Twenty-six letters, and every one of them comes in two shapes. For a preschooler that is a lot to keep straight. Big B and little b do not look alike at all, little b, d, p and q are the same shape turned around, and M and W are mirror twins. Kids who know their letters by name often still hesitate when they see a little letter on its own.
That is why we made the Alphabet Game. It is the Funzyland Sillybration Parade, but Bomzy let all the letters float away! Kids help Funzy bring every letter home, from A to Z. Funzy shows each big letter and each little letter, kids pop the matching balloon, and the letter floats down to its flag on the parade bunting while a Funzy friend pops up to cheer.
Then the review rounds put every letter back in ABC order, first the big letters and then the little ones. Every child finishes with stars. It is letter recognition practice that feels like a parade.
How to Play the Alphabet Game
- Listen to Funzy. Funzy reads every direction out loud, so even pre-readers can play.
- Round 1: Funzy shows a big letter on the parade sign and says, “This is the big letter B. Find the big letter B.” Pop the balloon with the big B. Then do the same for the little b. All 26 letters, big and little, one at a time.
- Each letter you find floats down to its flag on the parade bunting, and the Funzy friend for that letter pops up to cheer it home. Tap a flag any time to hear the letter again.
- The tricky letters are look-alikes, like b, d, p and q or M and W. A wrong tap gets a kind tip that names the shape, like “Little b has a tall line and one bump at the bottom,” never a lost life.
- Round 2: Bomzy mixed up all the big letters! Tap the big letters back in ABC order, A, B, C and on to Z.
- Round 3: the little Bomzies mixed up the little letters. Kids hear “Pop the letter that comes after…” and pop the little letters back in order from a to z.
- Go for 3 in a Row!, 5 in a Row! and 10 in a Row!, beat your High Score, and try for a Perfect Game. Every child finishes with stars, and the whole parade cheers.
What Kids Learn
The Alphabet Game helps kids recognize and name every uppercase and lowercase letter (Common Core RF.K.1d), tell look-alike letters apart, and put the letters in ABC order.
- Big letter first, then little letter: once kids know a capital, the lowercase letter is much easier to learn, so every letter starts with the big one.
- Look-alikes: b, d, p and q, n, h and u, M and W, and i, j and l show up as tricky choices, so kids learn to look closely.
- Shape words: tips like “Big B has a line down and two bumps” give kids a way to check each letter.
- ABC order: the review rounds go through every big letter and every little letter again, from A to Z.
- Teacher words: big letter, little letter, find the big, find the little, in order.
Try this at home or in class: write a few big letters on sticky notes and the matching little letters on more notes. Mix them up and have your child match each big letter to its little letter, then line the big letters up in ABC order, just like the parade.
More Practice with the Alphabet
- Alphabet Song (animated music video)
- Alphabet Letter Recognition Activity
- Farm Alphabet Letter Matching Activity
- Winter Easy Alphabetical Order Activity
- Letter A Game through Letter Z Game, one game for every letter
Teachers: members can assign the Alphabet Game to a whole class with a Classroom link. Students play on any device, and you see who finished and how they did.
Ready for the parade? The Alphabet Game plays on any phone, tablet, Chromebook or computer.
