I recently bought a GIANT set of plastic cookie cutters dirt cheap. The first thing we did with them was play this little matching game.
It was so easy to set up and Elena was so into it. I think the novelty of having a basket of soooo many cookie cutters helped get her excited about this letter matching game.
How to Set Up an Alphabet Matching Game
We did a similar activity to this called Alphabet Rescue Mission using magnetic letters.
But the set up for this is even easier.
Find a surface or tray large enough to hold all your letters.
Use a washable or dry erase marker to write all the letters.
Toss all the letters in a basket and have your preschooler match the letters.
All in all, I had this whole letter matching activity ready to go in less than two minutes. Don’t look too closely because my handwriting is pretty atrocious.
If you don’t have alphabet cookie cutters, not to worry. You can do this with any loose alphabet letters you have.
- magnetic letters
- foam letters
- paper letters
- sticker letters
I’m pretty sure I have multiple sets of all these laying around somewhere. Anyone need some extra letters?
Since the cookie cutters were brand new, I just put handfuls into a basket and didn’t bother taking out the ones that weren’t letters.
I think this helped make the whole activity feel more playful and less learn-ful… yes, that’s a word. I just said it, just now. It makes sense. Use the context, people.
So in the middle of naming and matching letters, Elena (age 3) and I would try and figure out what some of the cookie cutters were.
That was way harder than matching letters.
Child-Led Learning
Throughout this activity, I didn’t try to force Elena to focus on finding all of the letters. She got sidetracked a lot by all the new cookie cutter shapes, and setting the “special ones” aside for her birthday party (her birthday is 4 months away, by the way).
She didn’t end up finding all the letters. I think there were only six more to go before she gave up.
But, she ended up playing for forty minutes before we had to stop for lunch.
I try to let my kids show me what they are interested in learning and to know when to drop something when they are no longer interested.
It’s a whole lot less stressful for me to simply provide opportunities to learn and not trying to force my own goals on my kids.
I already have to force them to do things they don’t want to do (go to bed, wash their hands, etc.) for their own good. I don’t want to force them to learn. I want to teach them to enjoy learning.
At this age, games and new activities are our definition of learning. We don’t do drills or flashcards. And I try my best to give her space to do things her own way when I can.
This is when the magic happens for us. This is when she grows the most.
Your Turn to Play a Letter Matching Game
If you don’t have alphabet cookie cutters, don’t let that stop you. Try letter matching with magnet letters, foam letters, or paper or sticker letters.
Not into letters? How about shapes? Or numbers?
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Hope you have fun and can use this idea to entertain your toddler!
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