Activities for alphabets

26 Easy, Fun Alphabet Activities That Give Kids the Practice They Need

Alphabet activities make learning your ABCs more fun. There are so many ways to practice your ABCs, you might be able to do one alphabet activity a day for a year without repeating. We’ve gathered over 25 super fun alphabet activities so kids can play and learn every day.

1. Write letters on dried beans

Large dried white beans are inexpensive to purchase and easy to write on. Grab a sharpie and write all the upper and lower case letters on them. Then put each set in a pile (or baggie) and ask your kids to match them.

2. Letter sort with sticky notes

Write individual letters on sticky notes and then place them all over your house or just on every stair in a staircase. This practice game has a lot of variations—all tied to sorting. Ask kids to sort by:

• lowercase
• uppercase
• letters in their name
• straight lines (H)
• curved lines (c)
• both curved and straight lines (B)
• consonants
• vowels

For even more practice: have them sort their finds into ABC order, match lowercase letters to uppercase letters, and then, find a way to sort them that’s new.

3. Write letters in shaving cream

Squirt shaving cream on a table and let your kids write letters in the cream. Smoothe it out to erase and start again. Bonus: their hands and your table will be cleaner than ever!

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Source: Rose and Rex

4. Bend letters with pipe cleaners

Pipe cleaners have always been a trusted source of good fine motor practice as well as a fun craft resource. Now use them to have kids create uppercase and lower case letters.

Learn more: make and takes

5. Make sensory ABC bags

This one is great because you can change up what you put in here and even move to sight words. You’ll need a gallon bag with a ziplock top. Add letters written on pieces of paper, magnetic letters, scrabble tiles, or anything else you can think of with letters. Then fill the bag with rice or oatmeal and seal it. Kids dig through the rice through the bag to find the letters. When they find them, they write down the letter they find until they locate all 26 letters of the alphabet.

For more sensory ideas: Little Bins Little Hands

6. Find invisible letters with watercolors

This is a classic. Using a white crayon, draw letters on a piece of white paper. Give your kids watercolor, let them paint the paper, and watch the letters appear.

Learn more: Gift of Curiosity

7. Play musical alphabet

Set up letters in a big circle on the floor. You can use magnetic letters or just write them on index cards. Put music on and have your child walk around the circle to the music. When the music goes off, your child tells you the closest letter. Expand on it: ask your child to name three things (colors, animals, etc) that start with that letter.

8. Sponge the alphabet

Cut sponges into letters and use them for sponge painting letters or playing in the tub.

Learn more: Learning 4 Kids

9.

Write the upper and lower case letters in a name and then cut them apart in a simple zigzag. Mix up the letters and ask a child to match them up and put them in the right order.

10. Make letters from nature

Find the alphabet right outside. Choose natural objects that already look like letters, or arrange them to look like them.

To learn more: Right Brained Mom

11. Eat your ABCs

We know from Alphabet Soup that eating your ABCs is plain old fun. So think of all the ways you can practice the alphabet at mealtime. Pancakes can be made into letters, jello can be cut into letters, and noodles can be used to make letters (just to name a few).

Learn more: Parent Map

12. Go on an alphabet scavenger hunt

The fun part about this for grown-ups is that there is no prep. Tell kids to go find objects that start with each letter of the alphabet. To make this game take longer, designate spots for them to bring each item back—one at a time. Every item must be approved before they can move on to the next. This allows for fewer meltdowns at the end when an item is deemed inaccurate.

13. Make your own ABC book

Personalizing the ABCs helps kids process and retain their learning. One of our favorite alphabet activities starts by creating a book out of 26 pieces of paper and staples or hole punches and a ribbon. Have kids write an uppercase and lowercase letter on each page. Finally, have them draw or cut out pictures of things that start with each letter. Voila!

Learn more: Teach Mama

14. Create ABC popup books

Use the following tutorial video to learn how to make different kinds of pop up pages. Then, create a page per week for 26 weeks for each letter. At the end, use a glue stick to glue them all together to make an ABC popup book!

15. Stamp letters in playdough

Roll out playdough and push letter stamps right into the dough. This is both tactile and great for practicing ABCs.

Learn more: I can teach my child

16. Make tactile letter cards

There’s lots of research (and experience) to support the value of using all the senses to learn. Making these tactile alphabet cards will be fun and have lasting benefits.

Learn more: All About Learning

17. Trace letters in spices

This one combines touch, smell, and sight. It gives you an opportunity to talk about what we uses spices for as well. Put the bottle in front of a child and have them write the spice name in the spice to make things a bit more challenging.

Source: Frog in a Pocket

18. Study a letter of the week

Many PreK and Kindergarten classes do a letter of the week, and for good reason. Teachers all share that instant recognition of letters and practice writing them is so important for learning to read. Doing alphabet activities for one letter each week reinforces knowledge and recollection.

