10 Fun and Engaging Activities to Practice Letter Identification and Sounds

Teaching letters is a big task in the primary classroom. This process often starts as early as the preschool years and continues on through kindergarten and first grade to ensure that children have a solid understanding. Since this is something you'll likely be spending a lot of time on, why not make it extra fun? Today I'm doing exactly that! Come along as I share 10 fun ways to engage your students while practicing letter identification and sounds. 

1. Find It Jars 

Everyone likes to play "I Spy," right? This first activity is focused on finding letters and identifying them with a letter sorting mat and Find it Jars. As a warm-up activity, I like to start with the letter sorting mats. Provide students with letter beads, and allow them to sort them out onto their mats, putting each bead in the correct spot. This activity also helps focus specifically on the letters in their name. There's a spot on the mat where kiddos can collect extra letters that are in their own name as they sort. 

After this, take this letter identification activity up a notch and have students use "Find It Jars" to practice recognizing letters. The jars are filled with a mix of rainbow sprinkles and tiny letter beads. Children will draw a card, identify the letter on the card, and then turn the jar over to find that bead. This activity is great for small groups and centers. You can pre-make the jars and have children take turns with them, or make this into a craft activity and allow each child to make their own jar. 

This is also a fun activity to use as a whole group game. Have your kiddos gather in a circle, and choose 1 child to start with the jar. Draw a card, hold it up, and have the child identify it and find that letter in the jar. After they have finished, they pass the jar on to the person sitting next to them and repeat the process. This activity is anything but ordinary and will help get your kids excited about letter identification! 

2. Magnetic Letters 

Next up, let's talk about good ol' magnet letters. If you teach young students, you likely already know these are a classroom must-have! There are so many fun things you can do with magnet letters. Plus, they make a perfect "instant" center activity. Some of the ways we used them over the years include:

• Spelling names of friends - To do this activity, pair up students and provide them with a tub of magnet letters and some cookie sheets. Have kiddos take turns choosing a friend and spelling their name out on the cookie sheet with the magnet letters. Having all student names listed somewhere for this activity or written on the board is helpful. 
• Beginning sound game - This one is great for small groups. To play, name something in the classroom, such as "desk," "light," or "pencil." Students will quickly find the letter that goes with that beginning sound and lay it in front of them. Repeat, or have students take turns calling out an item. 
• Sensory bin - This is always a student favorite! To play this game, toss some magnet letters into a sensory bin filled with rice or dried beans. Provide students with magnet wands like these and have them "fish" for letters. When a letter sticks to their wand, they remove it and say the name of the letter and the sound.

These are just a few of the fun ways to use magnet letters for learning letter sounds and identification. Make sure to keep these on hand for quick and easy center games your students will love.

3. Hole Punch Letter Identification 

Young students work best when given many opportunities for hands-on learning. I loved incorporating fun manipulatives and other classroom tools in our lessons as often as I could to help keep kiddos engaged and excited about learning! One of my favorites for targeting both letter identification and letter sounds are these Hole Punch Mats. 

This fun activity has students draw a card, name the letter on the card and then find it on their mat. Then, they use the hole punch to mark it on their mat. There are card options for uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and picture cards to allow for differentiation. You use this game multiple times by having students match their cards in a variety of ways, such as:

• Uppercase to Uppercase
• Lowercase to Lowercase
• Cross Case
• Beginning Sound
• Letters in Sequence
• Letters Out of Sequence

This activity is great for little learners that are working on hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills too! Manipulating the hole punch is such a great way to strengthen those hand muscles and lock in student focus. 

4. Rubber-Band Geo Boards

These are another must-have, in my opinion, for a simple center option that everyone loves. 

Geoboards are great for working on fine motor skills while practicing letter identification. My favorite way to use these is in small groups. 

I give every kiddo a board and some rubber bands. Then I'll say something like, "I'm thinking of a letter that makes the /s/ sound." 

The children call out the letter and then use the rubberbands to make it on the board. 

You can also say things like, "Make the letter that the word 'dog' begins with."

Either option is a fun way to get the wheels turning in those little minds in a fun way!  

5. Letter Poems 

Do you have auditory learners in your classroom? We all know that every child is unique, and different teaching methods work better for some than others. Because of this, I always loved to have a variety of activities that support visual learners, hands-on learners, and auditory learners. One of my favorite ways to master letter identification through auditory lessons is with letter poems. 

Young students are often pretty excited about songs, poems, chants, and rhymes. Use this to your advantage to help them remember their letters! These catchy letter poems help prompt children on what capital letters look like and how to write them. 

Once you introduce these to your students, they'll be repeating these poems to themselves as they write their letters. "Slant to the left and to the right...hooray! A line in between, and you write the letter A!"

These letter poems come in 2 sizes. The larger version is perfect to display as anchor chart posters around the room or laminate and bind them together as a book. The smaller version is great to give out to students as a reminder for each letter. 

6. Letter Identification Sensory Bins 

Do you use sensory bins in your classroom? If not, you're missing out on a valuable opportunity to master letter identification in a fun way! Sensory bins get a bad rap for being large and making a mess, but when done right, they're such a great way to mix things up in the classroom. 

