3 Games To Make Early Literacy Learning Fun

Young children often find learning their letters rather dull and boring.  However, making learning into a fun game can really help kids to engage with the process and consequently to learn more quickly.  Here are three games you might want to try with your child.

Lucky dip letters

For this game you'll need brightly coloured, plastic letters and a cloth bag.

1. First of all, choose a simple word that your child will know, for example their name.  Put all the letters that spell the word into the bag and ask your child to jumble them up.   
2. Now ask your child to choose one letter at a time.  Ask your child to say the name of the letter and make its sound.  
3. When all the letters have been chosen, help your child to lay them out on the floor to spell the word.

Fishing for letters

For this game you'll need a stick, a piece of string, a small magnet, metal paper clips and coloured card.

1. Start by making a fishing rod out of the stick and string.  Tie the magnet to the end of the string.  Now cut out fish shapes from the coloured card and write a letter on each one.  Attach a metal paper clip to each fish.  
2. Jumble up all the fish and place them letter-side down on the floor.  Now ask your child to 'fish' for the letters.  Each time a letter is caught, ask your child to say the sound or name the letter.  
3. Older children can be encouraged to create words from the letter fish they have caught.

Scrap book letter hunt

For this game, you'll need a scrap book, some old magazines, coloured pens or pencils, and a stick of craft glue.

1. Start by tracing the outline of a letter of the alphabet on each page of the scrap book, and ask your child to colour the letter in.  
2. Next, ask your child to choose a letter, and then hunt through the magazines for pictures of things beginning with that letter.  
3. Cut out the pictures and stick them onto the appropriate page of the scrap book.  
4. Ask your child to help you spell out the whole word and write it underneath the picture.

In conclusion

You can supplement your child's learning at a place like Hopskotch Kindergarten by including these games at playtimes.  Stick to your child's favourites and keep the sessions short and sweet.  As long as learning is fun, that's the name of the game!