Preschool Activities

Snowball Toss Alphabet Game for Toddlers

January 8, 2020 By Trisha

I’m always looking for ways to get kids moving and learning especially in winter when we’re stuck inside more.

Let’s practice letter recognition and letter sounds with a pretend snowball fight.

Toddlers and preschoolers will love this snowball toss alphabet game. And, once you’re done playing you can move on to more fun activities for toddlers.

Help your kids learn their ABC's with this fun Snowball Throw Alphabet game for toddlers and preschoolers.

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Materials You’ll Need for the Snowball Toss Game

Snowballs

Card stock(or paper)

Paper cutter (or scissors)

Tape (I used masking tape.)

Marker

Paper plates (or something similar – use plastic bowls, plates, or even pieces of paper)

I found 10 indoor snowballs for $3 at the Target dollar spot. Walmart is selling 20 indoor snowballs for about $10. You can also get indoor snowballs on Amazon. You could even make your own snowballs from balled up socks or crumpled paper.

The indoor snowballs remind me of giant pom poms, but they are weirdly squishy. You know how real snow feels when you make a snowball – that squishy, crunchy feeling? The indoor snowballs replicate that feeling.

Set Up Your Snowball Throw Alphabet Game

I used a paper cutter to cut a piece of white card stock into 1-inch squares. Then, I wrote a letter on each paper square. I drew a line at the bottom of each lowercase letter and some of the uppercase letters just so it was easy to tell which direction the card went.

Your toddler or preschooler will have fun moving and learning their abc's with this simple gross motor Snowball Toss Alphabet Game

I used uppercase and lowercase letters for our matching game. You could play the matching game with the same case to work more on introducing letters.

Select 10 letters to work with. (This helps focus on just some of the letters instead of the entire alphabet. If you have more snowballs, feel free to use more letters.)

Tape one lowercase letter to each snowball.

Now you’ll need a landing zone for the snowballs. I used small paper plates. You could use containers or even pieces of paper.

Tape one uppercase letter to each landing zone.

Place the uppercase letters on one side of the room. We lined the paper plates up near the wall.

Make a pile of snowballs on the other side of the room.

Practice the alphabet with this fun indoor snowball game for toddlers

Play this snowball toss alphabet game

Have your child pick up a snowball and find the letter on it. Ask him to say the name of the letter. (You can also have him say the letter sound.)

Now have your child throw the snowball across the room (towards the paper plates). I had my kids throw the snowballs at the wall.

Next, have your child pick up the snowball and find it’s matching letter on a paper plate. Say: “You have the little (lowercase) letter e. Can you find the big (uppercase) letter E?” Have her place the snowball on the correct letter.

Keep throwing snowballs and matching letters until you run out.

Then, you can reset the game and play it all over again. Use the same letters or practice different ones. (We stayed on the same set for a while. We’ll switch out the letters and play again another day.)

My toddler (age 2.5) and my preschooler (age 4.5) equally enjoyed this snowball toss alphabet game. They loved getting to throw the snowballs at the wall and then had fun finding the right letter.

Sometimes my toddler read the letters upside down and just made a match with whatever he thought the letter was. I had to have him slow down a bit and help him double check the letters.

I love how this game gets kids moving and working on gross motor skills (throwing, bending, running, etc.) while practicing the alphabet.

More Winter Themed Activities for Toddlers

Set up a snow sensory bin for small world play.

Use snow as a canvas for some Snow Painting.

Make a fizzy snow dough sensory bin.

Try some penguin painting, an easy art project that’s perfect for toddlers.

Learn your ABCs with this fun gross motor Snowball Throw Alphabet Game for Toddlers

Find All Your Supplies Here

You may already have some of the supplies you need at home. I know I always have a roll of tape and some card stock. But, if you’re looking to buy some of the supplies, here are a few that I recommend.

Are you looking for more kids activities?

Join our fun Facebook community, Creative Family Fun for Busy Families, for daily activities that are great for kids and families. We’ll chat, share, and have fun. It’s a safe and private place to share ideas for family and kids activities.

I’d love for you to join me! Just click the link below, request to join, and answer the questions (they’re easy, I promise). Come join the fun! Join the Creative Family Fun for Busy Families community here.

Christmas Tree Alphabet Matching Game for Toddlers

December 2, 2019 By Trisha

Are you looking for a festive, Christmas themed alphabet activity for toddlers or preschoolers? You’ll love our Christmas Tree Alphabet Matching Game.

