Sometimes I feel like I am very productive and a real go-getter! And sometimes I feel like I am doing the same thing day in and day out. This blog of mine, which I love so very much, reminds me that I really do the latter.

The same thing, day in and day out. But… I love it!

This “a-maze-ing” learning letters game is still being played around these parts, even though it has been three years since I first wrote about it. I thought you might still enjoy it with your little ones too, so I am sharing it once again.

And I’ll likely do the same in another three years because, well, same things day in and day out…

Just before we get into the game, do you have your Free Letter and Sound Cards yet? There are so many fun ways to play with these cards as your little one begins their letter journey! I give you lots of ideas for how to play right in the freebie. You can grab yours here:

And now, here’s the post—I hope you love it!

Learning letters can be fun and simple.  This game was one we have done many times in many different ways.  Today, we added in some name letters (and a bulldozer) to make it a fun and easy learning letters game.  It was a huge hit!

From teaching Kindergarten, I know all kids learn letters differently. Sammy likes to learn his letters by learning new words. We started with his name letters, and once he had those, we added in some family members’ names and sight words. This left us with only about 6 or 7 letters he didn’t know. So we played a few games to practice those uncommon letters. But this learning letters game was all about gathering letters to spell words.

To set up this game, I put painter’s tape (which we use a lot, and a lot) to form a maze. I just made a square making each side slightly shorter than the one before so the tape would maze around and around into the middle.

Next, I cut out letters for Sammy’s name and put them in the maze, all mixed up. Then I put some tape on the wall for the letters to be stuck in order once found. Sammy took his bulldozer and followed the maze to gather his name letters in order. Once he found one, he scooped it up and ran it to the wall to stick it in place.

Sam decided it should be a race, so he grabbed his egg timer for an added challenge.

This learning letters game was such a hit that Sam asked for more and more names to be cut up and put in the maze!

Of course, not to be left out of the fun, Benjamin had a few turns and was also Sammy’s short cut (when Sam was running out of time, he would ask Ben to pass him letters… “just for a shortcut”).  He was also occasionally a roadblock, but that’s a different story…

For names or words that Sammy was unfamiliar with or had trouble with the order of the letters, I would write the letters in order on the painter’s tape on the wall.  This way, Sammy could still be independent while practicing and learning letters.

Sammy is a learner who likes to be busy.  It always amazes me how much he actually learns (and remembers) from playing these games!  At times, it looks like he is focusing on the racing or running—which he is—but he is also learning letters! Games like this are a great reminder that kids can learn in many different, fun, and creative ways.

For absolutely everything you need to teach your child to read—from rhyming to reading—take a peek at How Wee Read right here:

https://shop.howweelearn.com/pages/how-wee-read

Thank you so much for reading, sweet friend!

xo
Sarah