My son started showing an interest in letters at a very young age. While he was interested I wanted to jump at the opportunity to teach him his letters and sounds as they are the foundation of learning. Once he had mastered recognizing all of his letters, I knew we were ready to move on to learning the sounds. When it came to learning his sounds I used kinesthetic motions to go along with each sound. I used these motions to help teach my Kindergarten kiddos, so I knew that they were tried and true.
A kinesthetic learner is also known as a tactile learner, a hands-on learner or a do-er. Most young children learn best while “doing”. When you put a motion with each sound they have something tangible to go with the sound of the letter and the visual of the letter.
When your child gets stumped on a letter sound you can use the kinesthetic motion (without saying the sound) as a clue to help them jog their memory as to what the sound is.
Make these movements while saying the letter sounds.
A – Cry like a baby
B – Bouncing a ball
C – Snip fingers like you are cutting
D – Digging dirt
E – Hand by ear like can’t hear
F – Fish fins near face
G – Motion like drinking from a cup (gulping)
H – Feel breath on hand
I – itching
J – Jump up
K – Kick
L – Lick a lollipop
M – Rub tummy (yummmy)
N – Point pointer like you are saying “No”
O – Opera voice with hand clasped like an Opera Singer
P – Push outwards with hands
Q – Hand makes quacking motion
R – Pirate noise similar to “argh” with pointer finger in a hook
S – Move hands like snake
T – 1 finger moves back and forth like Tick-Tock
U – Punch (lightly) in the stomach
V – Vroom Vroom on a motorcycle
W – Wiggle 3 fingers
X – Opening a coke can
Y – Scrunch nose and make a “yucky” face
Z – Move hand like zipping a jacket
These are perfect for my little one. Thank you so much.
Thank you for this resource! I’ve been teaching KDG and have struggled with the Q! I searched online and your list came up right away! Love the quacking motion!Thank you!
I used to show your video for the kinesthetic letter motions in my class daily. I can’t find the video anymore. Is there a way you can send me the video?
Hi Alicia! Thank you for letting us know that this video had disappeared from our website. We’ve been able to reupload it and you can once again view it.