Ten Activities for Alphabetical Order (with 2 freebies!)

Today I have a special treat for all of you.  A guest post from my sweet friend Kim:)

 Be sure to hop on over for a visit after you are done reading this post:)

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I'm so glad to be with you here today at  TheTravelingclassroom! Thank you, Dinah for inviting me to share with you!

Today, I have a super simple introduction to alphabetical order for you. Alphabetical order can be a challenge for kids, so giving them lots of different opportunities to practice is important.

I am a big supporter of interactive lessons. Things that get kids moving while their minds are working. I'm not a scientist, but from what I've seen it helps students commit the lessons to memory when they are engaging more of their senses.

Here are some fun ideas for starting to work on alphabetical order:

• Hop in a line while singing the ABC song. Hop for each letter that is sung.
• If you are working with multiple students or have siblings that are willing to help out, stand in a circle. Have the littlest student start with the first letter of the alphabet and continue around the circle with each person saying the next letter until you get to the end of the alphabet. See how many times you can go around the circle without making a mistake.
  
•  Put magnetic letters or letter cards into a sensory bin of your choice (popcorn kernels, rice, beans, alphabet pasta!). Pull the letters out of the bin in alphabetical order.
• Use alphabet blocks or cubes and sort them into alphabetical order. 
  
• Mix up alphabet flash cards and then sort them out into a line in alphabetical order. 
• Put flash cards mixed up on the floor and have students walk to them in order. 
• Another one for flash cards is to hide the flash cards around the room and have the students hunt for them in alphabetical order. If you are teaching in a classroom setting, you can have the students take turns finding the letters and play "Hot or Cold" to keep the other students engaged during the search. 
• Do a stuffed animal line-up (or play figurines) with flash cards. Assign each animal a letter by having them "hold" a flash card. Then arrange the animals in alphabetical order. In a classroom you can do this by giving each student a flash card and have them arrange themselves in alphabetical order. 
• Give them a play telephone and have them "text" the letters in alphabetical order. 
• Have the students write the alphabet in colored pencil. Make patterns. Draw the letters in dots. Make it fun!
• Play alphabet charades. Instead of guessing the letter that is being demonstrated, guess the next letter in alphabetical order. For example, the student demonstrating makes a "C', the correct guess would be "D."
  

If any of these activities is too difficult with the full alphabet, simply limit the amount of letters that you review.

To go along with these fun ideas, I have a two little freebies to offer you. The first is a set of full-page sized letters. You can use these in place of the flash cards in any of the suggestions above. I made them because we live in a country where English is not the first language and it's not possible to find alphabet flash cards here. Also because big=fun! (just click on the picture below to download)

The second is a simple page of alphabet lines. Simply cut on the dotted lines and glue the blank space under the letter 'n' to make a continuous line.   (just click on the picture below to download)

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Kim lives in the country of Georgia doing missionary work with her husband and four daughters. She currently has three kids in home school and a preschooler tagging along. You can find more about Kim over on her blog lifeovercs or on her facebook page.