15 EASY Letter D Activities (2023)
Are you looking for activities to practice the letter D?
I have 15 engaging activities that will help your child learn about the letter D! These activities are perfect to use in the classroom, or you can do them right at home! These play-based learning strategies will have your kids hooked on each activity!
Giving your student or child the opportunity to learn one letter at a time will help them remember each letter. By doing these fun activities, your child will create memories of each letter!
Let’s dive into my exciting activities to learn the letter D!
Activity #1: Letter Collages
Letter collages are a great way to practice letter recognition! Focusing on one specific letter and creating something special will help them recognize and remember the letter.
For the letter D, we made donuts! Who doesn’t love donuts?! Bringing their interests into learning is HUGE to get them engaged in the activity.
There are a lot of different options for the letter D. Some other options are to create a D for dinosaur duck, or dog!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
B. Set-up
On a brown piece of construction paper, create a bubble letter D. Then, make another D using pink cardstock paper and cut it down to be smaller so it looks like frosting.
C. Activity
Have the kids glue down the frosting to the brown paper! Then, have them glue on pipe cleaners to frosting! Make the sound the letter D makes and have them repeat it. You can also have them try to come up with other words that make the same beginning sound as a donut!
RELATED: Simple Letter A Activities!
Activity #2: Do-A-Dot Letter Search
Who doesn’t love mess-free art?! Do-A-Dot paint markers pretty mess-free as long as your little one doesn’t wipe them all over their hand, wishful thinking, right?!
This printable is a perfect way to let you know if your little one can differentiate letters!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- FREE Do-A-Dot Letter Printables
- Do-A-Dot markers
B. Set-up
Print off the pages and get the paint markers ready!
C. Activity
Your little ones with use the paint markers to place a dot on only the letter D. See if they can find all the letter D’s on their own. To extend the learning, have them count how many letter D’s they found on the sheets.
RELATED: Teaching Resources
Activity #3: Dot Sticker Letter Sort
So this activity isn’t just for the letter D, it involves several other letters that it tends to get mixed up with.
The letters d, b, p, and q are tricky to differentiate for little ones. This activity is a fun hands-on way to practice these tough letters.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- easel paper
- dot stickers
- Sharpie
B. Set-up
On a piece of easel paper, write the letters b,d,q, and p. Create 4 different sections by drawing a giant plus sign on the easel paper. You can put it on the wall, or you can do it on the floor. Then, use a Sharpie to write the letters on dot stickers!
C. Activity
Have the kids peel off the stickers and place them in the correct box, as you see above! You can practice upper and lower case letters or just focus on one group.
RELATED: Alphabet Activities for Preschoolers
Activity #4: Find and Cover
A great manipulative to use for hands-on learning activities are counting cubes! There are so many ways these can be used.
One of the ways I love to use them is by doing a Find and Cover activity! This is an activity that focuses on one letter at a time. It also focuses on both the upper and lower case letter.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- Find and Cover printable
- counting cubes
Click HERE for your Find had Cover Letter Printables.
B. Set-up
Print off the letter D and any other letter you want to work on with your little one.
C. Activity
Have your child identify the letter. Then, have them tell you which one is upper case and which one is lower case. Explain to them what a key means. Show them that they are to look at the key to see what color represents the upper and lower case letters.
They should place that colored counting cube on the correct letters!
RELATED: ABCDeeLearning’s Teacher’s Pay Teacher’s Store
Activity #5: Play-Doh Letter Building
Whenever I pull out the Play-Doh, the kids play for it for at least a half-hour. You know, that’s kind of a big deal right? Most of the time it’s longer than that, but at least a half-hour!
Since Play-Doh is so engaging for kids, it makes for a wonderful learning activity!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- My Letter Play-Doh mats
- Play-doh
- dry erase folders
Click HERE to grab your Letter Play-Doh Mats! (Upper and Lower case letter included)
B. Set-up
Print off the letters that you want to work on! Then, place them inside a dry-erase folder for your little ones to build on. This way it won’t get the sheet dirty and you can save and redo it repeatedly.
C. Activity
Your little ones should roll and create the letters using Play-Doh. You can have them match the colors that are on the sheet or you can use whatever color you’d like. They should try to create the letter by following the lines!
