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

Seasonal activities are both fun and important for toddlers and preschoolers. Our free winter do-a-dot printable is a helpful activity to focus on both the concept of winter and the phonetic sound /w/ for winter. As usual, the winter do-a-dot phonics 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 printables is a winter photograph that helps children identify a winter landscape.
• 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 Winter Do-a-Dot Phonics Printable

To download the winter 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 Winter Do-a-Dot Printable

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

Letter W Do-a-Dot Winter Snowflake Punch and Gluing Tray

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 /w/ sound, while an older child could trace the letters, and build the word “winter” with the Montessori movable alphabet. I also use it to introduce the cursive letter “w.” I don’t use a font or phonogram card with young toddlers, but it’s great for preschoolers on up. The font card is from our Montessori-Inspired Winter Pack (subscriber freebie)

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 (as I have in this simple setup).

Again, 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 /w/ sound in winter while an older child could focus on the er phonogram in winter, and build the word with the movable alphabet. I often like to have more than one font card and a phonogram card if available. I love this toddler-safe wooden display from Montessori Services for showing three cards at once. (The cards are from our subscriber library Montessori-Inspired Winter Pack.)

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

Winter Books, Phonemic Awareness Activity, and Gluing Work

I like to start with books for our theme. I usually start with nonfiction winter books and gradually add on fiction books, mainly Montessori-friendly books with toddlers and young preschoolers.

Caleb is now 25 months old, and Sophia is 2 years old (26 months old). 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 “winter.”

For a phonics lesson with young toddlers, I might casually say that months 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, “Winter, /w/, winter.”

Caleb and Sophia are starting work with sandpaper letters, 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 letters for our current unit (which is the first two letter sounds right now!).

This time, we used a snowflake punch. The one I got was a bit too hard to use for toddlers, even when they’re standing, so my 6-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, punched out some snowflakes for the toddlers.

Caleb did the work gluing paper snowflakes onto the dots first. I love how excited he is in the photo above. He actually had to stop and clap a bit!

Later, Sophia did the work, and Caleb returned to his work with a firetruck book. (Caleb is a true book lover who is often found studying a book or carrying one with him!)

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 /w/ 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 Winter Resources

Amazon Affiliate:

• Free Winter Printables and Montessori-Inspired Winter Activities
• Montessori Winter Resources for Classroom or Home
• Montessori Winter Activities Printables for Preschool Through Elementary from Every Star Is Different
• Montessori-Inspired Snowman Color Activities Using Free Printables
• Montessori-Inspired Snowman Letter Activities Using Free Printables
• Montessori-Inspired Winter Activities
• Montessori-Inspired Winter Playdough Activities
• Montessori-Inspired Winter Math Activities
• 25+ Snow-Themed Sensory Tubs
• Free Mitten Printables and Montessori-Inspired Mitten Activities
• Free Winter Songs and Rhymes for Circle Time
• Simple Snowman Sensory Bin {A Fun Way to Work on Essential Skills for Toddlers and Preschoolers
• Free Snowman Printables and Montessori-Inspired Snowman Activities
• Montessori-Inspired Winter Themes and Activities
• Teaching Toddlers about Winter with the Montessori 3-Period Lesson and Activities
• Free Snowflake Printables and Montessori-Inspired Snowflake Activities
• The Snowy Day Eggshell Crushing and Pin Poking Activity
• Montessori-Inspired Winter Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}
• Free Winter Playdough Math Pack (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
• Montessori-Inspired Playdough Math Activities for Winter {Free Printables}
• Simple Winter Practical Life Activities
• How to Prepare a Simple Winter Playdough Tray with Super-Soft Playdough
• Free Winter Sports Printables and Montessori-Inspired Winter Sports Activities
• Free Winter Sports Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
• Free Winter Sports Do-a-Dot Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
• Kids’ Winter 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). 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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