are just learning letters and have shorter attention span.

    3 to 4 years old who have mastered their uppercase and lowercase letters can match uppercase to lowercase letters.

    4 years old to 5 years old can use this activity to review their beginning sounds. Adult call out the sound of a letter and the child finds the apple and the popsicle stick caterpillar with the letter.

    Blank apples are included in this set of printable too and you can use them for sight words matching or number matchings!

    2 in 1: Fine motor + letter matching activity for children

    apple theme letter activity

    It was a good fine motor challenge for my children as they try to push the popsicle sticks through the apples. Children will love this hands on way to do letter matching!

    This activity will be great for an autumn theme, fruits theme or back to school theme. Check out more fun learning ideas here!

    apple theme letter activity

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    More Learning Activities for Preschoolers

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      Pre-Writing Skills and Activities to Get Your Children Ready to Write
    • Everything You Need to Know Teaching Subitising
    • Fun multi-sensory activities for kids to learn letter formation
      6 Multi-Sensory Play Activities for Letter Formation

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    About Fynn

    Fynn is a Math and Science teacher from Singapore, author of The Happy Learning Book for Siblings and founder of Happy Tot Shelf. She helps parents enjoy home learning with their children through her highly popular kids' activity membership, The Happy Learners' Club. Fynn has been featured in various newspapers, websites and on radio shows as an expert in early childhood learning and creative hands-on learning ideas.

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    Hi there, I'm Fynn, an educator, author and mom of 3. I believe nurturing a love of learning begins at home. I'm here to help parents nurture a love of learning and build a strong bond with their children through fun learning together.

    More about me →

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