Use it to practice uppercase and lowercase letter recognition and letter sounds.

Practice your ABCs with this fun and simple Christmas tree alphabet matching game. This easy-to-make game is fun for toddlers and preschoolers.

Supplies Needed for Christmas Tree Letter Game

Felt (you could also use paper)
Scissors
Marker

How to Set Up the Christmas Alphabet Matching Game

Cut out 26 triangles to represent your Christmas trees. I was able to get 26 trees out of 2 pieces of green felt. Feel free to make your Christmas trees whatever color you like. If you don’t have felt, you can use paper instead. You could even have your toddler help you color or decorate the paper trees before playing the game.

Cut out stars. I only had one piece of yellow felt, so I cut out 13 stars and used both sides of each star for the game. 2 pieces of yellow felt should allow you to cut out 26 stars. I drew a star on a piece of paper, cut it out, and then traced it onto the felt.

Use a marker to write uppercase letters on your trees – one letter for each tree. You might want to have something underneath the felt as you’re writing. My permanent marker seeped through the felt onto my table.

Draw lowercase letters on each of your felt stars. Since I only had 13 stars, I drew the letters a-m on one side and n-z on the second side.

We played this game on a table. If you have a large felt board, it would great to play on there as well.

How to Play the Christmas Tree Alphabet Matching Game

Set out the Christmas trees with the capital letters. (I set up half since I only had 13 stars).

Place the stars below the trees. If you are using 13 stars, make sure the correct letters are facing up.

Have your child match the stars to the Christmas trees.

You might show him an example of where to place the stars. Stars on a Christmas tree usually go on top, so that’s where we put ours. Sometimes my 3-year-old placed the stars right in the middle of the tree. That’s totally fine, too.

The goal is to match the lowercase letter on the star with the uppercase letter on the tree.

Talk about the letters as your child plays. “What letter do you see?” “That’s a capital (big) A. Can you find a lowercase (little) A?” “What letter is on the tree?” “What letter is on the star in your hand?”

Play a Find the Letter Game

You can use the trees to practice finding letters, too. Can you find the letter R?

Work on letter sounds as you play this game. What sound does the letter R make? Can you find the letter that makes the /b/ sound?

You can even practice beginning letter sounds. What letter does tree start with?

Use the Christmas trees and stars to spell your child’s name. Ask your child to find the letters in her name, or call out the letters for her.

More Christmas Tree Themed Activities for Kids

Christmas Tree Number Hunt

Baking Soda Painted Christmas Trees

Christmas Tree Crafts for Kids

Fun Christmas Math Activities for Kids

Do More Activities With Your Family

Beginning Letter Sounds Bat Matching Activity

October 23, 2019 By Trisha

A bat themed activity is great for Halloween. You could also use it as part of a night themed unit studying nocturnal animals.

Try our beginning letter sounds bat matching activity for toddlers and preschoolers as part of your bat theme or as a stand-alone Halloween activity.

Beginning Letter Sounds Bat Matching Activity

Supplies Needed for the Bat Matching Halloween Game

Bat cutouts (or black cardstock and scissors)

Silver marker

Painter’s tape (optional)

Flashlight

How to Set Up the Beginning Letter Sounds Activity

Determine what letters you want to work on. I recommend working on just a handful of letters at a time. Choose 3-4 words for each letter. I used Halloween themed words. Here’s a list of Halloween words for inspiration. (Use this same idea with older kids for spelling or sight words.)

Write your chosen letters and words on the bat cutouts. I used a combination of foam bats from Hobby Lobby and bats I cut out of cardstock. I simply traced a foam bat and cut it out. You can often find bat cutouts at Target (in the Dollar Spot) or at Michael’s as well.

I chose to write uppercase letters for my letter bats as a bonus letter matching activity. You could use lowercase letters instead.

Now you have the makings of a simple matching game.

How to Play the Beginning Letter Sounds Bat Matching Game

Place your letter bats in one location in your room. You could lay them on the floor, place them on table, or tape them to a wall. (Be sure that your tape won’t harm your wall. Painter’s tape is usually safe on most painted surfaces. Just don’t leave it on there for long periods of time. Take it down when your game is over.)

Now hide your bats around the room. I taped mine to the walls in my sort of dark hallway. You could also lay the bats on the floor or on different pieces of furniture if you don’t want to use tape.

