Looking for a way to have your child practice spelling their name? Do you have an abundance of toy cars and trucks in your house? Then, this is the activity for you!
To help my son organize his collection of cars and trucks, I came up with this parking garage idea. I created three garages out of wrapping paper cut into rectangular pieces. Then, I used index cards to write each letter of his first, middle and last name. On each garage I taped the letters to form parking spots in the garage. Next step was to attach the garages to the wall. I found that using masking tape or painter’s tape worked the best for this step. Finally, my son was ready to park his cars!
As he drove each car to it’s parking spot, he would say the letter in that spot. This has been a great way for him to practice letter recognition and to learn how to spell his name.
This activity could be adapted for older children by having each card in the garage be a sight word, spelling list word, or vocabulary word. As they park each card, they could say and/or spell the word in that spot.
Now, I not only have an organized room of toys, but also a budding speller! Happy learning!
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Anne says
What a lovely idea. Thank you
Amy says
This is so great! I can’t wait to try it with my son to teach him his name!!
JodieRodriguez says
Awesome Amy, have fun!
Mum of One says
I really love this. Will pin to my Play to Learn board now 🙂 Thank you x
JodieRodriguez says
Thanks so much!
Rose @ Walnut Acre says
Great idea!
Jessica @ Play Trains! says
Great idea! I might adapt this for trains for my son. 🙂
JodieRodriguez says
Jessica, I would love to see that. You always come up with the coolest train activities!
Savannah says
This is such a wonderful way to learn letters without doing any school. I hope you’ll consider sharing this at Look What We Did, a month long link up featured on HammockTracks. Throughout the month I group similar posts together and feature them on HammockTracks. I also Pin many of them. Much of what you write about what be appropriate to share there.
-Savannah http://www.hammocktracks.com/buttons/
JodieRodriguez says
Thanks Savannah. I just linked up and added your link to my linky directory!
Melissa @ Honey Bee Books says
What a wonderful idea! My daughter would love this – she adores playing with cars.
JodieRodriguez says
Thanks! I’m glad you find the idea useful. Thank you for leaving a comment.
Blayne says
This is so clever! What little boy wouldn’t love this!? Great idea!
JodieRodriguez says
Thank you for your kind comment. I appreciate the feedback.
Tricia says
I love this idea. I’m thinking how proud a child will be to recognize his/her own name in print, and be able to name the letters that make up his/her name in the correct order. No “teaching” necessary. They learn as they park those trucks and cars over and over and over.