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Letter Recognition

Flyswatter Letters

Throw letters on the floor and give the students flyswatters. Call out a letter and the students run around the room swatting only that letter. I also make them say the name of the letter as they swat it. Make sure you use big letters that the students can see easily. I just use the laminated dicut letters that I made for the bean bag toss above.

Alphabet Soup

Put letters in a bowl with a soup ladle. Students take turns scooping letters out of the bowl and writing them down on their recording sheet. You can also make this activity easier by already having the letters written down and then the students color the letter they scoop out of the bowl.

ABC Bowling

I bought bowling pins one year on sale at the toy store because I knew I could figure out something fun to do with them. I wrote letters on 3x5 index cards and placed one under each bowling pin. The students take turns bowling and trying to knock over the pins. When they knock them over, they say the letter underneath and keep the card. The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins.

ABC Go Fish

Played just like Go Fish, but with letters instead of numbers. My students love this game once they get the hang of it. It's a little complicated for them at first, but once they understand how to play they want to play over and over again to try and win. You can download a copy of the game at my TPT store if you don't want to make your own. Note: It does take a lot of ink to print the cards, and it requires some assembly, but once the cards are made you have them forever.

Letter Search - Bingo Chips

Students cover the letters with the correct colored bingo chip. Available at my TPT store here.

Letter Basketball

Write letters on a piece of paper and set them on the table (can also be played with letter bean bags). Call out a letter and the student must find that letter and try to make a basket. (If you're using paper, they crumble the paper into a ball and try to make a basket).

Letter Bean Bag Toss

Lie letters on the floor. (I made all the letters of the alphabet using my school's dicut machine. Then I glued them on a piece of construction paper and laminated them. You want the letters big enough that the children can see them from across the room). Students take turns throwing a bean bag. If it lands on a letter they have to name that letter and then they get to keep it. The person with the most letters win.

Letter Muncher

I made this Letter Monster by using a baby formula can. Students take turns feeding the monster a letter using tweezers. To make it more fun, you can teach the children this chant: 

 

Letter Monster, Letter Monster, munch munch munch!

What letter do you want for lunch?

 

I had my students slap their legs/knees as we chanted. Then I named a letter and they fed the monster that letter.

Write the Room Games

Another one of my students' favorite games. I hide letters around the classroom and give students a clipboard with the letters on it. They must find the letters, and color them on their clipbord when they find them. I usually put the papers in sheet protectors, so I can re-use them. I play this game almost every month, and just change it based on our monthly theme. You can also make it harder by having the children write the letter they find as opposed to coloring it.

Which Letter is Missing?

Place letters on the table. Have the children cover their eyes while you take one away. See if they can identify which letter is missing.

Fishing for Letters

Put magnetic letters in a bowl. Students use fishing poles to catch a letter. Then they write the letter they caught on the Fishing for Letters printable.

Letter Mazes

Students follow the letter through a maze. I have one for my Community Helper Unit and one for my Fairy Tale Unit. Available at my TPT store here.

Letter Board Games

  • Pop a Letter - I bought this from Lakeshore last year. It's essentially Bingo, but the studnets use a popper to pop a letter. I like it, and the kids love the popper, but I wish the letters on the dice were bigger. It's hard for my students to see what letter they need to cover.

 

  • Letter Bingo - Another version of Bingo. This time the children use a spinner to pick the letter they cover up.

 

  • Alphabet Match Me - Fun game. Students draw a card and match it to their board. The first person to cover their whole board wins.

Where's the Letter Games

My students love this game so much, that I made a version for every theme, so we play it once a month. Basically, you have pictures with letters on them. Then you hide something under one of the pictures, and the students take turns naming a letter to try and find the hidden object. These are available for purchase at my TPT store here.

Name Tags

Students use the name tiles and name tags to spell their friend's name. When they finish, they switch names with another student until they spell everyone's name.

Sensory Letters

  • Sand Letters - Students write letters in the sand​

  • Gel Letters - Ziploc bag, gel, food coloring, and glitter. Press flat. Students write letters on top of the bag. See an example here.

  • Digging for Letters - Students dig for letters and put them in the puzzle.

  • Playdough Letters - Students make letters out of playdough. You can either do this freestyle where the students roll the playdough into snakes and make the letters, or you can print off letters and have them fill in the letters with playdough. I do both, and the students seem to like them both equally. I have some playdough printable pages available at my TPT store here.

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