For weekly activities: Preschool Mom

19. Do the yoga alphabet

Show kids this video and take the time to learn each yoga pose. Connecting the mind and the body is great for learning.

20. Sing songs about the alphabet

Everyone loves to sing the alphabet song, but did you know there are lots of other songs to sing that can help you remember the alphabet? Try out this Sesame Street favorite:

21. Draw pictures from letters

Using letters as a starting point, teach kids how to draw. If this is too difficult at first, just write a letter and then draw a picture around the letter.

Learn more: Felt Magnet

22. Highlight letters on a page

Print a page of text or grab your favorite magazine and a highlighter. Ask kids to highlight as many of one letter as they can find. This is also great for sight word recognition.

Here’s a freebie from The Inspired Apple to get you started.

23.

These dot markers make tracing letters more fun and help kids with directionality and remembering how to write and recognize letters.

Free Dot tracing sheets: DTLK’s Educational Activities for Kids

24. Play letter slap

Make 2 sets of index cards with all the letters on them (52 cards in all). Shuffle the cards together and deal them so each kid holds 26 cards. Together each player takes their top card and turns it upright. The player with the letter closest to A wins the hand and takes the card. If two of the same letter are played, the players slap the card. The one on the bottom of the slip wins the hand. The game ends when one player holds all the cards.

25. Match plastic Easter egg letters

Surely you have some plastic Easter eggs hanging around your attic. Use a Sharpie or letter stickers to put an uppercase letter on one half and a lowercase letter on the other. Then separate the two and throw them all in a basket. Kids pull them out and match them up. Tip: Add difficulty by not coordinating the colors.

Learn more: Crystal and Co.

26. Create loose part letters

What are loose parts? Loose parts are exactly what they sound like—a collection of loose materials or objects. These can be small pebbles, bottle caps, random LEGO bricks, seeds, keys, anything. Draw big letters on a piece of paper and have kids line up loose parts to make the letter.

Recognizing letters is a fundamental part of learning how to read. Without it, children struggle to learn letter sounds and identify words. Beginning readers who know their alphabet have a much easier time learning to read. Making alphabet practice a part of every day in fun ways helps create a lifelong love for letters and words.

What games and activities do you like to use for practicing the alphabet?

Plus, our favorite activities using alphabet beads and the best alphabet books.

100+ Alphabet Activities that Kids Love

This is a list of the best preschool alphabet activities we've done! They are all fun, hands-on ways to teach the alphabet and letter sounds!

My son enjoyed all of these fun, active and hands-on letter learning activities.

Alphabet Activities for Kids

I love that there are an infinite amount of ways to teach the alphabet to preschoolers and kindergarteners.

There are alphabet games, fine motor activities like play dough mats, clip cards, crafts and so many other fun, hands-on ways to teach the alphabet.

Forget the flashcards and try some of this engaging alphabet activities instead!

Alphabet Skills

This list covers a variety of alphabet learning skills such as:

• letter identification
• letter sounds
• uppercase and lowercase matching
• beginning sounds isolation
• letter formation

We are always adding more alphabet and letter sounds printables and activities to our site, so stay tuned for even more alphabet activities that will engage your kids and make learning and teaching the alphabet fun!

You may also like this alphabet activities printable bundle. It is jam-packed with engaging ways to teach the alphabet to your students!

Get the Alphabet Activities Printable Bundle

These alphabet printables and activities are perfect for preschool and kindergarten students. They cover letter recognition, letter sounds, uppercase and lowercase matching, beginning sounds isolation and more!

With over 300 pages of printable alphabet activities, this printable pack is sure to keep the kids engaged!

Click the button below to head over to the purchase page.

Keep scrolling to find our big list of free alphabet and letter sounds printables!

Alphabet Activities for Kids and Preschoolers

Since I have so many preschool alphabet activities on my blog and I am going to be adding even more, I made this page to keep all the posts together and easy to access for my readers.

I will continue to add my new activities to this page, so you can always come back and find them here.

I hope this will be a huge resource for you! Make sure you pin or bookmark this page, so you can revisit as needed and see everything new that I've added.

Don't forget to check out my alphabet Pinterest board. I pin all kinds of fantastic, hands-on ideas there. I also have tons of preschool learning activities of all kinds on my activities for preschoolers board.

Even more awesome ways for kids to learn the alphabet.

Check out the alphabet activities category on Pinterest. There are thousands of activities! Or check out this Pinterest board with tons of engaging ways to teach the alphabet.

I just love this post with 50+ incredible activities for teaching the alphabet.

These 25 alphabet games and activities are so much fun!

Here's a big list of hands-on ways for kids to learn the alphabet. So many genius ways to teach the alphabet here!

