It can be hard to come up with new and exciting ideas to teach literacy skills to students. So if you are in a slump or here to try something new, I have some fabulous pre-writing, fine motor, & literacy light table ideas for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten students.
Find more of my favorite light table play items on my Light Table Amazon List.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I earn a tiny commission when you use my links at no cost to you.
Literacy Light Table Ideas
Letter Match Light Table! I grabbed these clear plastic plates from the dollar store and wrote letters on them. Then, I set out all kinds of letter manipulatives for the students to sort and match to the correct plate. The small colored circles are bingo chips with letters written on them. I also set out squishy letters, and translucent letter manipulatives. Your students will love these different ways to practice letters.
Letter Tracing Mats! Make your own letter mats with laminated tissue paper. Students can use manipulatives or dry erase markers on the lamination and the light shines through the tissue paper beautifully! I set out bug manipulatives and magnetic bingo chips for my students to use to make the letters. I love using magnetic bingo chips because they are easy to clean up with a magnet wand!
Themed Letter Matching Light Tables! Create a fun letter-matching activity for any theme with colored masking tape! This Christmas themed letter matching activity is simple to make and had students working on letter recognition with a fun theme! They can match any letter manipulatives that you have in your classroom. I make the circle letter manipulatives by writing letters on bingo chips. This light panel activity is a great way to change up the theme but keep the same learning target.
Sports Letters Light Table! Use printables that you already have in your classroom on the light table to reengage students in an activity or skill. Students matched DIY water bottle lid letters to the letter mats. Write the letters on dot stickers and place them on water bottle lids to make these letter manipulatives.
Letter Mats Light Table! Laminate printables so you can use dry-erase markers with them on the light table. Students can use translucent manipulatives to make it more fun on the light table. I have tons of themed translucent manipulatives on this Amazon list.
Letter Match Printables! Use letter games on the light table, too! These letter matching mats and beginning sounds mats are from the Spring Math and Literacy Centers. I used them during small group time to introduce how to use them. Then, I placed them on the light table for an engaging literacy activity. Students used these letter manipulatives.
Build a Letter Light Table! Use letter building manipulatives to have students practice letter formation. Some years, my students LOVE these letter-building manipulatives and other years, they have no interest, so be prepared to pick something else if that happens. You can find the FREE letter cards here.
Letter Sorting Activity! Use a clear tray to make a sorting board. I used colored masking tape and a dry-erase marker to make the board. Then, students sorted the letters and the numbers. Use any manipulatives or sorting categories to fit your theme, like colors, shapes, living & nonliving, letters in my name and not in my name, letters with curves or straight lines, etc.
Literacy Light Table Ideas for Names
Name Building Light Table! Make name mats for the light table by writing inside a lamination pouch and running it through the laminator to seal. Then, students can use dry erase markers, playdoh, or manipulatives to practice their name. Some manipulatives I love are magnetic bingo chips, gems, jewels, pony beads, and little cars. My students love to use the cars to trace their names!
Name Match! Make these name cards for your classroom. I love to make 2 sets, one uppercase and one sentence case. Then, I glue them together so students have both options for the year. Then give students letter manipulatives to spell their names and their friends’ names.
Make Names on the Light Table! Write inside a lamination pouch to make name mats for the light table. Then, use manipulatives to match your themes, like gems, icicle ornaments, beads, and pipe cleaners. Students build names while practicing letter identification and letter formation.
Rain Names! Write student names on laminated tissue paper shapes to match your theme, and then give them manipulatives to spell their names. I wrote letters on glass gems to make raindrops for students to spell their names with. Change it up by writing vocabulary words or sight words on the shapes so that students can practice those literacy skills.
Literacy Light Table Ideas for Spelling
Vocabulary Words on the Light Table! Use word cards from your writing center on the light table. Students will practice letter recognition, letter formation, and beginning spelling skills to make these words with manipulatives. The manipulatives pictured are water bottle lids with dot sticker letters on them. Check out this post for more DIY letter manipulative ideas!
Word Families on the Light Table! Use translucent or clear plastic plates on the light table. I wrote word endings on the plates, and students used letter manipulatives to make words. Give them a recording sheet to write their word families down if you want to make it more challenging.