RELATED: 15 SIMPLE Letter C Activities
Activity #6: Salt Painting
Have you ever tried salt painting? It always turns out SO pretty!
Kids love watching the paint flow throughout the salt. It’s a relaxing way to paint, and the kids will love trying a new way to create art.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- cardboard
- pencil
- glue
- salt
- watercolors
- paintbrush
- art tray
B. Set-up
On your piece of cardboard, draw the letter A with a pencil. Then, outline the letter in glue. Make sure to place the cardboard on an art tray for the next part! Shake a whole bunch of salt all over the glue, then dump the access in the trash.
*You have to let the glue dry before you start painting, or else it will be REALLY messy!*
C. Activity
Have your little ones use the watercolor paints to paint the salt! It looks terrific, too, when you mix different colors throughout the letter.
Activity #7: Secret Letters
Kids love the element of surprise! Who doesn’t? I still do!
Secret letter activities are really engaging for kids because they can’t see the letters on the paper, so when they paint over the piece of paper, they will see letters magically pop up!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
B. Set-up
On a white piece of cardstock, use a white crayon to write the letter D all over the paper. You can do upper and lower case or just focus on one.
C. Activity
Your kiddo will use watercolors to paint all over the paper. They will see the letters start to pop up! If you mixed upper and lower case letters, make sure to ask them which kind they found.
When you are all done, ask them how many they found! Also, you can talk about the colors that they used for color recognition.
RELATED: How to Teach your Toddler Colors
Activity #8: Beginning Sounds
Talking about animals or objects that start with the letter D will help bring the letter to life for your little one.
These beginning letter worksheets are a perfect way to show your little one some fun things that start with the letter D!
How to do this activity:
A. Materials you need
2. Set-up
Print off the worksheet and grab your crayons!
3. Activity
Go through each of the objects or animals that are inside the letter D. Say the name of each thing and make each object’s beginning sound before saying the whole word. This will help your little one understand the starting sound of each picture they see.
They will color each thing that starts with the letter D!Â
I have beginning sound sheets for each letter of the alphabet! Create a booklet to go over each of the sounds that the letters make. This will make for a great resource to use repeatedly.
RELATED: Teaching ResourcesÂ
Activity #9: Dinosaur Print Painting
Using dinosaurs to paint? What?! Yes, it’s a thing and it’s awesome.
My kids have always been into dinosaurs! Since D is for dinosaur, I figured this would be a wonderful way to have some stuff while learning about the letter.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- Free Letter D Printable
- washable paint
- white cardstock paper
- toy dinosaurs
- art tray
Click HERE to Grab your FREE Letter D- Dino Painting Printable
B. Set-up
Print out the letter D sheet. Tape the printable on the art tray. Then dump some paint out that you want to use.
C. Activity
Have the kids dip the dinosaurs’ feet into the paint. Then, they will make prints all around the letter D! You can also work on the sound the letter D makes with this activity.
Activity #10: Letter D Scavenger Hunt
Do you kids like to sit and learn all the time, or do you think they would love to move and learn?
I was a physical education teacher for 10 years, so I know in most cases, kids love movement and want to be active while they learn and not just sit!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- painter’s tape
- hula hoop
- letter D objects
B. Set-up
With painter’s tape, make the letter D on the floor. Then, place a hula hoop over that letter!
C. Activity
Have your little ones go around the house and find objects that start with the letter D. If you have a younger one, place the objects out around the house so it’ll be easier for them to find. If you have an older one, challenge them to search for these objects and figure out which things would start with the letter D.
RELATED: Entertaining Indoor Activities For Kids
Activity #11: Dinosaur Sensory
I’m sure most of you have played hide and seek with your little ones. They love it don’t they? It seems all children love searching and finding things!
Kinetic sand is one of my all-time favorite sensory fillers. It works perfectly in this dinosaur dig activity!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- kinetic sand
- Letter D printables
- toy dinosaurs
- sensory bin
- plastic eggs
Click HERE to grab your Letter D Dinosaur Sorting Activity
Want 15% off your order? Use the discount code ABCDEE at checkout! Click here to check out Safari LTD. Products!
