Overview
The children will wash and dry a special dish as they recognize and name the letter D.

Literacy Activities
Dirty Dishes

• Write the letter D on a whiteboard, name the letter, and have the children write the D in the air with their fingers.
• Show the children a dish with a D written on it and help the children identify the letter.
• Demonstrate and then invite the children to help make the dish dirty by writing the letter D all over it in multiple colors using washable markers.
• Invite the children to spray water droplets on the dish to make it damp. Tip the dish and observe the letters D as the drops drip down the dish.
• Dry the dish and watch the colorful letters disappear.
• Invite all of the children to make the dish damp again, then take turns sprinkling a little dirt on the dish to make it double dirty!
• Spray water droplets to clean it, then dry the dish with a towel.
• Encourage the children to repeat the activity as many times as desired.

More Practice
Write the target letter

• Hold up a dish with a D written on it, and ask the children to name the letter on the dish.
• Ask the children to write a D on a sticky note. Stick the note to a dish that you will display in the classroom as a reminder of the day you all made dirty dishes.
• Have the children write a letter D on other sticky notes that they can stick on their shirts, jackets, and backpacks to remind them to share about Dirty Dish Day at school.