• Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • FAQ
    • Disclosure and Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe
  • Community
  • Books
    • Books for Children by Age
    • Book Lists
    • Holiday Books and Activities
  • Reading Ideas
    • Babies
    • Toddlers
    • Preschoolers
    • Kindergarteners & Early Elementary
  • Writing Ideas
  • Parental Involvement: Building Partnerships
  • Start Here!
    • WELCOME TO THE GROWING BOOK BY BOOK COMMUNITY
    • Subscribe
    • Contact
    • FAQ
      • Disclosure and Privacy Policy
  • Shop
  • Home
  • Book Lists
    • Books for Children by Age
    • Book Lists
    • Holiday Books and Activities
  • Book Activities
  • Early Literacy
    • Alphabet Activities
    • Circle Time Activities
    • Phonological Awareness Activities

Growing Book by Book

  • Family Involvement
    • Start a Family Dinner Book Club
  • Start Here
  • Store
discovering with babies playing with toddlers exploring with preschoolers building with beginning readers

Bring joy and play into children's lives through books.

Yes, please!
Home » All categories » Family Game Night: Build a Letter

Family Game Night: Build a Letter

January 16, 2015 • 19 Comments

Sharing is caring!

2340 shares
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

Today  I have a super fun indoor literacy activity that would be perfect for a Family Game Night!  It’s an active game for the hands and mind.

This is game is perfect because it works for a variety of ages, uses materials you already have on hand and promotes family literacy.  Win, win, win!

Build a Letter Game

A fun literacy activity to play for a Family Game Night from growingbookbybook.com

Full Disclosure:  This post contains affiliate links.

Game Set-Up

Materials needed: odds and ends from your junk drawer or art supply stash,  a tray to hold your supplies, playdough, alphabet letter cards (we made ours with envelopes and a marker),  9 colored paper fish or other shape, timer (optional)

A variety of small parts for letter building game

1.  Collect a variety of objects from around the house and place them in a large tray.  We used pipe cleaners, buttons, pom pom balls, caps from yogurt pouches, craft sticks and wikki stix.  This will be a community tray that everyone playing will use to build.

2.  Each player will also need a tennis ball size amount of playdough.  We like to make our playdough, but you could also buy it.

3.  You will need a set of alphabet cards.  You could use a set of flashcards that you have on hand.  We recycled a set we had made for our Polar Bear Paw Walk.    You can use uppercase letters, lowercase letters or both for this game.

4.  You will also need 9 colored paper shapes.  Again, we reused fish we had made for our Polar Bear Paw Walk.  You could use 9 of any object.

setting up for Family Game Night build a letter game

5.  This game works best if you play at a table.  Set your tray of parts in the middle of the table.  Alphabet cards  are placed faced down. Colored shapes also get placed near the middle of the table.  Each player gets a ball of playdough.

Game Play

The oldest player goes first.  He or she is the judge for the round and turns over the first letter card and names the letter.

The other players quickly build the most creative version of the letter that they can using their playdough and parts. For added fun, you could time each round.

letter creations for Family Game Night: Build a Letter

When time is up, the judge chooses the letter creation that they think is most creative and awards the winner of the round with a colored shape.

Play continues clockwise until a player has earned three colored shapes.

Enjoy your Family Game Night!

For more fun active indoor games check out these ideas from great bloggers participating in today’s blog hop of indoor games.

Active indoor game: land, sea and air  from What Do We Do All Day?

LEGO rockets math activity from Creekside Learning

Reading Readiness Games from Sight and Sound Reading

Mini Trampoline & Jumping Activities from Bare Feet on the Dashboard

Bean Bag Toss from The Gingerbread House

Igloo Building from Study at Home Mama

Run & Find Syllables Game from This Reading Mama

Related Posts

8 Magnetic Letter Games

ABC Games

Did you get your free list of Books Kids Will Beg You to Read?

Get It

Sharing is caring!

2340 shares
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

19 Comments Filed Under: All categories, Family Literacy Tagged With: alphabet activities, playdough

About Jodie Rodriguez

Jodie Rodriguez is a mom of two young boys and an early childhood/elementary educator with over 20 years of experience. Jodie's passion is helping parents, teachers, librarians and anyone else interested in nurturing and reaching ALL of our youngest growing readers.

Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published.

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. Jill says

    January 25, 2015 at 9:54 pm

    What a great idea for a family fun game night!