B. Set-up
In a sensory bin, add kinetic sand and dinosaurs! Print off the letter mats and the eggs. Cut out the amount of upper and lower case D’s that you want to place inside the eggs. Fill the eggs up and place them inside the bin.
C. Activity
Have the kids break open the eggs and place them on the correct upper or lower case letter mats. Have them identify the to you if it’s and upper or lower case d! After they are done, they can play with the kinetic sand, dinosaurs and plastic eggs! It’s a great sensory activity.
RELATED: The BEST Sensory Bins for Kids
Activity #12: Letter Sprinkle Sweep
When are sprinkles not a good idea?
When you mention that sprinkles are involved in a learning activity, I promise your kids are going to come bounding in ready to see what’s going on.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
B. Set-up
On a piece of cardstock paper, write a big bubble letter D. Place a tray underneath the paper to help with the mess.
C. Activity
Dump a bunch of cookie sprinkles onto the tray. Ask your little one to use the paintbrush to “sweep” the sprinkles into the letter. They will use as many sprinkles as they need to to try to fill in as much of the letter as they can!
This is an excellent activity to work on fine motor skills and letter recognition, and pre-writing skills!
RELATED: FUN Handwriting Activities For Kids
Activity #13: LEGO Letters
Got a kiddo who loves to use building with blocks? This activity will be right up their alley!
LEGO’s are an open-ended toy that I absolutely love using for learning activities. The possibilities are endless when it comes to using them!
Building letters is just one way that they can be used! This is a wonderful hands-on learning activity that helps kids understand how each letter shape is formed!
How to do this activity:
A. Materials you need
B. Set-up
Print off the sheets and grab your LEGO’s
C. Activity
Your child will use the blocks that you have to create the letter D. You can have them use little or DUPLO blocks for this activity. This activity asks them to identify what each letter is they create and how many blocks it took for them to create the letter. If you decide to do more letters than just D, they can see the letters’ differences!
RELATED: The BEST Open-Ended Toys For Kids
Activity #14: Popsicle Stick Letter Building
Building letters with popsicle sticks work on SO many different learning skills.
This specific activity works on letter recognition, counting skills, STEM skills, and pre-writing skills! It’s perfect for school centers or just for home learning!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- CLICK HERE FOR My popsicle stick letter cards
- popsicle sticks
- pencil
B. Set-up
Print off the letter cards and grab the popsicle sticks!
C. Activity
Your kids will use the cards to help them know how to create each letter! Count how many popsicle sticks it takes to create the letters.
RELATED: My 10 Favorite Learning Supplies
Activity #15: Color Coding Letters
Want to try a beginner color-coding activity that’s perfect for preschoolers? I love that it works on several skills with just 1 easy set up as well!Â
This activity works on color recognition, color matching, number recognition, and letter building! Wow, that’s pretty amazing if you ask me.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- cardboard
- plastic bottle caps
- Sharpie
- dot stickers
- pom poms
- kid-friendly tweezers
B. Set-up
Inside the bottle caps, place a dot sticker with the numbers 1-3 written on them. Older children can have more numbers and colors!
Create the letter D on the cardboard with the bottle caps in a mixed-up order. Write what each number signifies on the side, you can use a pom too for younger ones. Older kiddos can work on color sight word recognition.
C. Activity
Have your child use the key to place the correct colored pom in each bottle cap to create the letter D! This works on letter building, color recognition, and number recognition!
Want to add in some fine motor skills? Have them use tweezers to pick up and place the poms inside the caps!Â
RELATED: FUN Fine Motor Activities for Kids
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
Individual letter activities are a fantastic way for kids to really grasp letter recognition of each letter of the alphabet! Doing some of these activities will help your little ones remember each letter of the alphabet.
To go along with these activities, I suggest reviewing the alphabet letters once a day for at least 5 minutes. That’s it! 5 minutes is all it takes if you consistently go over the information with them; you’re going to see how they can pick up the information if repeated daily.
Do you have a favorite activity that you do in your classroom or at home with your kids for the letter D? Our community would love to hear about it! We all benefit from sharing our teaching strategies and activities. Leave a comment below to let us know about some ways you like to teach the letter D.
Happy Learning!