Pre-Writing Skills on the Light Table
Sand Trays on the Light Table! These clear, plastic trays are from the dollar store, and they are perfect for writing trays! I add in a little dyed salt or sand and glitter or sprinkles for more texture, but they aren’t necessary. Then, make some different lines on strips of paper. Students use their fingers or a pom pom to draw the line in the writing tray. Then a couple small shakes to clear the tray and pick another one.
Building Lines on the Light Table! Make pre-writing line mats for the light table by writing inside a lamination pouch and running it through the laminator to seal. Give students dry-erase markers and manipulatives to trace the lines. Find TONS of light table manipulatives on this Amazon list.
Pre-Writing Lines Trace! I love using themed manipulatives to engage students in an activity they may have already done. Find more manipulatives here!
Play Dough Lines! Don’t forget about using play dough on the light table! Also, be sure to practice horizontal and vertical lines when developing writing skills. Students need to practice all sorts of movements and strokes during the pre-writing phase.
Fall Letter Writing! Use a writing tray with a paintbrush on the light table. Use some letter card printables to give students a task on the light box. Learn how I dye salt to use for my writing trays here.
Writing Printables! Use any writing printables on the light table! They can see through them while they trace letters. I put mine in a dry-erase pocket so the whole class could take turns. Some students used writing trays, while others completed the writing printables.
Cutting Practice on the Light Table
Cutting Practice! Create a cutting activity at your light table with strips of tissue paper and wax paper. The light shines through the tissue paper so beautifully! It is such a fun way for students to work on cutting skills, color identification, gluing skills, social skills, hand-eye coordination, crossing the midline, and more. Your little kids are going to love these new ways to do open-ended art projects in your preschool classroom.
Scissor Skills Light Table! Use up your scraps of paper on the light table by giving students scissors and hole punches to strengthen fine motor skills. Add hole punches, silly scissors, regular ones, and bounce back scissors for all the levels in your classroom.
Cutting Craftivities on the Light Table! Use tissue paper to make a cutting craftivity more light table friendly. Students cut the strips into squares and glue them to the template that is printed on regular copy paper. Putting a craft on the light table is a fun idea to make it more exciting for young children.
Lacing Activities on the Light Table
Roll & Lace Activities! Add math skills with your fine motor lacing activity for a double whammy! Students roll a die and lace that many pony beads onto a pipe cleaner. I used this during a winter theme, so I had pipe cleaner snowflakes with wintery colors, but you could change it to match your theme. Some students worked on just lacing, others worked on color sorting, and others worked on patterns. To differentiate even more, give students dice to roll and count. Then, they only add that amount of beads to the snowflake. Make it even more challenging by practicing addition with 2 dice.
Silly Straws Lacing! Head to the dollar store to grab some silly straws, regular straws, and wide straws (for smoothies). Then, cut up the large straws and regular straws into smaller pieces. Students will lace the straw pieces onto the silly straws. This is great for fine motor development, hand-eye coordination, counting, patterns, and so much more. The light box shines through the colorful straws for an inviting learning environment. Other loose parts could be added, too, and if you don’t have silly straws, pipe cleaners are great for lacing on.
Color Lacing! Use these cute polar bear lacing cards to make a lacing game on the light table. Students will match the pony beads to the color on the bear. Then, lace the bead on the pipe cleaner scarf. Lacing is great fine motor work for early childhood education!
Loose Parts Sorting! Create a color sorting activity with heart cut-outs and these fun plastic ice cubes. I also set out pom poms and heart gems for the students to sort by color. I like to keep the chocolate heart candy trays for sensory play. Loose parts from around your preschool classroom work great for color sorts because there are different textures, items, and colors. This is a fantastic activity for fine motor development.
Using the light table for literacy skills is a wonderful way to engage students in these vital skills. You can use activities that are brand new or that the students are familiar with, but by putting them on the light table with new materials, they will be excited to learn.
Be sure to check the blog for more light table ideas!
Check out this video for summer light table ideas!
Love these literacy light table ideas? Pin this image!
hey, i’m jackie!
I’m Jackie, your go-to girl for early childhood inspiration and research-based curriculum.