The goal of the game is for your child to take a word bat and match its first letter to the correct letter bat.

Here’s the extra fun part. Use a flashlight. (Talk about flashlight safety with your child and how we don’t shine lights in people’s eyes – including his/her own.)

Have your child shine the flashlight on a word bat. Read the word on the bat to your child. Ask him what letter it starts with. “That’s the word ‘moon.’ What letter does moon start with? What letter do you see?”

As you’re reading the words, also practice the beginning letter sounds. Say: “B says /b/. /b/ /b/ bat. Bat starts with the letter b.”

Have your child take the word bat and place it near the matching letter bat.

It’s not important that your toddler or even preschooler reads the words. You just want him or her to work on letter sounds and associating what that first letter looks like with its letter sound. It is important for you and your child to say the letter sounds as you’re playing.

Using the flashlight helps to highlight the letters. My toddler wanted to play this game again and again just so he could go around finding the bats with the flashlight.

More Bat Themed Halloween Activities

Bats in a Cave Sight Word Game

Halloween Bat Crafts for Kids

Bat Number Treasure Hunt at Inspiration Laboratories

Halloween Black Bat Sensory Bin at Pre-K Pages

Do you want to do more activities with your family?

Spider Toss Number Game for Toddlers

October 3, 2019 By Trisha

Spiders are a fun learning theme that’s popular around Halloween. Try our spider toss number game for toddlers to practice number recognition.

Practice number recognition with your toddlers when you play this fun Spider Toss Number Game. It's so much fun to play and learn!

Spider Toss Number Game for Toddlers

What You’ll Need for the Number Game

Painter’s tape
Cardstock or paper (recycled paper would be great for this)
Marker
Scissors or paper cutter
Spider (made from 5 bump chenille stems)

How to Setup the Spider Themed Number Game

Use your painter’s tape to create a spider web. I like to start with a + and an x. Then connect the lines to make the web. [Painter’s tape should be fine on most surfaces but I don’t recommend leaving it on for long periods of time. Use a large piece of cardboard, posterboard, foamboard, or something similar if you’re wanting to play longer.]

Cut up cardstock or a piece of paper into small squares. Write a number on each square. I used the numbers 1-10. Work on higher numbers if your child is ready. You could even work on number words with older children.

Place the numbers around the spider web.

Create your spider with 5 bump chenille stems (pipe cleaners). I simply twisted the chenille stems together and then wrapped the stems around and around to create the spider body, 8 legs, and 2 pedipalps (short appendages by the spider’s head). I first made this spider for a sponsored post. You can watch a video or read step by step instructions on how to make the pipe cleaner spiders.

Feel free to use any toy spider you have around. Spider erasers or the plastic spiders found in the Halloween section would work well, too. Just be careful of the small size around toddlers who still like to put things in their mouths. A homemade cardboard tube spider would be great for this activity as well.

How to Play the Spider Toss Number Game

Have you child stand near the spider web and toss the spider onto it. What number does the spider land near?

Continue tossing and dropping the spider as long as your child is interested.

The goal is to talk about the numbers as much as possible. Are there certain numbers your child tends to struggle with?

As a second option, you can call out a number and have your child toss or place the spider on that number.

Say, “Where is the number 4? Can you take your spider to the number 4?”

Practice number recognition with your toddlers when you play this fun Spider Toss Number Game.

This is a super simple way for toddlers to practice naming numbers. The spider adds a bit of fun and interest.

If you want to practice counting from 1 to 10, have your child move the spider from number to number in the correct order.

More Spider Web Games for Preschoolers

Spider Math Games – Work with a number line to practice counting and number recognition.

Fizzy Spider Web Art – Combine science and art to create colorful fizzy spider webs.

Sticky Spider Web Gross Motor Activity – Build a sticky web and see if your spider can catch what you throw.

Spider Web Walking Game – Can you balance on the spider’s web? Another great one for working on gross motor skills for toddlers.

Do you want to do more activities with your family?

Leaf Hunt Alphabet Game for Toddlers

September 9, 2019 By Trisha

Fall is a great time to do learning activities with leaves.

Our Leaf Hunt Alphabet Game for Toddlers is a fantastic way to work on learning letters. You can practice name recognition and letter sounds, too.

Leaf Hunt Alphabet Game for Toddlers

Supplies Needed for the Leaf Themed Alphabet Learning

Leaves – collect real leaves, use silk leaves, or cut paper leaves

Chalk markers or permanent marker

Bucket or container

Drawing board (We used an Etch a Sketch Freestyle. A dry erase or chalk board would work well, too.)

