Medical workers are always essential but this year are more so than ever. For our medical worker unit, I tried to choose images that aren’t stereotypical doctor and nurse images. While I can’t include every great non-stereotypical doctor or nurse image, I have two here that are perfect for our free doctor and nurse do-dot phonics printables.
Note: Be sure to read to the bottom of the post where you’ll find lots of ideas for using do-a-dot printables along with at least one free do-a-dot printable for each letter of the alphabet!
Montessori-Inspired Printables at Living Montessori Now
My daughter, Chrissy (a former Montessori child), and I are partnering to bring you a series of Montessori-inspired printables. The printables are typically themed and use a number of Montessori principles (although you don’t need to be a Montessori teacher or homeschooler to use them):
- They use isolation of quality.
- They use photographs or realistic images to emphasize reality. Whenever I can, I’ll tell you the specific name of the object or animal featured on the credits page. This month’s do-a-dot printables use a Black female doctor and a male nurse.
- They typically use traditional Montessori colors such as red for consonants and blue for vowels.
- They use lowercase letters, which are what we introduce letter sounds with in Montessori education. (Children tend to pick up the uppercase letters without being introduced if they’re introduced to the lowercase letter sounds.)
- They often feature themed printable versions of Montessori materials.
Free Doctor and Nurse Do-a-Dot Phonics Printable
To download the doctor and nurse do-a-dot phonics printables, click here and then click on the file image in the upper right corner of the PDF to save to your computer (just choose where you want it saved).
Montessori-Inspired Activities Using the Doctor and Nurse Do-a-Dot Printables
Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links (at no cost to you).
Doctor or Nurse Do-a-Dot Phonics Tray with Stethoscope Stickers
Tray with Letter D Do-a-Dot Doctor Printable and Stethoscope Stickers
Stickers are an especially fun activity for toddlers, and they’re great for fine-motor development. I used some of these stethoscope stickers to make DIY cards and counters for our medical worker unit. I used a wooden Multicraft tray for this activity. Of course, you can use a variety of tools for transfer activities, such as quick sticks, sugar tongs, or toast tongs, along with a variety of objects to transfer to the dots.
You can add erasable crayons or markers to a laminated page for preschoolers to work on tracing skills. I don’t have my 2½-year-old grandkids trace letters or numbers except with their fingers. I just showed how I place colored pencils on the tray for children who are ready for tracing work. If you laminate your printable, you can use an erasable crayon like the Melissa & Doug Learning Mat Crayons or Crayola Erasable Crayons. If your page isn’t laminated, you could add a pencil or colored pencils. I often do that. If you only have a 2-year-old or other young preschooler who’s not ready to write letters, you can just leave off the crayon or pencils.
This do-a-dot printable can be used in a variety of ways, depending on the age and ability of the child. A younger child could just use do-a-dot markers, stickers, or some sort of transfer on the do-a-dot page and focus on the /d/ sound in doctor and /n/ sound in nurse while an older child could build the word with the movable alphabet. I included the letter d sandpaper letter. You could use the font cards from the Montessori-Inspired Medical Worker Pack. I like to introduce children to both print and cursive letters, so often I’ll add the cursive letter to the tray. I don’t use a font card with young toddlers, but it’s great for preschoolers on up.
Scroll down to see lots of ideas for using our do-a-dot printables for a variety of ages and themes.
Doctor Phonemic Awareness Activity and Sticker Work
Concentrating on Her Work with Stethoscope Stickers and Doctor Do-a-Dot Page
This type of activity is wonderful for fine-motor development, increasing attention span, and reinforcing letter sounds. Sophia really enjoyed the work and was proud of her completed page.
For toddlers, I typically use the do-a-dot printables for vocabulary, hearing the beginning sound of a word, and fine-motor skills. Generally, with toddlers, I’ll just focus on the /d/ sound at the beginning of “doctor” or /n/ sound at the beginning of “nurse.”
For a phonics lesson with young toddlers, I might casually say that doctor starts with /d/ (the sound, not the letter name). This is just to introduce hearing the phonetic sound. I don’t focus on the letter “d,” although I use the printable that we already have available. We often focus on the child hearing the beginning sound by saying something like, “Doctor, /d/, doctor.”
Both of my 2½-year-old grandkids love working with sandpaper letters and learning letter sounds, so we’re doing more focused work on the letter sounds. This is what I do with preschoolers who are learning their letter sounds. We follow the order shown in this post along with adding the featured letter. I don’t worry about going out of order for the monthly theme.
