6 Letter O Activities for Pre-K by Literacy Skill

Choose a letter O activity for the skill you want to explore: finding O, matching O with o, hearing a beginning sound, or making the letter’s closed curve. These six invitations use hand-drawn cards and simple supplies—no printer or worksheet needed.

Start with one activity rather than working through all six. A child can participate by pointing, moving a card or following a model without having to write.

Prepare a small O kit

Gather paper, an adult marker, children’s crayons, and two trays or baskets. Adults can cut the cards and curved paper pieces beforehand. Keep cards large enough to handle easily; these activities do not need beads, buttons or food.

Draw top, middle and bottom writing lines on a model card, then write O o. Use plain lettering, with uppercase O reaching from the top to the bottom line and lowercase o sitting between the middle and bottom lines. Both have a closed, rounded curve, so show them together in context rather than teaching that every large circle is uppercase and every small circle is lowercase.

For the card games, begin with just a few letters. Reading Rockets’ alphabet-matching guidance recommends plain fonts and fewer letters for learners who are just beginning, and describes both same-case and uppercase-to-lowercase matching.

1. Find O among other letters

Skill focus: Letter recognition.

Materials and setup: Make four cards: two O cards, one C and one L. Place them face up on a table beside the O model.

1. Point to the model and say, “This letter is O.”
2. Invite the child to find a matching O and place it beside the model.
3. Shuffle the remaining cards and look for another O.
4. Compare O and C: “O closes all the way around. C has an opening.”

Simplify: Offer only O and L. Let the child hold the model beside each choice.

Extend: Try a separate set with lowercase o, c and l, or find a printed O in a book title or classroom label.

Checkpoint: Look for matching the letter, not simply finding something round. If a child points to a wheel, acknowledge the similar shape and return to the written O: “The wheel is round. Here is the letter O.”

2. Match O and o families

Skill focus: Connecting uppercase and lowercase forms.

Materials and setup: Write O o, C c and L l across a lined reference strip. Make separate cards for those six letters, with the same writing lines and letter heights as the strip.

1. Place the uppercase cards in a row.
2. Offer one lowercase card at a time.
3. Help the child use the reference strip to find its uppercase partner.
4. Name the completed pair: “Uppercase O and lowercase o. They are both the letter O.”

Simplify: First match O to another O, then o to another o. Introduce cross-case matching with the reference strip still visible.

Extend: Remove the reference strip for one turn, then bring it back whenever the child wants to check.

Checkpoint: Name the cases while pointing. Because O and o look alike, the reference strip and writing lines give children context that loose circles of different sizes do not.

3. Close the curve

Skill focus: Noticing O’s shape through letter building.

Materials and setup: Draw a large, thick O on paper. Cut a matching paper O band and divide it into two curved halves that can meet to cover the model.

1. Lay one curve over half of the model.
2. Invite the child to turn and move the second curve until the ends meet.
3. Follow the completed shape with a finger: “Around, and closed.”
4. Move one piece away and ask, “What changed?” Then rebuild O.

Simplify: Position both pieces almost correctly and invite the child to close the gaps.

Extend: Take away the background model and build O beside it. Try a smaller set for lowercase o, with the O o model card nearby.

Checkpoint: Joining the curve is the goal; gluing and decorating are unnecessary. For a separate art invitation, try these letter O art activities.

4. Trace, then try O

Skill focus: Exploring letter formation.

Materials and setup: Draw a large, single-line O on paper. Add a starting dot and an arrow showing the direction you will model. Provide a crayon and blank paper.

1. Model one continuous curve: “Start here, go around, and close.”
2. Invite the child to follow the path with a finger.
3. Offer a crayon for tracing, if they want it.
4. Let them try an O beside the model rather than filling a row.

For this model, start at the top and move left around the curve. If the child’s school uses a particular handwriting program, use its starting point and wording consistently.

Simplify: Stay with finger tracing or make a large O in the air together.

Extend: Add writing lines and model lowercase o between the middle and bottom lines, beside the taller uppercase O.

Checkpoint: Notice where the child begins and whether the curve closes. An uneven O is still something to discuss; perfect roundness is not the task.

5. Listen for short o

Skill focus: Beginning-sound listening linked to a written letter.

Materials and setup: Use pictures of an octopus, an ox, a sun and a fish. Draw them yourself or use pictures already available. Set out an O card and a blank sorting mat.

1. Name every picture together before sorting; introduce unfamiliar words.
2. Say “octopus” naturally, then isolate its beginning sound—not the letter name. Point to O: “O can represent this sound.”
3. Invite the child to place pictures with that same beginning sound by O. Put the others on the blank mat.
4. Say each word again together to check.

Use octopus and ox as short-o examples; the linked Cambridge entries provide UK and US pronunciations.

Simplify: Compare just octopus and sun, with the adult doing the naming and sound modeling.

Extend: Say the words without showing the pictures first, then reveal them to check.

Checkpoint: The letter name and short-o sound are different. Open begins with long o—the letter-name sound—so save it for a later comparison rather than putting it in this short-o group. Cambridge’s pronunciation of open makes that contrast clear. Use your natural pronunciation rather than asking children to imitate an unfamiliar accent.

6. Deliver the O mail

Skill focus: Recognizing O and o during pretend play.

Materials and setup: Label one basket O o and another C c. Prepare paper “mail” cards marked O, o, C or c, with writing lines as in Activity 2 and a reference strip nearby.

1. Invite the child to be the mail carrier.
2. Hand over one card and help them name its letter.
3. Let them carry it to the matching basket.
4. Check the delivery together and swap roles.

Simplify: Play seated with two trays and only uppercase cards.

Extend: Mix uppercase and lowercase cards, or invite the child to label new mail by copying from the reference strip.

Safety: If children walk between baskets, keep the route clear and the baskets stable. Make it a delivery game, not a race.

After a few turns, note what was comfortable and what needed a model: finding O, matching O/o, hearing short o or closing the curve. Use that observation to choose the next invitation, rather than treating the six activities as a checklist.