Playing alphabet games with a preschooler is a great way to help them remember their alphabet without putting too much pressure on it. Many young children do not respond to pressure well. So, help them learn their letters, the corresponding lower and uppercase, the sounds they make, and some words that start with those letters by trying the following preschool alphabet games:
Letter Memory: memory is a game where you have a bunch of cards flipped over so they are face down. On your turn you get to turn two over. You are trying to find a match. Help the kids learn the upper and lowercase letters that go together by creating memory letter cards where you have “A” with “a” all the way through the alphabet. Then, play memory and let them make the matches. They will have fun, and will learn what letters go together as they play. If the preschooler already knows this, you can try having “A” and then a picture of an apple on the corresponding card. This will help them learn the sounds the letters make and begin to identify the things that start with that letter. You can make this game using index cards, and will have tons of fun playing it over and over.
Musical letters: this game is played similar to musical chairs. You are going to get papers and write out the letters, one on each paper. Then you are going to put them on the ground in a circle. Turn on some music, and let the preschoolers march around these alphabet pages. When the music stops, have them pick up the letter they are on. In order to stay in the game they have to identify the letter they stopped on. If they get it wrong they are out, and you keep playing until each preschooler is out. If the kids are past letter recognition, you can have them identify the sound it makes, or supply a word that starts with that letter. You can customize it to fit their level. This is a great game for a large class.
What comes next? In this game you are going to make up cards for each letter of the alphabet and place them in the correct order. You are going to go through and say each letter as you point to its card. Then, after going through the cards once, remove five. Then, go through the letters again, and ask the kids to name the missing letters. You continue removing letters until they can do the whole thing. You can mix this game up some by putting the letters in the wrong order, and having them arrange them correctly, or by asking them to draw in the missing letters instead of just saying them. This will help them learn the letter structure.
You can take just about any game and make it into an alphabet game for preschoolers, so ask them what their favorite game is, and see if you can adjust it to be an alphabet game.
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