Alphabet Train Game

Matching letters is a great way to help children recognize letters in the alphabet. This is a very simple game that you can do with your preschooler!

I used a pre-made alphabet that I bought for my classroom several years ago for this game. You can do the same thing by making your own!

Here’s what you’ll need:  An alphabet train (pre-made or homemade), index cards.

1. Write each letter of the alphabet on an index card. I wrote the capital letters on one side and the lower-case letters on the other.

2. Have your child mix up the letter cards and the “race” to put the alphabet index card on the correct “car” of the train.

And our ever-helpful companion, Sage…

This activity was above Big Brother’s head. The phone rang after he matched about 8 letters (with lots of guidance) and when I turned around, this is what I saw…

Oh well! We’ll try it again in 6 months…

Literature Link

Freight Train Big Book (Mulberry Big Book)

Freight Train by Donald Crews.
Donald Crews is known for his “transportation” books for preschoolers. This book is a Caldecott Honor Book and introduces young children to colors describing each train car. With bold pictures and simple words, this book could easily become a favorite for your little transportation-lover!

11 Comments

  1. Thank you for being "real"! When you showed the photo of what it looked like after you turned your back it made me feel good!

  2. Accidently I have come over to your website and it is really great. I would love to try this alphabet train with my 3.6 yr old girl too… and I know what will be the end result too.. anyways thanks, Will keep coming back for lovely suggestions

    Anjan

  3. This is a wonderful idea. I seen a simular idea with the cardboard puzzles, where you write the lower case alphabet on the puzzle pieces and the Upper case letters on the cardboard base. And the child matches the lower case and the uppercase letters. I hope this isn’t confusing.

  4. My son LOVES trains! I am sure he would have a lot of fun with this! Where did you get the train? Or do you know where I could get one?

  5. hi what I do with my pre school of 15 kids i cut our cereal boxes into small cards and wrote all the upper case letters for each child and we have a game of give me what i want, i will ask the kids to look at all their cards ( from letter A to the latest letter we have learned) and will give them enough time to look at them and then I will ask them to give me the particular letter that I want, and then will ask them if they are ready, and will ask them to show me their cards together, if they have the right letter, then i give them a sticker to decorate their cards and they love it.

  6. This post is very educational stuff and written well for a change. It’s nice to see that some people still know how to produce a quality post!

  7. Love these ideas!! Definitely fun ways for little ones to learn :) and yes love the photo of when you turned around… teaches us to just have fun and not stress the small stuff! Thank you!

  8. I am a little bit frustrated in teaching my 5 year old son because he is having difficulty remembering the letters. Thank you for your creative ideas… im pretty sure it would be easier for him now.

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