After posting a few games I realized I had not exhausted my ideas, so here are a few more games for teaching letters.
ABC Go Fish
Using those letter cards you made play for the memory, or matching game, you can play "Go Fish" with your child. You can have half the letters capitals, half lower case, or all lower or all upper depending on what you are trying to teach.
A nice thing about this game is by putting the letters in a sandwich size plastic baggie it becomes a take anywhere game. If you have a long wait for the doctor, airport, etc these letter cards can be used for the "Go Fish" game, a memory matching game, the mommy baby game (if you have the lower and upper case letters). You can even spell out simple words and have your child sound them out. Then, if you happen to lose a few letters it's not a big deal to create new replacement cards.
Jell-O Letters
Tactile learning is great for little children and Jell-O letters is an easy way to help children practice forming letters. On a plate sprinkle a thin, even layer of DRY Jell-O. Have your child form the letter in the Jell-O, making sure that as they draw the letter they lick their finger to keep it moist enough to write the letter. The crystals in the Jell-O help the child by adding another "sense" to the learning process. They are seeing the letter, moving their hand to create the letter, and feeling the Jell-O. My son loves making his Jell-O letters and requests them often.
Eat the Alphabet
Find foods that start with each letter of the alphabet, and let your child eat foods that begin with each letter. Choose a letter a day to eat from. A great book to read as part of this is Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert. This book contains fruits and vegetables that begin with each letter, so eating the alphabet could be healthy, though I like to sneak in a "C" for cookie.
Eat the Alphabet...Cookie
This is something I did with my daughter and my friend reminded me of it the other day. You can buy alphabet cookies and spell simple words. Have your child sound out the letter, eat it, sound out next letter, eat it, and they can eat simple words. Fun!
Showing posts with label letter games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label letter games. Show all posts
Friday, October 14, 2011
More Letter Games
Continuing with the learning letters and sounds theme here are some games that I like to play to help reaffirm what my son is learning.
Bingo
Create your own Bingo cards with letters of the alphabet. Have your child match sound (only say the sound of the letter) or one-to one correspondence (show letter, find letter). Play with your child. My son loves finding the card with the "W" on it as it is the beginning letter of his name. You can print your own bingo cards at: http://www.bingocardprinter.com/bingo_blank.php
Letter Memory Game
Using 3x5 cards cut in half label one set with upper case letters, the other with lower case letters. Play a matching game matching upper to lower case letters.
Mama & Her Baby
Something I learned from The Mailbox http://www.theeducationcenter.com/tec/.
By the way, for AMAZING ideas from professionals I suggest you go to an educational supply store and purchase some Mailbox books, or magazines. They are chock-full of fabulous ideas for hands-on learning for the preschooler.
Using a simple line drawing of an animal in a large size, and a small size, write capital letter on the large animal, and a lower case letter on the small animal. Have your child find the "baby" to match the "mama." All mamas and babies should be the same animal otherwise you're teaching mommy and baby animals, not letters.
Letter Hunt
Go to your local library and purchase a few of their fifty cent board books. If your library doesn't have a section of books they are selling, go to garage sales and pick up cheap picture books with easy to read text on the page (only a few words, easy to recognize print).
Give your child a marker and have them hunt for a specific letter and circle it or highlight it. Children love doing this because it "breaks the rules" by having them write in a book. I've done this since I was a teacher to help children learn to read. After they circle the letters, go back and read the word to them. Have them listen for the letter sound. Was it in the beginning, middle, or end.
Genius Resources
Again, The Mailbox http://www.theeducationcenter.com/tec/ is a great resource.
One of my all time favorite books for teaching Phonemic Awareness, is called, conveniently enough, Ponemic Awareness. The whole book is activities to do. Some require a group of children as it is geared toward the classroom teacher, but many games can be done with just one child.
Bingo
Create your own Bingo cards with letters of the alphabet. Have your child match sound (only say the sound of the letter) or one-to one correspondence (show letter, find letter). Play with your child. My son loves finding the card with the "W" on it as it is the beginning letter of his name. You can print your own bingo cards at: http://www.bingocardprinter.com/bingo_blank.php
Letter Memory Game
Using 3x5 cards cut in half label one set with upper case letters, the other with lower case letters. Play a matching game matching upper to lower case letters.
Mama & Her Baby
Something I learned from The Mailbox http://www.theeducationcenter.com/tec/.
By the way, for AMAZING ideas from professionals I suggest you go to an educational supply store and purchase some Mailbox books, or magazines. They are chock-full of fabulous ideas for hands-on learning for the preschooler.
Using a simple line drawing of an animal in a large size, and a small size, write capital letter on the large animal, and a lower case letter on the small animal. Have your child find the "baby" to match the "mama." All mamas and babies should be the same animal otherwise you're teaching mommy and baby animals, not letters.
Letter Hunt
Go to your local library and purchase a few of their fifty cent board books. If your library doesn't have a section of books they are selling, go to garage sales and pick up cheap picture books with easy to read text on the page (only a few words, easy to recognize print).
