Alphabet games are my frequent go-to literacy activities for toddlers and preschoolers. Buying a set of magnetic letters and a magnetic easel were two of the best purchases I made for my budding readers.
Guess what! My almost 3-year-old came up with this letter game. We call it “Runaway Letter”. I love that we practiced letter and sound recognition while incorporating kinesthetic learning. This is a great activity for children who are learning to identify letters and/or letter sounds.
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First, we placed all the letters (here are our favorite [easyazon_link identifier=”B000FA1K54″ locale=”US” tag=”groboobyboo-20″]magnetic letters)[/easyazon_link] in alphabetical order on the board. This always provides great opportunities to notice differences between letters especially easily confused letters like b, d and p.
Next, I began to sing the alphabet. My son removed a letter while I was singing and ran away with it. I stopped singing and said, “Hey, there’s a letter missing. Which one is missing?”
While my son was running around with the letter he would call out the letter that had been removed. I then said, “Come back letter ___.” Then, I named an action that started with the beginning sound of the letter he was holding as he brought it back to the board. For example for the letter f, I would say, “Letter f, please fly back to the alphabet. /f/ /f/ /f/.” I encouraged my son to say the sound as he was bringing the letter back to the board.
Play continues until interest fades. My son usually asks to play a few times a day and we’ve been playing the game for a few weeks now.
Looking for more letter activities and games? Check out these other alphabet popular posts.
Anonymous says
Cute and active fun! I will play
It with the runaway bunny book:)
Jackie says
Hello. Your activities are amazing. I love your creative ideas that will spark my preschoolers in making learning fun and exciting. Thank you.
Jodie Rodriguez says
Thank you, Jackie!
Ashley says
So cute! Thanks for sharing at Mom’s Library! I will be featuring you this week!
Jodie Rodriguez says
Thank you so much Ashley!
Sharon@DiscoverExploreLearn says
How fun ! Such a great way to make learning the alphabet fun and exciting. Thanks for sharing.
amy says
Great idea…sound like fun…going ot try this in my classroom… could be crazy, but that’s what K is all about!! Thanks! Amy 🙂
Jodie Rodriguez says
Have fun with it Amy! I’d love to hear how it goes.
Anna@The Measured Mom says
Love this idea for my preschooler! Thanks so much for sharing at After School.
Malia {Playdough to Plato} says
Such a fun idea! I can’t wait to play it with my older son. Pinning!!
Jodie Rodriguez says
Thank you so much Malia!
Jodi says
Great activity. I love how much fun you all had playing this great game. I like to trick my kids into learning too.
Jill says
This is a very fun and different way to learn and reinforce the alphabet 🙂 Thank you for sharing and for linking up this week to the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop.
Carla says
I love how fun you made it–I really think all learning for young children should be a blast!! I pinned this in my (CarlaINHouston) Early Childhood Literacy board–thanks so much for sharing!
Faye Carlisle says
Making learning fun is so important. I am about to do a talk on language development at a preschool committee AGM and I am incorporating fun phonics games into my talk so I will add your idea. I found you on the Monday parenting pinit party. Please have a look at my latest post on whether attachment parenting is too extreme http://www.pinterest.com/pin/546694842237637249/
Pragmaticmom says
What a fun game you invented! Love it! Pinning and tweeting!
Jodie Rodriguez says
Thank you so much for sharing the post. I hope lots of people have fun with it.
Debbie @ http://kidsbibledebjackson.blogspot.com/ says
This game sounds like a lot of fun! I am going to try it! Pinned it! Thanks for sharing at HSAS!
Norah says
What a great activity. Sounds like fun for all of you!
OneMommy says
Love when you can make a game out of learning!
Connie Cantin says
I really love your website because it encompasses what is known and at some level, what is lacking in today’s world. Children do learn through play; and learning should be fun, safe, engaging and long term.
Some of you may or may not be aware of Discovery Toys but I welcome you to check our our website http://www.discoverytoys.com/conniecantin
If the group, or any one of you would like to “host” an online party, especially as we approach the holidays, please let me know. I am offering this to our website host, Ms. Jodie and all of you through her!
I sure hope you won’t think I’m intruding; I believe just as firmly in the power of learning while children play as you do! I am a private piano teacher as well!
Ms. Connie