Alphabet Archives - Page 11 of 12

Alphabet games

08/09/2010 by Cathy James 17 Comments

Alphabet games

L is getting more and more interested in letters and we’re using our magnetic alphabet set to play some alphabet games. There are lots of ways you can use letters of course, depending on how old your children are, but here are two easy games to use with those just starting to recognise letters.

I spy my name

Put a selection of letters on the fridge door (making sure they are all the right way up) and ask your child if they can hunt out the ones which are in their name. We’ve been writing L’s name on drawings, coat pegs, cards to send to friends and so on ever since she was tiny so she’s had lots of chance to get to know what her name looks like. I sound out the letters of her name as I write them and she has learned the sounds, order and shape of them pretty much just by observing this. A child’s name is a great place to start working with letters: they’re pretty ego-centric so they like it being all about them! We always use a capital first letter and lowercase for all the others (so I replicate this with the fridge magnets too).

Letter snap

We put all the letters on the fridge and I select one and say ‘this is an ‘a” and ask L if she can make a match. Snap! She likes to take a turn choosing a letter for me to match – which lets me see how many letters she knows the sound for.

Have you got a set of magnetic letters on your fridge door? How do you play with yours?

C is for caterpillar

19/05/2010 by Cathy James 3 Comments

I love child-led learning. When I’m helping a child learn a new skill I try to put them and their interests at the centre of any activity. Little is starting to be very interested in letters and writing and I’m always looking for ways to encourage her to explore these ideas. So when she discovered this beautiful green caterpillar in the garden we used it as a springboard to play.

She was wondering where the caterpillar’s head was and we were talking about the spiral shape it had made as it curled up. We grabbed some outdoor chalks and tried to copy the shape ourselves. It’s great for children to try making all sorts of marks – not just using paper and pencil, and not straightaway trying to write letters.

Then we talked about the word caterpillar and what sound came at the beginning – which lead us on to writing a ‘c’.

And also inspired the next letter for our touchy-feely alphabet: c is for caterpillar.

This week why not get some chalks and see what shapes you can make?

Letter of the week: D is for dandelion

08/05/2010 by Cathy James 6 Comments

Following on from ‘w is for wool‘ in our touchy-feely letter of the week sensory alphabet, today we made: d is for dandelion

Our walk to school is peppered with dandelion clocks at the moment which my daughter loves to blow. Do you play ‘What’s the time Mr. Wolf?’, counting the puffs until all the seeds have gone?

We decided to see if we could get some of the seedheads home without all the seeds blowing away, to make the next letter for our alphabet – and she had to practise great self-control not to puff them all away before we got back.

I started off by drawing out a ‘d’ on yellow paper. My daughter applied the glue, practising her hand-eye co-ordination to try and stay within the lines.

And then the real fun began! She loved blowing the dandelions onto the wet glue to make her letter d.

Once our ‘d’ was dry we cut it out and stuck it on to a piece of card. It turned out great and feels very soft and fluffy.

More sensory alphabet ideas

Click through for more great sensory alphabet and language activities.

Alphabet wallchart

27/04/2010 by Cathy James 4 Comments

We’re making Little a parade of letters to go around her bedroom wall. Big has had an alphabet wall chart up since she was 3, and if Big Sister has one…

We could buy one of course, but where’s the fun in that? By making our own we can incorporate lots of other skills and new things to try out, such as using scissors. We’re going to include a sensory element too – having touchy-feely letters you can trace round with your fingers helps children to learn the letter’s form. We’re not working from a – z, as learning alphabetical order will come later. Our focus to begin with is on letters which mean something to Little, and as we’ve been knitting this weekend we’re starting with…

W is for wool

I drew out a ‘w’ on some red paper.

Little has learnt how scissors operate and enjoys snipping away to make random shapes but now I’m encouraging her to try and follow along a line sometimes too.

She applied glue very liberally to her W.

And then we added lots of soft wool onto the glue. We left if to dry and then stuck it onto a piece of card. We’ve not decided yet how we’re going to put them up on to the wall – maybe on a long roll of paper, maybe on a washing line. Any suggestions for us?

How are you introducing letters with your child?

I-spy game with letters

21/04/2010 by Cathy James Leave a Comment

>>> Download our guide to ABCs and 123s here

We’ve been playing I-spy Letters today as we were out and about in the neighbourhood. We were hunting for the lettert ‘R’, which happens to be the initial of Little’s best friend, but of course you can choose whichever letter you like: think about what stage your child is at with letter recognition and play the game accordingly.

Young children might just be able to spot the first letter of their name. Older children can be set the challenge of spotting each letter in alphabetical order. If you have more than one child you can even make this a competition to see who can find all the letters of their name first. Aside from helping children to actually recognise letters, this game helps them to sort through an assortment of information to home in on what they’re searching for. It shows them that letters have a real purpose, as you can talk about what all the writing is telling passers-by. It’s also good for them to see words written all sorts of different fonts and in both upper and lower case.

Somedays the school run can be fun, other days it can be a chore, so it’s handy to have a few games ready to use if the kids need to be chivvied on a little. What games do you play?

My guide to ABCs and 123s

Do you have a young child who is learning their ABCs and 123s, and do you want to make their learning fun? Our ABCs and 123s resource of mulitsensory, play-based letter and math activities is just what you need. See more here.

Teach the alphabet with dough

15/04/2010 by Cathy James 3 Comments

A simple bread dough is a perfect medium for children to explore with. It’s easy to make using ingredients you can keep in your storecupboard and I find children always take great pleasure in using ‘real grown-up’ materials. There are lots of ways you can use a bread dough to let your children play with counting, measuring, pouring, cutting. Today we’ve been teaching the alphabet with bread. We’ve a recipe and a song to share with you.

Weigh 500g of strong bread flour and a teaspoon of salt out into a big bowl. Little thought it felt very tickly.

Practise your scissor skills to add a 7g sachet of fast-action dried yeast.

Pour in 300ml of warm water and a tablespoon of olive oil using good hand-eye co-ordination. Little liked mixing the colours to combine all the ingredients into a ball of dough.

Develop strength in your fingers by kneading the dough for 5 minutes on a floured surface. (Getting fingers ready to one day hold a pencil and write well.)

Try out a different texture as you spread a little oil on a baking sheet.

Introduce some letters by making your own dough alphabet. (If you want to use the recipe to make a proper loaf you can shape it and then leave it to prove for 45 minutes before baking.)

Put your letters on the baking sheet and bake in an oven pre-heated to Gas 7/ 220C for about 10 minutes, depending on the size of your letters. (Bake for 25 minutes if you’re making a whole loaf.)

If you can spot the letters in your name you can eat them!