Give your child a marker and have them hunt for a specific letter and circle it or highlight it. Children love doing this because it "breaks the rules" by having them write in a book. I've done this since I was a teacher to help children learn to read. After they circle the letters, go back and read the word to them. Have them listen for the letter sound. Was it in the beginning, middle, or end.
Genius Resources
Again, The Mailbox http://www.theeducationcenter.com/tec/ is a great resource.
One of my all time favorite books for teaching Phonemic Awareness, is called, conveniently enough, Ponemic Awareness. The whole book is activities to do. Some require a group of children as it is geared toward the classroom teacher, but many games can be done with just one child.
Letter Sounds
I love teaching. It may be genetic. My mom was a teacher, my grandma was a teacher, my grandpa was a principal. There just may be some genetic sequence that when put together just right creates a teacher. So, given a history like that, of course I'm having fun teaching my preschooler letter sounds.
For my son I created different ways of remembering the sound that each letter makes. Make the sound, then do the action with it. For vowels they are all the short vowel sounds. Use flashcards of each letter so they have a visual for the letter. So you are teaching visually (flashcard), audio (saying sound), and kinesthetically (acting out) so three of Gardner's learning methods are used.
While sounding out each letter do the following:
A - put a fist to your eye and pretend you are crying
B - pat belly like a drum
C - curl hand into a claw "C" shape
D - drum table
E - put hand to ear like you can't hear
F - make fists and pretend you are fighting
G - butt heads like a goat
H - wave hand in front of mouth like something is too hot
I - wave hand under nose as though something smells bad, you may add the word "stinky"
J - using first two fingers have your and jump
K - kick your leg out
L - pretend to pick a lollipop
M - rub belly and make "mm" sound as though something tasted good
N - shake finger as though telling someone "no"
O - sing it opera style of course
P - lightly tap their shoulder
Q - make "shushing" motion
R - pretend you are driving a race car
S - wriggle arm like a snake
T - tap head lightly with one finger
U - show your arm muscle
V - make a "V" with your fingers, and drive the "V"
W - make a helicopter motion above your head
X - cross arms like to swords into "X" shape
Y - pretend you are playing with a yo-yo
Z - just zoom a finger through the air like a bumble bee
Hopefully this makes sense.
Another way I've taught letter sounds was with animal poems where the animals make the sounds. We find and circle the letter we are learning throughout the poem. I found clipart pictures of the animals to go with each poem, but they didn't translate to this post, and since I'm new at blogging I'm not sure how to rectify that. The poems are mine, so feel free to use, but not for commercial purposes. I have it saved as a PDF file and as soon as I figure out how to add the PDF to the page you can print out the pages. Most of the pictures are black and white so they can be made into a coloring book to be referred to again and again.
Also, this is visual (picture of animal), audio (sound of letter). You are also pointing to and circling letters making connections throughout the page.
Here are my poems for each letter:
Ff
Freddy Fish loves to fight.
F! f! F!
Freddy fights day and night.
F! f! F!
Gg
Gary Gorilla gulps grape juice
G! g! G!
Gary gulps with Gussy Goose
G! g! G!
Hh
Ii
Izzy Iguana is so icky.
I! i! I!
Izzy stepped in something sticky.
I! i! I!
Jj
Jesse Jaguar loves to jump.
J! j! J!
Jesse jumps over big, big bumps.
J! j! J!
Kk
Ll
Mm
Missy Mouse loves to munch.
M! m! M!
Missy munches on her lunch.
M! m! M!
Nn
Nellie Newt just says, “NO!”
N! n! N!
Nellie doesn’t want to go.
N! n! N!
Oo
Ozzie Owl sings opera loud.
O! o! O!
Ozzie sings it for the crowd.
O! o! O!PpPatty Panda makes popcorn pop.
P!p!P!
Patty pops and never stops.
P!p!P!
Qq
Quentin Quail quilts for the queen.
Q! q! Q!
Quentin’s quilts are blue and green.
Q! q! Q!
Rr
Robbie Rabbit races cars.
R! r! R!
Robbie races very far.
R! r! R!
Ss
Sally snake likes to hiss.
S! s! S!
Sally hisses at her sis.
S! s! S!
Tt
Timmy Turtle tots along.
T! t! T!
Timmy tots and sings a song.
T! t! T!
Uu
Unger Unicorn loves to hug.
U! u! U!
Unger will even hug a bug!
U! u! U!
VvViolet Vulture flies vroom, vroom.
V! v! V!
Violet loves to fly on her broom.
V! v! V!
Ww
Wally Whale whips his tail with a crash.
W! w! W!
Wally’s tail makes a splash!
W! w! W!
Xx
For my son I created different ways of remembering the sound that each letter makes. Make the sound, then do the action with it. For vowels they are all the short vowel sounds. Use flashcards of each letter so they have a visual for the letter. So you are teaching visually (flashcard), audio (saying sound), and kinesthetically (acting out) so three of Gardner's learning methods are used.
