We’re having fun with our travel unit. It’s perfect for summer or any time you’ll be traveling! Today’s free do-a-dot printable is a jet plane in preparation for plane trips and as a way to reinforce phonics concepts such as /j/ for jet or the phonogram a_e in plane. As usual, the do-a-dot printable is an instant download and super-easy to prepare!
Montessori-Inspired Printables at Living Montessori Now
My daughter, Chrissy Chitwood (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 is a jet airplane (jet airliner).
- 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 Jet Do-a-Dot Phonics Printable
To download the duster do-a-dot printable, 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 Jet Do-a-Dot Printable
Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links (at no cost to you).
Multi-Level Jet Do-a-Dot Letter “j” or Phonogram “a_e” Tray with Do-a-Dot Markers and Jet Plane Punch
Note: Because I (like many homeschoolers) have limited shelf space, I’m showing how you can prepare a tray with activities for more than one level. This is just one example of how you can use the do-a-dot printable. There are many ways to use our do-a-dot printables. Scroll down to see examples from previous posts. Just choose an activity that’s appropriate for your child’s age and skill level.
I used a Multicraft tray with Do-a-Dot markers and a miniature airplane punch.
You could have a variety of transfer activities with do-a-dot printable. Or you could have a totally different type of do-a-dot activity. See ideas below. Again, just choose what is best for your child’s skill level and interests.
You could add a tracing activity to the printable. 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 pencil. I often do that. For a 2-year-old or other young preschooler who’s not ready to write letters, you can just leave off the crayon or pencil.
Jet Plane Movable Alphabet Word Building, Handwriting Practice, and Fine-Motor Work
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 or some sort of transfer on the do-a-dot page and focus on the /j/ sound, while an older child could trace the letters, and build the words with the Montessori movable alphabet.
If you want to know how to introduce the /j/ sound, check out my post on how to teach letter sounds using Montessori principles.
For a child who’s ready for (or already using) the movable alphabet, you could have the child build the words. My 5-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, likes to use the movable alphabet to build words. (We use the small movable alphabet. I have the movable alphabet from Alison’s Montessori, which I love. You can also get a movable alphabet from Amazon or make your own.) I also included the phonogram card for “a_e” that we used in our phonogram work for a_e in plane.
Zoey traced the word with red and blue colored pencils and used the movable alphabet to build the words “jet plane” for our do-a-dot page.
Zoey loves miniature punches with objects to match the do-a-dot page. She enjoys punching out the miniature shapes and gluing them onto the dots. Zoey can read, so we just focused on the a_e phonogram for spelling “plane.”
Jet Vocabulary Work, Phonemic Awareness Activity, and Do-a-Dot Marker Work
Zoey’s 17-month-old sister, Sophia, and their 14-month-old cousin, Caleb, like to be included in Zoey’s activities whenever possible. Do-a-dot printables are a great way to include them! I use a child-size apron. for toddler do-a-dot work. (Sophia and Caleb are both wearing a toddler-size Montessori Services apron that I got on sale.)
With toddlers, I recommend doing some vocabulary work. Using the 3-period lesson, you can focus on the words “jet” and “airplane.” Include a toy airplane or other 3-dimensional airplane if you have one available. You could also show pictures of other jet planes and read books about airplanes. You’ll notice the airplane books on our shelf. Those have been an important part of our travel unit!
After the vocabulary focus, you could casually say that jet starts with /j/ (the sound, not the letter name). This is just to introduce hearing the phonetic sound. I don’t focus on the letter “j,” although I use the printable that we already have available. With toddlers, of course, you need to closely supervise to see that they aren’t eating the do-a-dot markers! But they typically love do-a-dot work, and it’s a great mark-making activity for them.
More Transportation/Travel Resources and Activities
- Free Travel Printables and Montessori-Inspired Travel Activities
- Fun and Learning with Montessori-Inspired World Travel Activities and Games
- Free and Fun Family Road Trip Songs
- The Best Transportation and Travel Books for Kids
- Free Family Travel Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
- Montessori-Inspired Activities for Pre-Schoolers: Car Parking Game
- Free Transportation Printables and Montessori-Inspired Transportation Math Activities
- Montessori-Inspired Construction Unit
- Free Police Printables and Montessori-Inspired Police Activities
- Free Fire Safety Printables and Montessori-Inspired Fire Safety Activities
- Free Ambulance Printables and Montessori-Inspired Ambulance Activities
- Montessori-Inspired Train Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}
- Free Train Printables and Montessori-Inspired Train Activities
- Free Car Printables and Montessori-Inspired Car Activities
- Super-Cool Beginning Reading Activity – Race Car Blending
- Free Car Do-a-Dot Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
- Free Car Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
- Fun Magnetic Vehicle STEM Trays and Activity Bags
- Spielgaben STEM Challenge: Build and Fly a Magnetic Airplane
- Montessori Resources for Land, Air, and Water Transportation Activities
- The Ultimate Montessori-Inspired Transportation Unit
- Transportation Unit Study Pinterest Board
- Resources for a World Travel Unit Study
- Continent Map Work
- DIY Pin Maps
- Montessori Continent Boxes
- DIY Cosmic Nesting Boxes, Map Towers, a nd “Me on the Map” Activities
- Montessori-Inspired State Box – Colorado
- Laura Ingalls Wilder and Montessori Washboard Activity (South Dakota and Booking Across the USA Tour)
- Montessori-Inspired Map Activities Using Pin It! Maps
- Earth Exploration Activities from Montessori By Mom
- Montessori-Inspired Little Passports Global Adventure (with links to all my Little Passports activity posts)
- The Ultimate Guide to Montessori Geography Activities for Preschoolers
- Creative Ideas for Montessori Continent Boxes from Around the World,
- Montessori-Inspired Global Adventure Pinterest Board
- Kids’ Geography Activities Pinterest Board
MONTESSORI-INSPIRED PACKS – SUBSCRIBER FREEBIES
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). 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.
2019 Montessori Series – Summer
This post is part of the 2019 Montessori Series with summer themes! Check out the other Montessori summer posts, too!
- Ocean Zones for Kids | Natural Beach Living
- Summer Montessori Activities Book for Kids | The Natural Homeschool
- Free Jet Do-a-Dot Phonics Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download) | Living Montessori Now
- Family Travels with Montessori Friendly Tips | The Pinay Homeschooler
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