Get ready for the very best of the best preschool card games! When my little ones get to be about 3 or so, they get to start joining in on some of the board game and card game fun that happens around here (oh yes, it’s a wild home we have, friends!).

I really do love card games for preschoolers. They can be SO full of learning. Preschoolers can learn about taking turns, playing fair, being a good sport, and honesty. They can also learn some numeracy and literacy skills—all through the power of play.

I wrote a post a little while ago about a great card game to play with preschoolers that works on loads of math skills. You can find that post right here: Teaching Math to Preschoolers with Playing Cards!

Today I wanted to share with you a card game that will have your little three year old (or four year old, or any age for that matter) learning their letters and sounds by playing ABC Go Fish!

I have shared with you before The Order for Teaching Children Letters. In a nutshell, I like to begin by teaching little ones their name letters, then move on to the rest of the letters in a very specific order, starting with s, a, t, i, p, and n. I’m really not sure why I called this game ABC Go Fish, because there isn’t an ABC in sight!

Before we get into the card game, I want to ensure you also have my free resource for teaching that first group of letters: s, a, t, i, p, and n. If you haven’t, please grab yourself a copy right here:

This freebie also includes a sample of my learn-to-read program, How Wee Read. How Wee Read covers it all, from rhyming to reading in 60 sequential, simple, and beautiful lessons:

• Step One: Phonological Awareness (7 lessons)
• Step Two: Letters, Sounds, and Blending (12 lessons)
• Step Three: Special Rules (5 lessons)
• Step Four: Familiar Readers (36 lessons)

You can learn more about How Wee Read right here.

Okay, now onto the card game!

My nephew Carter knows all of his name letters—woohoo! He knows the lowercase letters, can match the uppercase letters to the lowercase version, and knows the sounds they make as well. So now, we move on to the letters s, a, t, i, p, and n.

Those are the letters we used for this game of ABC Go Fish. 

To prep, I cut a piece of paper into squares. I wrote one letter on each square of paper, writing two of each letter. So we had 2 ‘s’ squares, 2 ‘a’ squares, etc.

To make this a little bit simpler, and for the opportunity to offer a clue if needed, I chose to write each letter in a different colour. This way, if Carter could not recall what a “p” looked like, I could tell him that it was an orange letter.

The rules are very, very simple—as all preschool card games need to be:

Shuffle the cards and deal three cards to your preschooler and three to yourself.

Take turns asking, “Do you have a…” and select a letter from your hand to ask.

If a pair is found, lay those cards down.

The game is done when all the cards are paired up!

I like using only three cards at first, as it makes it much more manageable for preschoolers. The cards are a bit tricky to hold, so you could open a hardcover book on the floor and lay the cards down on the floor behind the open book.

This card game is so easy to play and loads of fun. It is a wonderful beginner card game for preschoolers and a fabulous way to practice letters—an important step in teaching your little one how to read. 

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

I hope you are having a lovely day. Thank you so much for reading, my friends!

xo
Sarah