Learning Fun with the Alphabet Hop Game!

             Hey folks! Have I mentioned that trying to do homeschool preschool with my 4 year old has not been easy?! I would be lying if I said I haven't been second-guessing the whole thing or am disappointed that it's not been more “fun” like I envision preschool should be because Myka is so stubborn! But, I'm not giving in yet and am still going to cross my fingers that it's just partially due to her age and the fact that she learns like her father and not me.

             One of our (my?) obstacles has been that she learns best by getting her whole body involved. I guess you could say she's a kinesthetic learner. Makes sense for small children as all kids like to move around, right? But it makes learning certain things difficult. With that being said, I've been looking up ways I can help her learn what she really needs to work on: the alphabet.

             I found a few ideas on Pinterest, of course, that I thought she might like, but most of them are more geared towards warmer weather as they're activities that should really be done outdoors. She kept telling me she wanted to do a “jumping game”, so I got the idea for this game below from one of the lessons/games on her Reading Eggs program.

             I thought I was pretty clever for thinking of this because you can tailor it to whatever you want or need your child to work on: letters, numbers, letter sounds, colors, etc. etc. Added bonus: Even if your child isn't a “full body learner”, they are getting some gross motor practice and working on their coordination as well!

What You'll Need:

-post-it notes or index cards

-a pen

-tape (optional)

-an open floor space

*Pick one number, letter, consonant sound, etc. and write it on 6 (or however many you want depending on how big you want to make the game) post-it notes.

*Also write out at least two more words, letters, etc. for each row. You can see what I mean in the pictures. :)

 She was having some trouble with the "at" sound, finding the word "mat", in particular, on one of the games on Reading Eggs, so that's what we started off with this day.

*Make sure you mix them up, of course, so your child can hop around and have fun too!

*Once your “game area” is set up, tell your child how the game works. Start at one end and hop from “S”, for example, to the “S” in the next row and so forth until they reach the other side! To make it a little more fun, I like to tell Myka that it is a pond and the post-it notes are lillypads. :)

 Is not wearing pants when you're 4, like, a thing?

             What kind of games or fun activities do/did you use to help your kids learn the alphabet?