Looking for alphabet printables? Check out this post to find some, along with a bunch of other hands-on activities.

Summary of continuous educational activities on the topic "Alphabet" | Plan-summary of a lesson in teaching literacy (preparatory group):

State budgetary preschool educational institution

kindergarten No. 35 of the Pushkinsky district of St.

December, 2018

Purpose: to introduce children to the Russian alphabet, alphabet. nine0003

Tasks:

Learning task: - to improve children's knowledge about the letters of the Russian alphabet;

- to activate children's knowledge about vowels and consonants;

give an idea of ​​the special vowels "I", "E", "Yo", "Yu" and the letters "b" and "b";

- to enrich the vocabulary of children.

Developmental task: - develop attention, memory, thinking, develop coherent speech; - to consolidate the ability to answer questions with a common sentence; nine0003

- develop phonemic awareness.

Educational task:

- to educate curiosity, creative activity, to educate children's skills: to work in a team, patiently listen to teachers' questions, comrades' answers and respect their opinion, educate interest in the lesson and love for their native language.

Equipment and materials: laptop, mimio-board, mimio-project, video “ABC Song”, cards with a task for each child.

Stroke

Educator: Guys, today we will continue our journeys to the Land of Knowledge.

Well, so that our day is kind and joyful, let's greet each other.

Children.

Let's stand side by side in a circle.

Say hello to each other.

We are not too lazy to say hello.

Hello everyone and good afternoon.

If everyone smiles, good morning will begin.

"Good morning!"

Educator: Well done! And now go to the places first those guys whose name begins with the sound "A", "U", "B", "I", "K", "T", "F", "D", "N". (Children take turns sitting at the tables)

Educator: Listen to the poem:

Thirty-three sisters.

Written beauties,

They live on the same page,

And they are famous everywhere!

- What is this poem about? What are 33 sisters? (About the alphabet)

Educator: Correct. And today we will talk about the alphabet, the alphabet.

- The Russian alphabet was created by the monks Cyril and Methodius. (Who are the monks?) They knew the Greek and Latin alphabets very well, so many letters of the Russian alphabet are similar to the letters of these alphabets. And they first named it in honor of the monk Cyril - "Cyrillic". The Russian modern alphabet came from me - the Russian alphabet - Cyrillic. The word "alphabet" is only in Russian, and it came from the first letters of the Cyrillic alphabet - "AZ" and "BUKI" - AZBUKA - these are the letters of only the Russian language, arranged strictly in order. The birthday of the alphabet is celebrated on May 24 - the day of memory of the monks Cyril and Methodius. nine0003

There are many different alphabets in the world: Latin, German, French, English… An alphabet is the letters of a language arranged strictly in order. Most of the alphabets originated from ancient picture writing. People drew pictures and conveyed what they wanted to talk about.

The modern Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters in a strict order:

- Listen to the poem and try to remember the order of the letters.

Children listen to the video song-alphabet on the screen. nine0003

- And let's repeat this song with you. (Children repeat)

(On the board Mimio-project)

Page 2.

Educator: Guys, look, here is our alphabet. And what's that? (letters). Look guys, why are they different colors? (Children's answers)

Educator: Letters, just like sounds, are vowels, and there are consonants. How are sounds different from letters? (We hear and pronounce sounds, and we see and write letters).

Red letters are vowels. Let's count how many there are. (10). nine0003

- How many vowels? (6). There are four more special vowels.

Let's call them - it's "I", "E", "Yo", "Yu". These vowels can represent two sounds.

Educator: What do you guys think, what are the names of the blue and green letters? (children's answers are consonants).

These are consonants.

Educator: Guys, why do you think some letters are blue-green, and other letters are either blue or green? (children's assumptions - some consonants have both hard and soft pairs, while other consonants have either only hard or only soft pairs.)

Educator: Let's name the consonants that have only a hard pair. And now only soft.

- And let's count how many consonants in total. (21)

Educator: look, we have two more letters left.

These letters are marked in black. These are special letters, letters that are neither vowels nor consonants. These are the letters "b" and "b". They do not represent sounds, but they are very important.

Educator: listen here:

Hard and soft signs

- We need letters.

Not readable in any way, but important in words.

We can't do without them at all,

Sing songs, read poetry.

And it's very difficult for a newspaper

Submit an ad.

Alphabet Physical Minute:

A, Bae, Ve, Ge, Te, E, Yo, (walking in place)

Know your place!

Zhe, Ze, I, Y, Ka, eL, em, (jumps on the right leg)

Remember who is after whom! nine0003

eN, O, Bae, er, eS, Te, U, (jumping on the left foot)

Stand together all in a row!

eF, Ha, Tse, Che, Sha and Scha, (turns to the sides)

Settle slowly!

Hard sign and soft sign, (squats)

Stand side by side like this!

