FREE Umbrella Do-a-Dot Phonics Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)

For our spring unit, I couldn’t resist focusing on the phonetic sound /ŭ/ for umbrella. It’s April, and “April showers bring May flowers.” If you look at the gallery at the bottom of this post, you’ll find at least one free do-a-dot printable for each letter of the alphabet! As usual, the free umbrella do-a-dot printable is an instant download, versatile, and super easy to prepare.

Montessori-Inspired Printables at Living Montessori Now

My daughter, Christina (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 printable is simply a rainbow umbrella. (Note: You could use the umbrella image for a bit of color matching work using Color Box 3!)
• 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 Umbrella Do-a-Dot Phonics Printable

To download the umbrella 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 Umbrella Do-a-Dot Printable

Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links (at no cost to you).

Umbrella Do-a-Dot Phonics Tray with Glass Gems

Young childen generally LOVE glass gems. They’re so pretty and fun to touch. They’re perfect with do-a-dot printables, especially when using a tool for transferring the gems from container to the dots. (Note: Be careful with glass gems around children who still mouth objects since they’re a choking hazard and very inviting. With toddlers, I don’t leave the glass gems on the shelf and only have the glass gems available when I’m directly working with the child.)

You can use a variety of tools for transfer activities, such as quick sticks, sugar tongs, or toast tong (what’s pictured). I find the toast tong works best for 2 year olds and young preschoolers when transferring glass gems. The other tools require more advanced fine-motor development. I used a wooden Multicraft tray for the activity.

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 /ŭ/ sound in umbrella while an older child could build the word with the movable alphabet. I included the “u” font card from our Montessori-Inspired Spring Pack. The font card has cursive letter “u” and the same umbrella image. I like to introduce children to both print and cursive letters. I don’t use a font card with young toddlers, but it’s great for preschoolers on up.

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 pencils. 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 pencils.

Because Caleb and my granddaughter Sophia are just 2 years old, I don’t have them trace letters or numbers except with their fingers. So I wouldn’t have a writing instrument on the tray. The tray in the photo is really an example. I don’t keep this tray on the shelf because of the glass gems, which aren’t safe for 2 year olds unless they’re being directly supervised while they’re using them.

Scroll down to see lots of ideas for using our do-a-dot printables for a variety of ages and themes.

Umbrella Phonemic Awareness Activity and Do-a-Dot Work

This type of activity is wonderful for fine-motor development, increasing attention span, and reinforcing letter sounds. I introduced using a toast tong with the glass gems. Caleb’s just 25 months old, so he was sometimes able to pick up the gems with the toast tong but not always. He loved working with the toast tong, though! I showed him how he could use the toast tong or transfer the glass gems with his fingers. He did some of each to fill in the dots.

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 /ŭ/ sound at the beginning of “umbrella.”

For a phonics lesson with young toddlers, I might casually say that umbrella starts with /ŭ/ (the sound, not the letter name). This is just to introduce hearing the phonetic sound. I don’t focus on the letter “u,” although I use the printable that we already have available. We often focus on the child hearing the beginning sound by saying something like, “Umbrella, /ŭ/, umbrella.”

Caleb loves working with sandpaper letters and learning letter sounds in a number of ways, so we’re doing more focused work on the letter sounds now. 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 /ŭ/ sound, 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.

As always, adapt your presentations for your unique child!

More Spring Resources

Amazon Affiliate:

• Free Spring Printables and Montessori-Inspired Spring Activities
• Free Spring Songs and Rhymes for Circle Time
• Free Spring Songs and Educational Videos
• Thank You for Planet Earth (or Thank You, Planet Earth) Mindfulness Cards and Booklet
• Activity of the Week – Montessori-Inspired Spring Activities
• Free Spring Printables and Montessori-Inspired Spring Math Activities
• Montessori-Inspired Spring Playdough Activities
• Montessori-Inspired Life Cycle Activities
• Free Kite Printables and Montessori-Inspired Kite Activities
• Montessori-Inspired Activities for Casey at the Bat
• Montessori-Inspired Snacktime Subtraction Activity
• Spring Book Lists for Preschool and Elementary Kids: Garden Adventures Around the World
• Montessori-Inspired Spring Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printablesl}
• Montessori-Inspired Spring Phonics Activities with Small Objects {Free Printables}
• Montessori Nature Tray with Vocabulary – Parts of the Plant
• Free Lamb Printables and Montessori-Inspired Lamb Activities
• Free Lamb Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
• Free Lamb Do-a-Dot Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
• Montessori-Inspired Spring Themes and Activities {Hundreds of Resources}
• Free Spring Playdough Math Pack (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
• Montessori-Inspired Playdough Math Activities for Spring {Free Printables}
• How to Prepare  a Simple Spring Playdough Tray
• 50+ Creative Ways to Use Materials Found on Your Nature Walks
• Spring-Themed, Editable Name and Word-Tracing Pack
• How to Prepare Montessori Shelves for a Mini Spring Unit
• Montessori Spring Printables for Classroom or Home
• Free Oviparous Animal Printables and Montessori-Inspired Oviparous Animal Activities
• Free Egg Do-a-Dot Phonics Printables (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
• Free Oviparous Animal Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
• Kids’ Spring Activities 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.

Learn more about my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to. Teach Grace and Courtesy!

The Montessori at Home! eBook and Montessori at Home! eBook and Materials Bundle are AMAZING resources! You can learn more about them here. Buy them in the Living Montessori Now shop.

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