Tag Archives: alphabet

Animal Alphabet Sensory Bin

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Buddy has always loved sensory bins, and it had been awhile since we’ve done one. So when I saw the idea for a sensory bin with animals and letters on Happy Toddler Playtime’s blog, I was excited to do it. I was especially excited that I already had all of the necessary materials: black beans, animals, and magnetic letters.

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I started by pulling out some of Buddy’s small animals. Some of them were from this Jungle Animal Toob, and some were from a farm set from the dollar store. Once I had pulled out the animals I wanted to use, I found the capital and lowercase letter for each animal. My letters are from this magnetic letter set. I decided to use upper and lowercase letters to give Buddy a chance to match both types of letters.

When I made the sensory bin, I buried all the animals and letters in black beans. This activity would have also been great in a rice bin, but I think black beans are easier to clean up. I told Buddy he had to find all of the animals and feed them with both the upper and lowercase letter that matches the first letter of the animal’s name.

Buddy had a great time digging in the beans and finding the letters. He didn’t have any trouble figuring out which letter each animal needed to eat. Buddy did have a little difficulty with the difference between C and S and lowercase p, b, and d. I was glad to give him a chance to practice these letters in a fun way.

After we finished with the letters and animals, Buddy asked me to pull out his mini construction trucks. Two years later, the construction sensory bin remains his favorite! (Read more about it here.) He did add a couple of the animals to help him drive the trucks.

Buddy played in the animal alphabet sensory bin and then the construction bin for almost two hours!! And then, he only stopped because it was time for dinner. It was a really great way to practice letters and have a lot of fun.

Do you have any other fun sensory bin ideas? Please share in the comments.

Fun Alphabet Activities for Preschoolers

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Buddy has been studying the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom at school recently, so he’s been extra interested in the alphabet. He notices letters around him everywhere! We’re constantly talking about letters and their sounds at our house. We have done a lot of different activities over the last couple of years to help Buddy learn his letters, and I thought I’d write a blog post so they could all be found in one place.

Alphabet Kaboom Game

All of the letters are written on popsicle sticks, along with a few sticks labeled Kaboom! You take turn pulling sticks, and saying the letter. If you pull a Kaboom stick, you have to put back all of your sticks. Whoever has the most sticks at the end of a set amount of time wins. Read more about this activity here.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom STEM Game

The STEM part of this game is to build a strong tree for the letters to climb. Then, you take turns pulling a magnetic letter and putting it on top of the tree. Whoever knocks down the tree loses the game. It’s so much fun! I’d like to play this one again soon. Read more about this game here.

Alphabet Easter Egg Hunt

We did this one at Easter and then again over the summer. I hid eggs that were filled with magnetic letters. Buddy found the letters and matched them to a pan. It’s so easy, and a lot of fun. Both times we did this activity, we had to immediately repeat it. Read more about this activity here.

Serving Letter Cookies

I wrote letters on paper plates, and Buddy scooped up the foam letter “cookie” to match it. We revisited this activity a few weeks ago, and Buddy had so much fun he made me make a plate for every letter! We also enjoyed pretending to eat our cookies. Read more about this activity here.

Magnetic Letters Sensory Bin

Buddy loves sensory bins, and rice sensory bins are his favorite! I hid magnetic letters in rice, and Buddy had to dig through and find all of the letters. The last time we played in the rice bin, Buddy asked me to pull out the letters to throw in the rice because he had so much fun digging for them. Read more about this activity here.

Magnetic Letters Busy Bag

Last summer I put together a tin of magnetic letters and some words to spell. Most of the words were names of family members, but there were a few other simple words in there too. Buddy really enjoyed being able to “read” and spell the names of his family. This was a great activity to keep him busy on long car trips. Read more about the magnetic letter busy bag here.

Floating Letters

I cleaned out the kitchen sink, and then I asked Buddy to find and scoop different letters. He loved this one! It’s been a long time since we’ve done it, so I want to try it again soon. Read more about floating letters here.

Fishing for Magnetic Letters

We started fishing for magnetic letters when Buddy was little. Buddy was not quite two in the picture above, and at the time, he didn’t know the names of the letters. But he loved fishing for magnetic letters then, and we still do it from time to time now. Read more about this activity here.

Spider Web Spelling

We did this activity at Halloween time. I put magnetic letters in different parts of a giant spider web. Buddy picked out a spelling card, and then he went trick or treating for the different letters. This was a lot of fun, and a great way to combine gross motor skills into literacy practice. You can read more about this activity here.

Do you have any other ideas for fun ways to practice the alphabet? Please share in the comments sections.

Alphabet Kaboom Game

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This summer, Buddy and I spent a lot of time working on alphabet activities. When I came across the idea for the alphabet kaboom game on The Many Little Joys’s blog, I was excited to make it to play with Buddy. However, when we tried to play the game, Buddy wasn’t interested in it. So I put it away for another day.

I pulled out the kaboom game this weekend, and Buddy and I had a blast! The set up for the game is super simple. I grabbed a handful of jumbo popsicle sticks and wrote a different letter of the alphabet on the bottom of each one. I also wrote the word Kaboom on the bottom of six sticks. Then I put the sticks in a metal bucket so the written parts were in the bucket.

It’s very easy to play the game. We took turns pulling out a stick and saying the letter. Sometimes we would add a word that started with that letter as well. But whenever someone pulled a Kaboom stick, that person had to put back all of his/her popsicle sticks. At the end of a set amount of time, whoever has the most sticks wins. Buddy didn’t like the idea of setting a timer, so we just listened to music and the game ended at the end of each song.

Uh oh! Buddy got a Kaboom!

Buddy liked this game so much that we played it over and over again! We probably played eight or more games in one sitting. It was a wonderful way to practice letters, and we both had fun. We will be playing it again soon.

 

Alphabet Easter Egg Hunt

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Yesterday morning, Buddy told me over breakfast that he wanted to do a surprise.  I took that to mean that he wanted to do something a little different than usual. Fortunately for both of us, I had an idea ready to go.

Buddy has been very interested in learning his letters lately, so I’ve been busy looking for fun alphabet activities. I saw several different versions of an alphabet scavenger hunt with Easter eggs on Pinterest, and I knew Buddy would love it. I really loved the coloring sheet on Playdough to Plato’s blog, but when I asked Buddy, he said he would prefer using magnetic letters on a baking pan.

While Buddy was playing with Hubby, I pulled out a bag of magnetic letters and put each letter in an Easter egg. Then, I hid them around the house. I also found an old baking pan and I wrote each letter on the pan with a dry erase marker.

I gave Buddy his Easter basket, because I thought he’d find all the eggs before opening them to match the letters. But actually, Buddy decided to find and match one letter at a time. Then he put the empty egg in the Easter basket. He used up a lot of energy running back and forth between the eggs and the pan. 

Buddy had a lot of fun finding the eggs, and even more fun matching up the letters. He was especially excited when he knew the letter. Because he went through the entire alphabet, I saw exactly which letters we need to spend extra time on this summer. 

This was such a fun and easy activity for a rainy morning. Buddy had a lot of fun, and he got some great literacy practice as well.

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