Weather is an especially popular theme in the spring, but it’s a great topic for any time of year. And this month’s free do-a-dot printable is one that can be used year round. As usual, the free “w” for weather do-a-dot phonics printable is an instant download and super easy to prepare.
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 printable shows a number of weather icons.
- 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 Weather Do-a-Dot Phonics Printable
To download the weather do-a-dot phonics 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 Weather Do-a-Dot Printable
Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links (at no cost to you).
Tray with Weather Do-a-Dot Printable and Weather Sticker Activity
Tray with Weather Do-a-Dot Printable and Weather Stickers
Note: This is just one example of how you can use the do-a-dot printables. 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, weather stickers, and an easel with one of the “w” for weather font cards. I’ve started putting out triangular grip pencils for my 3-year-old grandkids for any writing or drawing they want to do. Triangular grip pencils are a great way to help young children develop the proper pencil. grip.
You can use a variety of tools for transfer activities, such as quick sticks, sugar tongs, or toast tongs. (Note: With toddlers, be extra careful to avoid leaving out materials, such as pom poms or glass gems, that could be a choking hazard. I typically keep small objects up out of reach for toddlers and get them out when I’m directly supervising their work.)
You can add erasable crayons or markers to a laminated page for preschoolers to work on tracing skills. I don’t have my grandkids trace letters or numbers before age 3 except with their fingers. Above age 3, 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.
Scroll down to see lots of ideas for using our do-a-dot printables for a variety of ages and themes.
/W/ for Weather with Salt Writing Tray and Sticker Work
This type of activity is wonderful for fine-motor development, increasing attention span, and reinforcing letter sounds.
My newly-3-year-old grandson, Caleb (Chrissy Chitwood‘s son) already knows his phonetic sounds, thanks to sound games and small objects with sandpaper letters. Caleb was fascinated with learning phonetic sounds and learned them much earlier than normal. I didn’t have him do structured writing activities with pencils, though. I still only have him trace letters on sandpaper letters, wooden tracing boards, or our salt tray.
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 /w/ sound at the beginning of “weather.”
For a phonics lesson with young toddlers, I might casually say that weather starts with /w/ (the sound, not the letter name). This is just to introduce hearing the phonetic sound. I don’t focus on the letter “w,” although I use the printable that we already have available. We often focus on the child hearing the beginning sound by saying something like, “Weather, /w/, weather.”
Both of my younger grandkids love working with sandpaper letters and letter sounds, so we do 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.
If you want to know more about how to introduce the /w/ sound, check out my post on how to teach letter sounds using Montessori principles.
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.
With Caleb, we focus on the proper formation of the letter “w” by tracing it in the salt tray shown here. (You can read about our salt tray here.) I help guide his hand to show how to form the letter. Later, I let him make whatever designs he wants in the salt tray.
Caleb loved the weather stickers! He talked about all the types of weather shown on the stickers and had fun placing them exactly on the dots. (Note: If your toddler or preschooler has difficulty pulling the stickers off the sticker sheet, it helps to remove the sticky paper from around the stickers first.)
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 Weather Resources
- Free Weather Printables and Montessori-Inspired Weather Activities
- Montessori-Inspired Cloud Unit
- Montessori-Inspired Weather Unit
- Montessori-Inspired April Showers Activities with Free Printables
- Free Water Cycle Printables and Montessori-Inspired Water Cycle Activities
- Montessori-Inspired Weather Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}
- Montessori Winter Activities Printables for Preschool Through Elementary from Every Star Is Different (Includes some Spring Weather Activities, Too)
- Free Umbrella Do-a-Dot Phonics Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
- Free Sun Do-a-Dot Phonics Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
- Weather Unit Study Pinterest Board
Montessori-Inspired Weather Pack for DIY Cards and Counters, Number or Letter Matching, Number or Letter Basket, Bead Bar Work, Hands-on Math Operations, Number or Letter Salt/Sand Writing Tray, Letter Tracing, DIY Movable Alphabet, and Creative Writing (subscriber freebie, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password – or check your inbox if you’re already a subscriber).
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.
If this is your first time visiting Living Montessori Now, welcome! If you haven’t already, please join us on our Living Montessori Now Facebook page where you’ll find a Free Printable of the Day and lots of inspiration and ideas for parenting and teaching! And please follow me on Instagram, Pinterest (lots of Montessori-, holiday-, and theme-related boards), and YouTube. While you’re here, please check out the Living Montessori Now shop.
And don’t forget one of the best ways to follow me by signing up for my weekly newsletter. You’ll receive some awesome freebies in the process!
Leave a Reply