Alphabet
Games and Number Games
See also
Alphabet Activities
This page is full of
ideas for using our Alphabets and our Alphabet and Number Strips for
learning alphabets and numbers as well as for playing alphabet games and
number games. Ideas range from learning and recognising
numbers and letters, to practicing alphabetical order and expanding
vocabulary, so you should find something
appropriate for all ages.
We have four sets of cards to print for an alphabet matching game - lower case,
capitals, illustrations and illustrations with words underneath. There are so
many different ways you can use them, including simple matching games, file
folder games and flashcards.
Alphabet matching game
NEW!
Use our alphabets in scrapbooks
Use them to decorate your scrapbook pages, or spell out your child's name on a
school folder or workbook or file.
Make door signs
Children love to mark their own territory with their name on their bedroom door!
Depending on age they can perhaps colour and cut their own sign, which can then
be laminated for durability if you wish.
Make key rings, satchel tags
Print and laminate your child's initial, make a hole and attach to a key ring.
Or use a ribbon or string to decorate a school bag or satchel so that your child
will easily identify it.
Decorate bulletin boards
Teachers will come up with all sorts of ideas for using the alphabets on
bulletin boards and around the classroom.
Learning the alphabet
Print out one of our alphabet strips and display it where little ones will
see it all the time! You may want to choose lower case letters for the UK,
as most children are introduced to these first. Go through the alphabet
regularly, pointing to the letters and saying the sounds they make; of
course you can also sing the alphabet song!
Alphabet flashcards
Our alphabets make wonderful flashcards. Choose one which will appeal to
your child, and print onto coloured card if you like. Laminate for
durability and you will be able to use it for all sorts of games in the
future.
Play alphabet bingo
If you print one of the alphabet strips and leave it in sections, each
section forms an easy alphabet bingo card for little children. Give each
child one or two sections. Print out a matching set of alphabet cards and
put them in the middle of the table. Take turns to choose an alphabet card
and see if you have the matching letter on your bingo section. If you do
you could cover it with the card, or with a counter. The first to fill
their section completely is the winner.
Upper and lower case bingo
Both the penguin strip and the sweet heart strip have upper and lower case
letters. Print out a set of lower case sections as the bingo cards, and
print out the upper case letters onto individual alphabet cards. Play as
above.
Editor's note: these bingo games are great
games for mixed aged siblings to play together as the competitive element
keeps the game fun for all ages.
Alphabet race
Print out one of the alphabet strips and use it as a game board. Have a
counter for each player and a dice. Put the counters at the beginning of
the board (that is, just before the "a") and let the youngest
child roll and move their counter the appropriate number of spaces.
Depending on the age of the child, you can adapt the game in many ways:
- when you land on a letter, you say the sound that the letter makes
or move back x number of spaces
- when you land on a letter, you say the name of that letter or move
back
- say a word which begins (or ends) with the letter you have landed
on, or move back
- say a noun, adjective, verb, adverb etc which begins with the letter
you have landed on, or move back
The winner is the first to reach "z"! This game is also very
adaptable for different ages, as you can assign each child a task
appropriate to their age and skill.
Alphabet file
folder anagram game
Cut out one of the alphabets and 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
Print out a set of alphabet cards and choose a combination which 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 around the room (or house), 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 cards 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.
Beginning, middle and end
Use a set of alphabet cards and 3 containers (bowls, paper plates etc)
marked "beginning", "middle" and "end".
Shuffle the cards and have the child turn them over one by one and place
them in the appropriate container. Younger children could do this with the
help of an alphabet strip.
Either side
Using a set of alphabet cards, turn one over at a time and try to identify
as quickly as possible the letter before, the letter after, or both!
Younger children could use an alphabet strip to help.
Alphabetical sort
Simply shuffle up a set of alphabet cards 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 magnets
You can use the printable alphabets to make magnets, by
laminating them and attaching magnets to the back.
Change a letter
Choose a word and find the correct letters to assemble for your
child. Challenge them to change the word to another by swapping one letter
at a time. For example, change "cat" to "cot" to
"cop" and so on.
Alphabet Go Fish
Print out two sets of alphabet cards (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 centre 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".
Alphabet Match up
Print out and join together an alphabet strip of lower or upper case
letters (laminate if required). Write the other case of letters onto a set
of wooden clothes pegs (you can usually buy these very cheaply at a
pound / dollar store). Ask your child to clip the clothes pegs at the
correct place on the line.
Number match up
Print out a number strip and join together as above. Draw a
number of dots, or perhaps some easy sums, onto the clothes pegs, and ask
your child to match the pegs to the correct number on the line.
Alphabet war
Print out a set of alphabet cards. Deal them evenly between two
players. Players turn over the first card on their pile simultaneously,
and call out if their card is closer to the beginning (or end) of the
alphabet. They take both cards. The winner has the most cards when the
pack is completed.
Which is missing?
Make two copies (or how ever many you need) of alphabets and numbers.
Lay the
cards in alphabetical or numerical order replacing one of the letter / number
cards with the ? card. Ask child to identify the missing letter or
number. For older child, the number cards could be placed in skip counting
sequence, backwards, etc. The letters could be used to spell words.
More
Alphabet Activities
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