There are lots of ways to teach children to recognize the letters of the alphabet. Making these lessons fun and engaging is a great way to help make learning meaningful. I created this letter game for preschool and kindergarten and my students loved it!
When I create centers for my classroom, I try to include several that are language and math based and then a center for science, art and even a sensory activity. I can often guess which centers will be the most popular, but I also love being surprised when a new center becomes a favorite.
These favorites are usually the activities I share here on Play Learn Inspire. They are all tried and successful in my classroom. This letter game was so popular, and easy to create that I simply had to share it with you! It is a great way for kids to work on recognizing the letters of the alphabet in a fun and meaningful way.
To make creating your game even easier, I’ve included free printable alphabet pages that you can download and use today!
If you’re looking for more alphabet games and phonemic awareness activities, make sure to check out TeachingIdeas.ca huge collection of 55 Fun Phonemic Awareness Activities for Young Children.
Letter Game for Preschool Materials
The set up for this activity is fairly simple. If you are already teaching in a preschool or kindergarten classroom, you likely already have lots of alphabet letters in your possession. Grab these letters and a few other materials to get started.
You will need:
- “Hooked on Letters” alphabet pages (Download below)
- Alphabet Letter Pieces
- Magnets (1 for each letter of the alphabet + 1 for each fishing rod)
- Wooden Pole/Stick (for fishing rod)
- String/Yarn
- Hot Glue
Once you have your materials, begin by gluing a magnet to each letter. Hot glue works best. Next, create a fishing rod using a wooden pole or stick and glue string to one end of the rod and again to a magnet on the other end of the string.
Make one rod for each child that will be using the game. I used this letter game as a center and had four children at the center at a time, so I created four rods for them to use.
Print the alphabet pages and laminate.
Please note that the alphabet pages shown below are different from the printable. I traced each of the letter pieces that I used, but the printable alphabet mats work just as well.
Setting Up Your Activity
Once you have all of your pieces ready, set all of your letters into a bin or container. They don’t need to be placed in any order. The letters being jumbled together is part of the fun and challenge.
Near the bin, place the alphabet pages.
Once you’re set up, give each child one of the rods and let them start ‘fishing’!
Children move the rod into the bin, until they ‘catch’ one of the letters. Once the magnets connect, they bring the letter out of the bin and place it on the matching letter on the alphabet sheet.
Children can work together to catch, and then match all of the letters of the alphabet. Once their alphabet sheet is full, they have completed the letter game!
Letter Game for Preschool Extension Ideas
If your group is able to complete this activity quickly, or you want to use it again as a center, you can easily change it a bit. If the letter pieces in the bin are upper case, try giving children the lower case letter sheet. This makes the activity more challenging because children have to match upper case to lower case letters.
It’s a great way to check how well your children recognize their letters.
You can also add to the challenge by encouraging children to say the letter sound when they ‘catch’ each letter. They can announce the letter sound to their small group as they match the letter on the alphabet sheet.
One of the great things about this center is that children are able to complete it largely independently. However, if you have the opportunity to work with the group it’s a quick way to assess children’s ability to recognize their letters.
My class loved this activity and wanted to go back to the center again and again. There are lots of different ways you can use this idea for other centers.
You could print a word on the pieces in the bin, such as ‘cat’, then have a printable page with pictures for children to match each word to.
You could even use the idea for math and number recognition by putting number pieces in the bin and then having players match the number to tally marks, words or dots on the printable pages.
It’s up to you how you use this idea in your classroom, and I hope it is as much of a success as it was in mine. Happy learning!
Free Printable Letter Game Sheets
Click below to download the letter game sheets to play the alphabet game. The printable includes letters A-Z in capital letters and the same pages with lower case letters. Choose either set of alphabet pages for your children to use. Laminating the pages is a great way to make sure they last for years.
Keep making learning fun through hands-on exploration and play. Visit Play Learn Inspire’s Word Family Language Game with another great, free printable!
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