While sounding out each letter do the following:
A - put a fist to your eye and pretend you are crying
B - pat belly like a drum
C - curl hand into a claw "C" shape
D - drum table
E - put hand to ear like you can't hear
F - make fists and pretend you are fighting
G - butt heads like a goat
H - wave hand in front of mouth like something is too hot
I - wave hand under nose as though something smells bad, you may add the word "stinky"
J - using first two fingers have your and jump
K - kick your leg out
L - pretend to pick a lollipop
M - rub belly and make "mm" sound as though something tasted good
N - shake finger as though telling someone "no"
O - sing it opera style of course
P - lightly tap their shoulder
Q - make "shushing" motion
R - pretend you are driving a race car
S - wriggle arm like a snake
T - tap head lightly with one finger
U - show your arm muscle
V - make a "V" with your fingers, and drive the "V"
W - make a helicopter motion above your head
X - cross arms like to swords into "X" shape
Y - pretend you are playing with a yo-yo
Z - just zoom a finger through the air like a bumble bee
Hopefully this makes sense.
Another way I've taught letter sounds was with animal poems where the animals make the sounds. We find and circle the letter we are learning throughout the poem. I found clipart pictures of the animals to go with each poem, but they didn't translate to this post, and since I'm new at blogging I'm not sure how to rectify that. The poems are mine, so feel free to use, but not for commercial purposes. I have it saved as a PDF file and as soon as I figure out how to add the PDF to the page you can print out the pages. Most of the pictures are black and white so they can be made into a coloring book to be referred to again and again.
Also, this is visual (picture of animal), audio (sound of letter). You are also pointing to and circling letters making connections throughout the page.
Here are my poems for each letter:
Aa
Annie Alligator is so sad.
A! a! A!
Annie cries because she’s mad.
A! a! A!
Bb
Bb
Billy Bear blows balloons.
B! b! B!
Billy blows them as big as the moon.
B! b! B!
Cc
Carla Cat loves to claw.
C! c! C!
Carla claws at birds that caw.
C! c! C!
Dd
Darla Dog likes to drum.
D! d! D!
Darla drums just for fun.
D! d! D!
Ee
Ellie Elephant cannot hear.
E! e! E!
Ellie has eggs in her ears.
E! e! E!
Ellie Elephant cannot hear.
E! e! E!
Ellie has eggs in her ears.
E! e! E!
Ff
Freddy Fish loves to fight.
F! f! F!
Freddy fights day and night.
F! f! F!
Gg
Gary Gorilla gulps grape juice
G! g! G!
Gary gulps with Gussy Goose
G! g! G!
Hh
Harry Hippo ate food that’s hot.
H! h! H!
Harry ate an awful lot!
H! h! H!
H! h! H!
Harry ate an awful lot!
H! h! H!
Ii
Izzy Iguana is so icky.
I! i! I!
Izzy stepped in something sticky.
I! i! I!
Jj
Jesse Jaguar loves to jump.
J! j! J!
Jesse jumps over big, big bumps.
J! j! J!
Kk
Katie Kangaroo kicks and kicks
K! k! K!
Katie kicks at rocks and sticks.
K! k! K!
Ll
Lizzie Lion licks lollipops
L! l! L!
Lizzie licks and never stops
L! l! L!
L! l! L!
Lizzie licks and never stops
L! l! L!
Mm
Missy Mouse loves to munch.
M! m! M!
Missy munches on her lunch.
M! m! M!
Nn
Nellie Newt just says, “NO!”
N! n! N!
Nellie doesn’t want to go.
N! n! N!
Oo
Ozzie Owl sings opera loud.
O! o! O!
Ozzie sings it for the crowd.
O! o! O!PpPatty Panda makes popcorn pop.
P!p!P!
Patty pops and never stops.
P!p!P!
Quentin Quail quilts for the queen.
Q! q! Q!
Quentin’s quilts are blue and green.
Q! q! Q!
Rr
Robbie Rabbit races cars.
R! r! R!
Robbie races very far.
R! r! R!
Ss
Sally snake likes to hiss.
S! s! S!
Sally hisses at her sis.
S! s! S!
Tt
Timmy Turtle tots along.
T! t! T!
Timmy tots and sings a song.
T! t! T!
Uu
Unger Unicorn loves to hug.
U! u! U!
Unger will even hug a bug!
U! u! U!
VvViolet Vulture flies vroom, vroom.
V! v! V!
Violet loves to fly on her broom.
V! v! V!
Ww
Wally Whale whips his tail with a crash.
W! w! W!
Wally’s tail makes a splash!
W! w! W!
Xx
Xavier Xogert loves x-rays.
X! x! X!
Xavier x-rays every day.
X! x! X!
Yy
Yolanda Yak likes to yo-yo
Y! y! Y!
Yolanda makes her yo-yo go-go!
Y! y! Y!
Zz
Zoe Zebra likes to snooze away.
Z! z! Z!
Zoe snoozes every day.
Z! z! Z!
X! x! X!
Xavier x-rays every day.
X! x! X!
Yy
Yolanda Yak likes to yo-yo
Y! y! Y!
Yolanda makes her yo-yo go-go!
Y! y! Y!
Zz
Zoe Zebra likes to snooze away.
Z! z! Z!
Zoe snoozes every day.
Z! z! Z!
Combine the learning of the sound with the poems. It helps them to recognize the letter in both upper and lower case as well as recognize the sound for each letter.
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