How to Set Up the Leaf Hunt Alphabet Game

Head outside and collect some fallen leaves. We were able to collect magnolia tree leaves and tulip tree leaves after a storm had blown them out of the trees. Real leaves do become brittle and can crumble after a while. Larger leaves tend to do better. You can also preserve the leaves. Instead of real leaves, you can use silk leaves from the floral or craft department or you cut leaves from paper. If you want to save the paper leaves, you might want to laminate them or cover them with contact paper.

Write letters on the leaves. I used a chalk marker to write on real leaves. We’ve found that a chalk marker is fun for drawing on leaves as well. The chalk marker is erasable. If you change your mind, just wipe it off. Permanent markers would be fine substitute.

I drew uppercase and lowercase letters on our leaves. You could just start with uppercase letters or even just choose a selection of letters if your child is just starting to learn the alphabet. Sometimes too many letters can be overwhelming.

Spread the leaves out in the grass or on your floor.

How to Play

There are a few different ways we played this leaf game. The goal is to get kids moving and learning letters.

Game 1: Read the Letter

For this game, simply have your child pick up a leaf and bring it to you. Ask her what letter is on the leaf.

Outdoor fun with this leaf hunt alphabet game

You can also work on letter sounds. “That’s the letter B. B says /b/.”

Continue picking up leaves and saying the names (and sounds) of the letters.

You can add a bucket to your learning game if you wish. Have your child carry the bucket and place a leaf inside. Then, bring it to you and tell you what letter is on it.

Game 2: Find the Letter

For this game, you’ll need a drawing board. We use an Etch a Sketch Freestyle. A dry erase board or a chalk board would work equally as well. You could also use alphabet cards or letters written on paper squares. We were doing the activity outside, so I wanted something that wouldn’t blow away.

Ask your child to say a letter. Write the letter on the drawing board. (Alternatively, you can just choose the letter.)

Have your child find that letter in the leaves. Bring the letter back.

Practice saying the name of the letter and the letter’s sound.

You can also work on uppercase and lowercase letters. Write both cases of the letter on the board and ask your child to find them in the leaves.

Leaf Hunt Alphabet Game for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Game 3: Spell Your Name

Your child’s name is one of the first words he or she will be able to read. They get so excited when they recognize the word as theirs.

For this game, write your child’s name down on the drawing board. (You can even ask your child to spell it for you.)

Have your child hunt for the letters in his name.

My son found the letters in his name, but he didn’t find them in order. When he had all of the letters, I had him put the letters in the correct order under the drawing board.

More Leaf Themed Activities for Toddlers

Leaf Name Sticky Wall – work on name recognition with a contact paper sticky wall

Go Leaf Collecting– make a bag to collect your nature finds

Leaf Shape Collage – work on fine motor skills and learn shapes

Leaf Measurement and Sorting Activity

Preschool Activities

Materials You’ll Need for the Snowball Toss Game

Set Up Your Snowball Throw Alphabet Game

Play this snowball toss alphabet game

More Winter Themed Activities for Toddlers

Find All Your Supplies Here

Are you looking for more kids activities?

Supplies Needed for Christmas Tree Letter Game

How to Set Up the Christmas Alphabet Matching Game

How to Play the Christmas Tree Alphabet Matching Game

Play a Find the Letter Game

More Christmas Tree Themed Activities for Kids

Do More Activities With Your Family

Beginning Letter Sounds Bat Matching Activity

Supplies Needed for the Bat Matching Halloween Game

How to Set Up the Beginning Letter Sounds Activity

How to Play the Beginning Letter Sounds Bat Matching Game

More Bat Themed Halloween Activities

Do you want to do more activities with your family?

Spider Toss Number Game for Toddlers

What You’ll Need for the Number Game

How to Setup the Spider Themed Number Game

How to Play the Spider Toss Number Game

More Spider Web Games for Preschoolers

Do you want to do more activities with your family?

Leaf Hunt Alphabet Game for Toddlers

Supplies Needed for the Leaf Themed Alphabet Learning

How to Set Up the Leaf Hunt Alphabet Game

How to Play

Game 1: Read the Letter

Game 2: Find the Letter

Game 3: Spell Your Name

More Leaf Themed Activities for Toddlers

Do you want to do more activities with your family?

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