Is It A Letter Or A Number? (with modification)

I have to admit that I absolutely love Preschool Packs. These are collections of activities that, typically, revolve around a specific theme. So, when I am trying to come up with something to do with kiddos about, say, Valentine's Day, I can find myself a Valentine's Preschool Pack and I'll be set for quite some time. I recently found the activities available on the Gift Of Curiosity website. There's a wealth of great stuff for little ones, there. And, for Valentine's Day, there is a Preschool Pack. Page 29 of this pack has a fantastic Number/Letter activity that will go a long way toward understanding difference between written numerals and written letters, visual discrimination practice, fine motor work, and then some. I had a quick tip that parents and teachers could add on to this activity that might help kiddos who aren't necessarily picking up on the concepts on their own. You can get the pack to follow along, here:

Valentine's Printable Pack

MODIFICATIONS: In this activity, the child is asked to follow a trail of numbers only to help the stamp get to the envelope. But, what to do when a child is truly having a great deal of difficulty distinguishing between letter and numbers. My first thought was to take another sheet of paper, draw a line across the middle, and write the numbers from 1-20 in the top section and the alphabet in the bottom section. This, however, was not the best plan for a bunch of reasons. Then, I started to think to myself, what is the difference between letters and numbers? Well, letters make sounds and are used to form words. Number are used to count. Why not put small dots (corresponding to the written number in the circle) in the circles with the numbers. Then, go ahead and write a word in each of the circles with a letter that begins with the letter that is in the circle in the first place. That should go a long way toward helping a child distinguish between the letters and the numbers and truly teach them the purpose of both!