Games and Activities for our letter magnets

On the refrigerator:

1. Letter matching - We line up all the uppercase letters on the left hand side and mix up the lowercase letters on the right hand side. Then Benny gets to match them back up. In our house it makes for a great competition as Benny tries to keep the letters straight while the girls try to sneak over and mix a few up when he is not looking.

2. Letter swapping for phonics - Take any 3 letter word (mat for example) then substitute as many other letters for the m as you can to make words. For variations try swapping out the vowel of the last letter instead.

3. Spelling - We often test spelling for SWO A and even B by making the words on the refrigerator instead of spelling them out loud. This is also a great way to teach a preschooler how to spell their name.

On the Fisher Price drawing board:

1. Letter matching stamps - Divide the letters into two piles (uppercase and lowercase). Mom or an older sibling can stamp a letter from their pile. Then Benny finds the match and stamps it beside that one. For a variation: Let Benny draw a letter from a bag or bucket to stamp and then find the match on the floor and stamp it.

2. Tracing stamps - Simply stamp the letter on the drawing board and then trace it with the drawing board pen. Benny loves this because his lines can be a little wobbly and he still stays within the stamp.

3. Stamping out words - We mainly do this with names for preschool. Sometimes we trace the names and sometimes not.

On the floor:

1. Sticky letter pairs - Basically another version of matching letters. Benny sticks the uppercase and lowercase letter back to back in pairs. He also likes to pounce on the letters as part of the game. It takes a little longer, but he has lots of fun.

2. Letter fishing - Place the letters face down on the floor. Using one of the magnetic fishing rods or a piece of string with a large paperclip on the end, pull up one letter at a time and identify it.

3. Letter hunt - Hide the letters around the room and identify them as you find them by either letter name or letter sound.

4. Letter tag - Spread the letters out on the floor. Call out a letter name or sound and have the child hop over and tag the letter.