Free Letter Play

There are so many great Alphabet Activities out there for little ones!  I found that with my own children, exposing them to the alphabet at an early age was very beneficial by helping them learn to identify and remember their letters.  I have always had the Alphabet displayed somewhere in my house and have allowed free play with various letter materials to engage them.  "Free" letter play makes learning letters fun without any pressure on the parents or child! 

This is one of the ways my kids "play" with the Alphabet.  We have a large bin of magnetic letters and several different magnetic white boards. 

• One of their favorite ways to play with this bin is to get out the magnifying glass and search for as many of the letters as they can find.
• Another fun activity is to gather both capital and lower case letters and see if you can find a match.
• You can also use two white boards to sort capital letter and lowercase letters.

• This is another game that we play with the magnetic letters.  I printed these letter cards for free on the blog Confessions of a Homeschooler (direct link below).  I cut the cards out, laminated them with packaging tape (this is how I laminate everything) and hung them in this pocket chart on the fridge. We lay the chart down on the table and the kids search through the bin and lay the letters they find on the corresponding letter card.  Ellie was doing this when she was two years old...she figured it out all on her own by watching her brother and frequently looking at the picture cards!  They do this with both capital and lowercase letters.   
• http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/preschool-printable

**Teaching Tip: Showing the pictures along with the letters has really helped my kids recognize the letters and also the sounds that they make.

Other Free Letter Play Ideas:

• Oliver learned his letters in the bathtub with Matt when he was less than two years old. During bath time they learned together by playing and sticking foam bathtub letters to the wall.
• I have a lot of different Alphabet flashcards that they love to spread out on the floor.  Most of them have come from Good Will or the dollar store.
• We own an Alphie Robot toy that has separate learning cards that teach objects that begin with that letter as well as the sounds.
• Books that display letter pages with colorful pictures are great for little ones to page through and explore letters.
• Hide and Seek Letter Game- Hide the letter flashcards around the house and have the kids search for them.