Alphabet Games
Alphabet Game:
Using the alphabet flashcards (can be printed below), place them in a never-ending path or circle, like a board game. You can place them in random or alphabetical order. Provide each child with a counter and a piece of paper and pencil. The children choose a letter and place their counter on it, writing the letter on their piece of paper. Now take it turns to roll one or two dice and move around the board. Wherever your counter lands, write down that letter on your paper. The first child to find a three-letter word using their letters wins. Older children can play with four or five letter words. You can also print out extra copies of the vowels and most popular consonants and use more than one of them on your board.
Alphabet scramble:
Using the alphabet flashcards (can be printed below) choose a combination that makes a word appropriate for your child's age. Scramble them up and have the child put them in the right order. You can make this game more energetic by "hiding" the cards around the room and telling the child how many cards he has to find. It is also a fun team game: use two different sets of alphabet cards and the kids will have great fun running around each other trying to find where their cards are hidden without giving away cards to the other team!
Alphabet trail:
Create a trail of alphabet cards (can be printed below) around the room, spelling out a word or short sentence which the child will need to write down in a little notebook and present to you when he reaches the end. You can make this more difficult for older children by throwing in "extra" letters which he will need to identify and exclude.
Which letter is missing?
Lay out a set of alphabet flashcards (can be printed below) in alphabetical order. While the children close their eyes, take one card away. On your command they open their eyes and identify which letter is missing.
Alphabetical sort:
Simply shuffle up a set of alphabet cards (can be printed below) and put them back into order as quickly as possible.
How many words:
Give each player a piece of paper and a pencil, and shuffle a pack of alphabet cards. Decide on a "theme" such as flowers, girls' names, cities etc. Turn the top card over and, in a given amount of time, see how many words you can write down which begin with that letter. You can control this game more by deciding after the card is turned over what the theme will be!
A shorter and easier (and noisier) variation of the game is to decide on a theme for the whole game, and to try to shout out an answer as quickly as possible for each letter. Perhaps the winner of each round could take a counter and at the end of the game the counters are tallied for the winner.
Alphabet Go Fish:
Print out two sets of alphabet flashcards (you could print one set of upper case and one set of lower case if appropriate) and deal five cards to each player. Place remaining cards in a stack face down in the middle of the table. Players check their hands for any pairs, and place them face up in front of them if they have any. The youngest player then asks a player of his choice whether he has a particular card. If he does, he must hand it over, and the pair can be placed on the table. If he doesn't, he says "Go Fish", and the first player must take a card from the center pile. The winner is the first player to put all their cards down on the table.
Alphabet Old Maid:
You need at least three players. Print out two sets of alphabet cards, and include one blank card too. Doctor the set so that there are enough cards for each player to have between 6 and 8 cards (less for younger players) and the pack is made up of pairs plus the extra card - you will have an odd number of cards! Shuffle and deal out the cards. Each player checks their hands for any pairs, and places them face up in front of them if they have any. The youngest player then turns to the player on his left, and takes a card (without looking at it!) from his hand. If it makes a pair with one in his hand, he can put it down on the table. Play continues around the circle until one player is left holding the odd card and is called the "Old Maid".
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Printable Cards, Dominoes and Maze
(just click on the activity below and then print)
Alphabet Flash Cards
Alphabet Dominoes
Alphabet Maze
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Search here for more alphabet fun and games:
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Contact Information:
Denise Stevens
dstevens@a-zfunforkids.com
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