    Thank you for stopping by the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop this week. We hope to see you drop by our neck of the woods next week!

    Reply
  2. Shecki @ Greatly Blessed says

    January 24, 2015 at 3:22 pm

    Cute idea! I’m always on the lookout for more things to do with our impressive collection of pouch lids, lol!

    Reply
    • Jodie Rodriguez says

      January 26, 2015 at 10:32 pm

      Yes, we are overflowing with pouch lids!

      Reply
  3. Helen @ Peakle Pie says

    January 18, 2015 at 7:17 pm

    This is great – something we must try at home soon. Thank you for sharing with #weloveweekends

    Reply
  4. Ann says

    January 18, 2015 at 3:28 am

    Thanks for sharing! What an awesome idea. My little girl is 4 years old and has just started showing an interest in letters and numbers. What a great little game to play with her! Ann *littleworlds.co.nz*

    Reply
    • Jodie Rodriguez says

      January 18, 2015 at 7:59 pm

      Have fun Ann!

      Reply
  5. lindsey kettle says

    January 17, 2015 at 12:59 pm

    Ooh this looks like great fun! And something the whole family can do 🙂 #weloveweekends

    Reply
  6. Lara says

    January 17, 2015 at 12:32 am

    you have great ideas! I cant wait to explore your blog!

    Reply
  7. christine gallagher says

    January 16, 2015 at 10:07 pm

    This is a wonderful idea and perfect for my family because I have a kindergartener, thank you for sharing this great game idea

    Reply
  8. Wendy says

    January 16, 2015 at 7:27 pm

    My son (now a senior in college) begged for Family Game Night every night from the time he was tiny. Though he loved all games, what he loved most was family time. Games that “sneak in” learning are a big bonus! I love how this game uses building bits already on hand!

    Reply
  9. Meeghan says

    January 16, 2015 at 4:48 pm

    What great fun, and great ideas!!

    Reply
    • Jodie Rodriguez says

      January 16, 2015 at 5:04 pm

      Thanks so much Meeghan. We had a lot of fun.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Kinesthetic Learning Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers | Red Apple Reading Blog says:
    February 21, 2019 at 6:39 pm

    […] Build a Letter This is a great game for one or multiple children to participate in. Simply collect random objects from around the house (Legos, straws, bottle tops, string, etc.) and using ABC flashcards, choose a letter for your little ones to construct out of the odds and ends. Whoever has the most creative letter is the winner! See how it’s done at Growing Book by Book. […]

    Reply
  2. Family Night Ideas that Kids Love - Meet Penny says:
    March 19, 2018 at 2:21 pm

    […] Family Game Night: Build A Letter from Growing Book By Book […]

    Reply
  3. Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop #72 - Stir The Wonder says:
    January 26, 2015 at 5:01 am

    […] Poke & Peg Activities from The Practical Mom Family Game Night: Build a Letter from Growing Book by Book Measurement Exploration Center from Buggy and Buddy Straw Fine Motor […]

    Reply
  4. /i/ is for igloo ⋆ says:
    January 16, 2015 at 6:34 am

    […] Growing Up Book by Book with Family Game Night: Build a Letter […]

    Reply
  5. No sew bean bags - the-gingerbread-house.co.uk says:
    January 16, 2015 at 5:41 am

    […] bad weather is keeping you indoors. Check out the other play ideas here: Betsy’s Photography, Growing Book by Book, Creekside Learning, Sight and Sound Reading, Bare Feet on the Dashboard, This Reading Mama […]

    Reply
  6. Balloons! 10 Easy Indoor Activity Ideas ⋆ Betsy's Photography says:
    January 16, 2015 at 5:01 am

    […] Family Game Night: Build a Letter (Growing Book By Book) […]

    Reply
  7. Run and Find Syllables Game says:
    January 16, 2015 at 5:00 am

    […] Active Indoor Games can be found at: Betsy’s Photography, Growing Book by Book, Creekside Learning, Sight and Sound Reading, Bare Feet on the Dashboard, The Gingerbread House, […]

    Reply

What can we help you find?

Subscribe to Growing Book by Book

lead magnet for growing book bybook
Welcome to Growing Book by Book!  Learn about the creator, Jodie Rodriguez.

Find More

alphabet activities
book lists for children
circle time button

Set Up for Circle Time Success

month by month circle time songs


Copyright ©2023, Growing Book by Book. All Rights Reserved. Custom design by Pixel Me Designs | Privacy Policy