Children need to learn the letters of the alphabet. There are lots of different, engaging ways to do this. Make learning meaningful with these letter games for young children.

As children learn their letters it is important for them to be able to recognize the letter, and learn the sound. Eventually children will learn both the capital and lower case of each letter. Letter games are a great way to make this learning fun and meaningful.

These letter games encourage children to recognize letters of the alphabet all around them, not just in a classroom or on a worksheet.

Finding that they are surrounded by letters in the world around them helps show children the importance of what they learn in their classroom.

As a teacher, I am always looking for fun ways to get children active and moving out of the classroom. I love being able to go on adventures.

This letter game requires very little prep and it allows young children to move throughout our school.

The activity is also perfect for indoor recess days when kids can’t get outside, but need to move.

I did this activity with my own children at home. We also tried it when we would leave the house for errands or trips. The game can be done during car rides or even a trip to the grocery store. The letters are all around us.

Letter games are simple, but a lot of learning, and fun, happens on this hunt.

If you want to extend this activity in your classroom or home, grab these free printable tracing worksheets.

Materials for your Alphabet Hunt Game

The great thing with this alphabet hunt game is that you don’t need many materials and there is very little prep.

• “Letter Hunt” Sheet (Link to free printable at bottom of this page)
• 26 Letter Cut Outs (Each Letter of the Alphabet)
• Write and Wipe Markers (Optional)
• Play Glasses (Optional)
• Clipboards (Optional)

I printed and then laminated my “Letter Hunt” sheets for each child. You don’t have to laminate, but it allowed me to use the sheets with several groups of children and also reuse it several times at home.

If you laminate, children can use a write and wipe markers during the hunt to mark when they find each letter.

I was able to get a pair of play glasses for each child. They are simply glasses without glass in them. You don’t need to use them for this activity, but they make it more engaging.

To prepare take each cut out letter of the alphabet and hide it somewhere in the area children will be searching with you. Depending on how much you want to challenge the group doing the letter games, you can either hide the letters in alphabetical order, or you can mix the letters up to add to the challenge.

Something to consider about putting the letter in order is that it can help children identify if they missed a letter and then they would know the general area that it could be found.

If you don’t want to hide the letters, this game can also be played by simply searching for each letter that naturally occurs in the area, such as on sighs or labels.

Learning Letters Games Description

This activity works best with children who are learning to recognize their letters.

Once you have printed the “Letter Hunt” sheets, hand one out to each child. If your sheets are laminated, also hand out a write and wipe marker. I also gave each child a clipboard to hold their sheet.

Finally, I handed out a pair of glasses to each child. These are our detective glasses that help us find letters. The glasses are just for fun, but the kids love wearing them and being letter detectives.

Once everyone has their sheet, clipboard, marker and glasses we were ready to start our hunt!

I used alphabet stickers and stuck each letter somewhere around the halls of the school. I didn’t hide the letters in too challenging of places.

We stayed together as a group and as soon as someone spotted a letter, we all stopped, pointed to the letter and then children found it on their “Letter Hunt” sheet and crossed it off.

Letter Hunt – Learning Letters Games Sounds

To add to our learning, we then all made the letter sound together. This was a fun way to integrate learning and practicing the letter sound.

Once we found, crossed off, and made the sound of the letter, we kept moving and looking for our next letter.

The children were so excited each time they found a letter. I put some of the letters low on the ground, and others high on the ceiling.

When we finally found ‘Z’ on the other end of the school, children were excited and proud to have completed the alphabet. It was also a great way to get out of the classroom and get moving when we couldn’t get outside.

A free copy of the Letter Hunt sheet that I created and used for this activity is available at the bottom of this post.

Learning Letters Games Extension Ideas

If you really want to limit the amount of prep required for this activity, you can skip sticking the letters around the area that children are going to search. There are lots of words and letters all around us so children can simply look all around them to find each letter of the alphabet.

Children can cross off each letter on their “Letter Hunt” sheet once they find it, or they can put a mark each time they find a letter. This becomes time consuming, however, it also shows what letters are more common and challenges children to recognize more letters.

As children recognize their letters, adding other, fun, hands-on activities that help with letter recognition and even formation, is beneficial. To help practice printing letters try this fun Learning to Write the Alphabet Activity.

Free “Letter Hunt” Letter Games Printable

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More Hands-On Teaching Ideas

If you are looking for more learning activities, below is a collection of my most popular and favorite activities for kids to try at home, or in the classroom. From storytelling activities and math activities to outdoor activities and escape room, there are lots of things to keep kids busy and learning.