I only use printables with toddlers that can be used for hands-on work, such as do-a-dot work, scissor cutting (cutting strips), or another type of printable that can be made into a manipulative. Printables when used with manipulatives are great for fine-motor development, work on important skills, and fit with the hands-on activities that are developmentally appropriate for toddlers.
If you want to know more about how to introduce the /d/ and /n/ sounds, check out my post on how to teach letter sounds using Montessori principles.
If you would like help with introducing phonetic sounds, introducing objects with sounds, or beginning phonics in general, check out my DIY Beginning Montessori Phonics with Preschoolers.
For older children who already know their letter sounds but still enjoy do-a-dot work, I add the print movable alphabet word building, phonogram work, another hands-on activity to go with the do-a-dot work, and/or cursive movable alphabet and word analysis work. (Note: These examples have more than one type of additional activity, which I like for older children.)
As always, adapt your presentations for your unique child!
More Montessori-Inspired Community Helper Activities
- Free Medical Worker Printables and Montessori-Inspired Medical Worker Activities
- Free Medical Worker Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
- Free Ambulance Printables and Montessori-Inspired Ambulance Activities
- Talking with Children about 9/11 – Ideas and Activities
- Free Police Printables and Montessori-Inspired Police Activities,
- Community Helpers Activity Trays and Sensory Tubs
- Free Fire Safety Printables and Montessori-Inspired Fire Safety Activities
- Montessori-Friendly Community Helper Resources
- Montessori-Inspired Activities with Community Helper Figures and Free Printables
- “Look for the Helpers” Mister Rogers Word Art Freebie
- Free 9-1-1 Songs for Kids {Non-Scary Emergency Preparedness}
- Free Emergency Preparedness Songs for Kids {Character Education Resources}
- Free Water Safety Songs for Kids
- Montessori-Inspired Fire Safety Unit with Free Printables and Activities
- Free Fire Safety Songs and Educational Videos
- The Best Fire Safety Books for Kids
- Free Fire Truck Do-a-Dot Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
- Free Firefighter Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
- How to Teach Children Fire Safety in a Non-Scary Way
- Community Helpers Pinterest Board
More Montessori-Inspired Anatomy Activities
- Montessori-Inspired Skeleton Activities
- “All About Me” Free Printables and Activities for Back to School
- Handwashing Activities for Kids – Free Songs and Lessons
- Free Skeleton Printables and Montessori-Inspired Skeleton Activities
- Hands-on Fun with Montessori-Inspired Human Skeleton Activities
- Free Brain and Growth Mindset Printables and Montessori-Inspired Brain Activities
- Brain Hemisphere Hat and Montessori Activities to Learn about Parts of the Brain
- Free Brain Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
- Free Brain Do-a-Dot Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
- Free Heart Printables and Montessori-Inspired Heart Activities {Human Heart and Valentine Hearts}
- Montessori-Inspired Heart and Circulatory System Activities
- Montessori-Inspired Heart Unit {Hundreds of Human Heart and Valentine Heart Resources}
- Free Heart and Valentine Do-a-Dot Printables (Montessori-Inspired Instant Downloads)
- The Best Heart Books for Kids {Human Heart, Love, and Valentine’s Day Books}
- Human Body Unit Study Pinterest Board
Don’t miss our themed monthly packs! You’ll get the link and password for the Living Montessori Now subscriber library with the current pack and all the past monthly packs if you subscribe to the Living Montessori Now weekly newsletter!
Free Do-a-Dot Printables and Ideas for Using Them
I love the versatility of do-a-dot printables! If you’re doing a month-long theme, you could easily change out the type of do-a-dot activity weekly to add interest. Here are four ideas of hands-on activities for any of our do-a-dot printables from my frog do-a-dot printable post (see post for details and materials used).
Just click on an image to go to the post with the related free printable!
Note: I’ve arranged the following gallery in alphabetical order, although some posts have two do-a-dot printables (and two different letters). You’ll find at least one free do-a-dot printable for each letter of the alphabet!
Also, I don’t introduce letters in alphabetical order. You can find out the order in which I introduce letter sounds here. I deviate from that order for our unit studies, though, and focus on a letter that’s simply related to our unit. That’s in addition to our other letter work.
You can see all our free do-a-dot printables with the latest at the top here.
For complete themed alphabet do-a-dot packs, see our Animal Alphabet Do-a-Dot Pack, Spanish Animal Alphabet Do-a-Dot Pack, and Healthy Food Alphabet Do-a-Dot Pack available for purchase in the Living Montessori Now shop.
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