Play Tape Letter Learning Games

What You Need:

• Painter's tape or other removable tape
• Vinyl or tile floor
• CD player and children’s music
• Stuffed animals

What You Do:

1. Test the tape on your floor in an out-of-the-way area to make sure that it doesn’t leave any marks when you remove it. (Do not attempt this activity on a wooden floor.) If you do not have a tile or vinyl floor, you can also do this activity outside with sidewalk chalk.
2. When your child is not in the room, tape four letters that your child is learning on the floor. Depending on your available space, you can either lay them out in a line or in a box shape.
3. When your child notices the letters, play one of the following three games:

Turn on the music and tell your child that both of you are going to dance on the letters. Be as silly as possible as you dance on the alphabet, hopping from letter to letter. After you have danced for a few minutes, stop the music. When the music stops, everyone has to freeze. Shout out the name of the letter that you are on, and then turn the music on and play again. The sillier the better!

Have your child find three favorite stuffed animals that want to play on the letters. Give them directions as to where to put the animals, such as "Teddy wants to go to the letter Q, but first he needs to stop on the letter R." Continue giving them additional directions for the animals, and get sillier as your child gets faster at following directions. You can also add some variety to the game by having your child do silly movements as they move the animals, such as hopping like a frog. When they are done, switch roles and have your child tell you what letters each animal wants to move to.

Talk about what sound each letter makes and ask your child to find an object that starts with the sound of each letter on the floor. Place the objects on the matching tape letter. As an extension, you can play along, too. See who finds the silliest objects for each letter!

Once your child has mastered the letters that you taped, you can play the game on another day with different letters. Be sure to remove the tape from the floor when you are done playing the game!