I liked to use a small bin or wash tub to create a portable sensory bucket that can be used all year long. You can fill the bin with anything you'd like, but keep in mind how you'll want the kiddos to use it. If you plan to make this an unsupervised center activity, go for something low-mess like shredded paper or Easter grass. Make it festive by swapping out the paper shreds to match the current season or upcoming holiday. 

Dried beans, dried rice, popcorn kernels, or Styrofoam peanuts are all great options too! If you go this route, I recommend putting a tray under your sensory bin to easily catch spills. Always be sure to have a brief rundown of the rules before letting kiddos use the new sensory bin too! 

Once you've got your bin all set up, add letter cards like these. This resource includes card options to target uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and beginning sounds. 

You can choose what works best for your students or differentiate to meet varied needs. To use this activity, kiddos will choose a card from the sensory bin and say it aloud. Next, they find it on their recording sheet and trace the letter. 

This resource also includes spinners to add another layer of fun. To incorporate these, students will spin, identify the letter they land on, and then find it in their sensory bin. This activity is perfect for center time and will be something students look forward to participating in. 

7. Sand Trays 

Sand trays are one of my favorite activities for practicing letter identification and formation. 

To make these for your students, grab some simple plastic trays and colored sand. For this activity, I liked to provide students with a tray filled with sand and a stack of letter flashcards. 

Students will draw a card, say the name of the letter, and then write it in the sand using their fingers. 

You can also use cards with beginning sounds as well if you'd like to target that skill. 

Once children have used this activity a few times, it makes a great center activity. It's also a fun option to use in small group interventions instead of pencils and paper. 

8. Pop It Letter Activities 

Pop-Its are a sensory toy that makes practicing letter identification and letter sounds more fun for children. Grab a Pop-It Fidget Toy with the alphabet on it, and use it alongside these activities for instant engagement. To play, students will choose a card and complete the task. There is a variety of different games included to work on different skills:

• Match capital letters to the capital letters on the Pop-It Toy.
• Match lowercase letters to the lowercase letters on the Pop-It Toy. 
• Match beginning sounds to the corresponding letters on the Pop-It Toy.
• Find the Missing Letter in a sequence of 3. 

This activity is perfect for centers, independent learning stations, and fast finishers. Children will have so much fun "popping the bubbles" on the fidget toy. They won't even realize how much they are working on letter identification and letter sounds!

9. Wooden Letter Beads

This activity is one that you can easily make and can be used in a variety of ways. 

First off, grab some plain wooden beads like these and use a permanent marker to write letters of the alphabet on them.

These letter beads are another fun variation as well. I liked to have a set with uppercase letters and one with lowercase letters to differentiate this activity among my group. 

To use this activity, have students string letter beads in ABC order on a piece of lacing cord. 

After they have the whole alphabet, they can write the letters on a piece of paper to extend the activity further. 

This is a great center activity or independent learning station that encourages hands-on learning. 

Alternatively, you can also have students work on spelling words and naming each letter as they go. For this option, have them sit near a word wall or provide them with a stack of flashcards. 

10. Letter Fluency Game

Last but certainly not least, I have one more fun activity for you to try! This letter fluency game is focused on quickly identifying and naming letters to promote overall fluency. This game is also a low-prep, print-and-play option to help save you time when preparing your literacy activities. 

To play, students will spin the spinner and then find that picture on their card. Then, they point to each letter and say it aloud, moving from left to right. You can also have students say the letter name and the letter sound before moving to the next one if you'd like to focus on both skills during this activity. 

I always loved to use this game during small groups and intervention lessons. It's also a fun pattern game too! Simply have kiddos take turns spinning until all of the letter boxes have been read aloud. 

BONUS Activity: Name Spinners!

I know I said there would be ten activities in this post, but I have one more bonus activity that I know your students will love! Aside from helping your students with letter recognition and sounds, these Name Spinners will help target the letters specifically in their names.  Starting with letters that the student has a connection to is the perfect place to begin teaching letter identification and sounds.

This resource comes with editable pages that allow you to easily add student names. Simply type in each student's name and the individual letters and spinners will automatically be generated for each child. Once the spinners are ready, add a spinner or use a pencil and paper clip to spin for letters. Children will say the letter they land on, as well as the sound it makes in their name.   Check out this video to see just how quick and easy they are to create and use.

This simple activity is a great way to get plenty of practice with the meaningful letters to each child- the letters in their own name! Use this activity during intervention groups, morning work, as a warm-up activity, or send them home to be used with parents. No matter how you choose to use them, they're sure to be a hit! 

Even More Letter Games 

Hopefully, you found something inspiring here to try. The big takeaway when it comes to learning letter identification and letter sounds is to think outside of the box! Fun tools and manipulatives like beads, magnetic letters, sensory bins, and spinners help make any letter identification game more fun and engaging for students. Using a variety of these items helps to keep a task that you work on frequently feeling fresh and exciting every time!

If you're looking for more ways to level up your letter games, be sure to check out all of the fun and engaging letter resources in my shop. You'll find games, sensory bins, task cards, riddles, and more to help your students master letter identification and letter sounds in a fun way! 

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