Children love games and puzzles, and you can use these in a variety of ways to teach the alphabet. Here are some fun examples of alphabet games for preschoolers. All can be played with just parent and child or with a group.
Alphabet Flash Cards
It is a good idea to either purchase or make your own alphabet flashcards. As well as being a guessing game on their own, they can be used in all manner of activities, including some of the ones listed below.
If making your own, create and print out four different sets of 26 cards – upper case letters, lower case letters, and illustrations each beginning with a different letter, one set with just a picture, and one set with the word written underneath. Save your letters on the computer so that you can print out new sets when you need them.
Alphabet Blocks
If your child has wooden or plastic stacking blocks with the letters of the alphabet on, there are many ways you can use them in fun games.
Start with the basics, such as spelling out words with the blocks, and move on to more complex games. You could ask the child to stack a tower of letters to spell the longest word he can think of, or get him to stack the alphabet in order before a set time is up, otherwise the mighty tower will get knocked down and he must start all over again!
Alphabet Puzzle
Draw out letters in large bubble text. Get your child to color them in as one activity, and then cut each one in half for a fun puzzle! Mix them all up and get your child to match them up again.
Alternatively, take 26 pieces of card and write each capital letter on the left hand side, with the matching lower case letter on the right hand side. Cut the cards in half and mix them up. Get your child to match the correct upper case letter with its lower case letter.
Letter Lottery
Take some paper cups and trace around the bottoms onto a piece of paper. Cut out the circles and write a letter on each one. Using three cups, hide a circle under one of the cups and shuffle them around. Get your child to guess which cup the letter is under and tell you what the letter is when he finds it.
Alphabet Line
Make a long strip of 26 squares, each with a letter on from A to Z, or make a game board square where the letters go around the outside (in order from A to Z).
Roll a dice and move a counter along the letters. The player must complete a task or move back the same number of spaces. Examples of tasks include saying the name of the letter, saying the sound of the letter, or saying a word that begins with that letter.
The winner is the first one to reach Z.
Alphabet Washing
Take 26 clothes pegs and label each with a letter of the alphabet using stickers or pieces of paper.
Then cut out lots of different pictures from magazines. Try to find enough pictures so that you have items beginning with each letter of the alphabet.
Muddle them all up and have your child pin the correct pictures to the correct pegs. You could theme this around animals, food, household objects or, to go with the pegs, items of clothing!
Alphabet Bingo
Print out squares of alphabet cards that have a mixture of letters on, like a bingo card. Print out individual alphabet cards and put them in the center of the table. Each player takes it in turn to turn over a card, and if he has a matching letter on his sheet, he can cross it off. Keep going until someone gets a full house!
This can progress with your child’s ability, so you could have lower case letters on the sheets and upper case on the cards, or you could play with the alphabet picture cards.
Alphabet Mix
Using alphabet cards, select letters that spell a word but scramble them up and get your child to unscramble the letters into a word.
Alternatively, lay out the cards in order and take one away while your child is looking away. See if he can work out which is missing. You could also muddle up the whole alphabet and get him to put the letters back in the correct order.
Alphabet Treasure Trail
Lay out a trail of large letters that spell out a word or sentence on paper for your child to follow. Get him to write down each letter and tell you what the word or sentence is once he has completed the trail.
Another idea is to put letters around the room and then give out clues as to which order the letters are collected. The letters will then spell out a word – for example, treasure – and the prize is a treasure chest of treats!
Word Race
Pick a letter and see how many words your child can think of beginning with that letter in one minute.
Make an Alphabet Book
Give your child a blank notebook with a letter of the alphabet printed or stuck onto each page. Help him to make a fun scrapbook of pictures, words, photos, cuttings and more of items that begin with each letter.
If you want to make a special keepsake and are good at crafts, you could make an alphabet wordbook for your child to stick pictures into.
If your child is old enough to write the alphabet, get him to print the letters on his notebook and color them in.
Fun Letter Games for Preschoolers
With a little imagination and creativity, you can create a multitude of games involving the alphabet that will delight youngsters and give them a big boost in learning their letters and words correctly.
Louise Heyden - Louise Heyden is a writer, artist, work at home mum, sound technician and former school Library Manager.
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