Alphabet activities make learning your ABCs more fun. There are so many ways to practice your ABCs, you might be able to do one alphabet activity a day for a year without repeating. We’ve gathered over 25 super fun alphabet activities so kids can play and learn every day.
1. Write letters on dried beans
Large dried white beans are inexpensive to purchase and easy to write on. Grab a sharpie and write all the upper and lower case letters on them. Then put each set in a pile (or baggie) and ask your kids to match them.
Source: @teacherries_blogspot
2. Letter sort with sticky notes
Write individual letters on sticky notes and then place them all over your house or just on every stair in a staircase. This practice game has a lot of variations—all tied to sorting. Ask kids to sort by:
- lowercase
- uppercase
- letters in their name
- straight lines (H)
- curved lines (c)
- both curved and straight lines (B)
- consonants
- vowels
For even more practice: have them sort their finds into ABC order, match lowercase letters to uppercase letters, and then, find a way to sort them that’s new.
3. Write letters in shaving cream
Squirt shaving cream on a table and let your kids write letters in the cream. Smoothe it out to erase and start again. Bonus: their hands and your table will be cleaner than ever!
Source: Rose and Rex
4. Bend letters with pipe cleaners
Pipe cleaners have always been a trusted source of good fine motor practice as well as a fun craft resource. Now use them to have kids create uppercase and lower case letters.
Learn more: make and takes
5. Make sensory ABC bags
This one is great because you can change up what you put in here and even move to sight words. You’ll need a gallon bag with a ziplock top. Add letters written on pieces of paper, magnetic letters, scrabble tiles, or anything else you can think of with letters. Then fill the bag with rice or oatmeal and seal it. Kids dig through the rice through the bag to find the letters. When they find them, they write down the letter they find until they locate all 26 letters of the alphabet.
For more sensory ideas: Little Bins Little Hands
6. Find invisible letters with watercolors
This is a classic. Using a white crayon, draw letters on a piece of white paper. Give your kids watercolor, let them paint the paper, and watch the letters appear.
Learn more: Gift of Curiosity
7. Play musical alphabet
Set up letters in a big circle on the floor. You can use magnetic letters or just write them on index cards. Put music on and have your child walk around the circle to the music. When the music goes off, your child tells you the closest letter. Expand on it: ask your child to name three things (colors, animals, etc) that start with that letter.
8. Sponge the alphabet
Cut sponges into letters and use them for sponge painting letters or playing in the tub.
Learn more: Learning 4 Kids
9. Put together name puzzles
Write the upper and lower case letters in a name and then cut them apart in a simple zigzag. Mix up the letters and ask a child to match them up and put them in the right order.
10. Make letters from nature
Find the alphabet right outside. Choose natural objects that already look like letters, or arrange them to look like them.
To learn more: Right Brained Mom
11. Eat your ABCs
We know from Alphabet Soup that eating your ABCs is plain old fun. So think of all the ways you can practice the alphabet at mealtime. Pancakes can be made into letters, jello can be cut into letters, and noodles can be used to make letters (just to name a few).
Learn more: Parent Map
12. Go on an alphabet scavenger hunt
The fun part about this for grown-ups is that there is no prep. Tell kids to go find objects that start with each letter of the alphabet. To make this game take longer, designate spots for them to bring each item back—one at a time. Every item must be approved before they can move on to the next. This allows for fewer meltdowns at the end when an item is deemed inaccurate.
13. Make your own ABC book
Personalizing the ABCs helps kids process and retain their learning. One of our favorite alphabet activities starts by creating a book out of 26 pieces of paper and staples or hole punches and a ribbon. Have kids write an uppercase and lowercase letter on each page. Finally, have them draw or cut out pictures of things that start with each letter. Voila!
Learn more: Teach Mama
14. Create ABC popup books
Use the following tutorial video to learn how to make different kinds of pop up pages. Then, create a page per week for 26 weeks for each letter. At the end, use a glue stick to glue them all together to make an ABC popup book!
15. Stamp letters in playdough
Roll out playdough and push letter stamps right into the dough. This is both tactile and great for practicing ABCs.
Learn more: I can teach my child
16. Make tactile letter cards
There’s lots of research (and experience) to support the value of using all the senses to learn. Making these tactile alphabet cards will be fun and have lasting benefits.
Learn more: All About Learning
17. Trace letters in spices
This one combines touch, smell, and sight. It gives you an opportunity to talk about what we uses spices for as well. Put the bottle in front of a child and have them write the spice name in the spice to make things a bit more challenging.
Source: Frog in a Pocket
18. Study a letter of the week
Many PreK and Kindergarten classes do a letter of the week, and for good reason. Teachers all share that instant recognition of letters and practice writing them is so important for learning to read. Doing alphabet activities for one letter each week reinforces knowledge and recollection.
For weekly activities: Preschool Mom
19. Do the yoga alphabet
Show kids this video and take the time to learn each yoga pose. Connecting the mind and the body is great for learning.
20. Sing songs about the alphabet
Everyone loves to sing the alphabet song, but did you know there are lots of other songs to sing that can help you remember the alphabet? Try out this Sesame Street favorite:
21. Draw pictures from letters
Using letters as a starting point, teach kids how to draw. If this is too difficult at first, just write a letter and then draw a picture around the letter.
Learn more: Felt Magnet
22. Highlight letters on a page
Print a page of text or grab your favorite magazine and a highlighter. Ask kids to highlight as many of one letter as they can find. This is also great for sight word recognition.
Here’s a freebie from The Inspired Apple to get you started.
23. Do-A-Dot letter tracing
These dot markers make tracing letters more fun and help kids with directionality and remembering how to write and recognize letters.
Free Dot tracing sheets: DTLK’s Educational Activities for Kids
24. Play letter slap
Make 2 sets of index cards with all the letters on them (52 cards in all). Shuffle the cards together and deal them so each kid holds 26 cards. Together each player takes their top card and turns it upright. The player with the letter closest to A wins the hand and takes the card. If two of the same letter are played, the players slap the card. The one on the bottom of the slip wins the hand. The game ends when one player holds all the cards.
25. Match plastic Easter egg letters
Surely you have some plastic Easter eggs hanging around your attic. Use a Sharpie or letter stickers to put an uppercase letter on one half and a lowercase letter on the other. Then separate the two and throw them all in a basket. Kids pull them out and match them up. Tip: Add difficulty by not coordinating the colors.
Learn more: Crystal and Co.
26. Create loose part letters
What are loose parts? Loose parts are exactly what they sound like—a collection of loose materials or objects. These can be small pebbles, bottle caps, random LEGO bricks, seeds, keys, anything. Draw big letters on a piece of paper and have kids line up loose parts to make the letter.
Recognizing letters is a fundamental part of learning how to read. Without it, children struggle to learn letter sounds and identify words. Beginning readers who know their alphabet have a much easier time learning to read. Making alphabet practice a part of every day in fun ways helps create a lifelong love for letters and words.
What games and activities do you like to use for practicing the alphabet?
Plus, our favorite activities using alphabet beads and the best alphabet books.