Hurry E, Yu, Me! (walking in place)

The whole family is here!

Page 3.

Task. Consider pictures. Say the first sound of each word. Label it with a letter. (Children's work at the blackboard)

Page 4

Job. Find the "lost" letters of the alphabet and make a word out of them.

Task on cards. (Card for each child)

Insert adjacent letters - the previous and the next in alphabetical order.

Educator: Well done guys! You have completed all the tasks. And you and I have gone a little way to the land of Knowledge. Tell me, what did we talk about today? What tasks were performed? What did you like the most? (Children's answers)

I also liked the way you worked. Until the next meeting.

Author's didactic manual "Our Cheerful Alphabet" as a means of developing the speech of preschoolers

As evidenced by numerous psychological and pedagogical studies, children of 4-6 years old have a desire for sound analysis of speech. Regardless of whether we teach them to read or not, children at this age independently begin to learn individual letters and put words out of them. In order to avoid spontaneity in the assimilation of literacy, we, teachers, should begin organized literacy training in a timely manner. nine0003

This work should be structured in such a way that children get involved in active cognitive activity through play, independently solve the tasks assigned to them and, at the same time, do not lose interest in reading. To do this, you can use problem situations, solving speech logical problems, didactic exercises and games.

Operations of comparison, analysis in the phonemic perception of the language lead children to combine sounds into syllables, into words, accelerate the process of mastering the correct reading, mastering the rules of spelling, literacy, and contribute to the mental development of children. nine0003

In our group, we have developed and produced an interesting game guide "Our Cheerful Alphabet" for the development of the speech of preschoolers, which allows children to easily and with interest learn the Russian alphabet, teaches them to recognize letters, develops a cognitive interest in their native language and the desire to use the acquired knowledge in everyday life. life.

The manual is intended for work with children aged 5-7 and can be used in different ways:

- as a visual material for the work of educators and a speech therapist in the process of subgroup, individual and correctional activities; nine0003

- in the independent activities of the child;

- in play with other children and with adults.

Purpose of this manual: teaching children to read and write, developing sound analysis and synthesis skills.

Tasks :

– introduce children to the letters of the Russian alphabet;

- develop phonemic processes;

- to consolidate the ability of children to divide words into syllables;

- develop logical thinking, curiosity, resourcefulness, imagination, fine motor skills, spatial orientation; nine0003

- to teach children to interact and cooperate with each other and with adults.

The manual is a pasted box (panel), inside which there are bottles of baby food. The manual was prepared by teachers together with children.

On the front side of the front panel there are necks with caps (twisting element) on which letters (alphabet) are written.

On the back of the panel are folders that contain envelopes with various tasks. nine0003

Using such a panel with caps, you can play the following games: “Alphabet”, “Show the first letter in the word”, “Come up with a word according to the given scheme”, “Divide the word into parts (syllables) and mark the number on the cap”, “ Chineward", "Play with words".

Alphabet game.

Purpose: to consolidate children's knowledge about the previously studied letters of the Russian alphabet.

Game progress: children are asked to find a cap with a letter already learned and screw or unscrew it. nine0003

Game "Show the first letter in the word"

Purpose: to develop the ability of children to pick up the letters that begin the words shown in the pictures.

Game progress: in front of the child are pictures with letters that begin the word and a panel with caps - letters. The child is invited to find the cap with this letter and unscrew it.

Game "Come up with a word for a given scheme"

Purpose: development of phonemic perception, strengthening the skills of sound analysis and synthesis, finger motor skills. nine0003

Game progress: the child is offered a ready-made word scheme, consisting of 3 or 4 sounds and several pictures. It is necessary to choose a picture suitable for the selected scheme, determine the first sound and find the corresponding letter (screw it to the panel or unscrew it). This game is difficult and requires the joint work of an adult and children.

Game "Divide the word into parts (syllables) and mark the number on the cap"

Purpose: to consolidate the ability to divide words into syllables, develop attention stability, analysis techniques, fine motor skills. nine0003

Game progress: children are invited to choose one of the pictures offered by the teacher. Then, with the help of claps, divide this word into parts (syllables), count their number and select the desired cap with a number. To complicate the task, you can invite the child to compose this word from the caps on the manual panel (screw on).

The game "Chineword "

Chineword is a puzzle, a kind of crossword puzzle. Sequentially located cells are filled with words in such a way that the last letter of one word is the first letter of the second, and so on. Words in a chainword do not intersect, but go sequentially clockwise

Purpose: development of ingenuity, ability to analyze, compare, think logically, concentrate, cultivate perseverance in achieving the goal. An important point in working with crossword puzzles is the children's knowledge of letters and a high level of development of the sound culture of speech.

Move: children are offered a chain word scheme consisting of pictures and arrows.

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