Literacy and language learning and development is central to your learner’s intellectual, social, and emotional growth. So it should be a key factor in their learning. As we have discussed before, the best way to use flash cards are as complements to engaging activities.
Literacy and Language Learning
Get your learner fully captivated in their learning by also incorporating 4 types of learning. Knowing how to focus on the learning strength of your learner (regardless of age), will make sure to create meaningful experiences that will keep them laughing and learning, and retaining the information longer.
The activities in this post are geared towards preschool and kindergarten learners, ages 2 1/2 to 6 years. But they can be adapted in difficulty to meet the needs and interests of older learners.
Here are the Specific Skills Referenced in this post:
- Receptive Language
- Listening to stories
- Responding to questions, commands, and longer sentences
- Expressive Language
- Words
- Combining words
- Words
- Sentences
- Using simple sentences
- Vocabulary
- Increasing vocabulary
- Defining words by functions
- Using new words
- Conversation
- Using Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication
- Using gestures and signs to communicate
- Listening to Others
- Engaging in give or take when interacting
- Understanding and following oral directions
- Phonological Awareness
- Creating sounds
- Taking part in sound activities
- Identifying specific letter sounds
- Making up rhymes
- Letter Recognition
- Identifying the letter that begins their name and its sound
- Picking out other words that begin with the same letter or sound
- Beginning to identify a few consonant letter-sound correspondences in words in rhymes
10 Activities for Literacy and Language Learning with ABC Cards
Here are 10 fun and engaging activities for literacy and language learning, that also incorporate the 4 types of learning.
1. Play I Spy
The I-spy game is a classic that has the ability to be modified to increase so many important skills, including literacy and language learning.
Give your learner clues about one of the cards, and instruct them to find the right one. The only rule is you must ‘spy’ the card, and make it fun!
Your lines are: “I Spy with my little eye, a picture of something of something you can eat! It starts with the /a/ sound”
Your learner should respond: “A, for apple”
Don’t forget to give your learner a chance to be the spy.
2. Leap Frog
Learning is most fun when we’re moving, because as the body moves the brain grooves! This activity considers the kinetic form of learning while promoting literacy and language learning.
Spread out the letter cards on the floor, name a letter, and then instruct your learner to jump over the card with the corresponding letter. Have your learner pick up the card once they jump over it.
For the last letter, can you or your learner name an action word that starts with that letter?
- j – jump
- r – run
- b – balance
- c – crawl, etc.
Do the action together!
3. Alphabet Match Up
Alphabet Match Up is a more hands on activity than the traditional, “I say, you repeat method.”
Simply, have your learner match lowercase and uppercase letters together. Mix up the cards, and spread them all around the learning environment instructing your learner to go on a hunt to find them.
4. Silly Silly Sentences
She sells seashells by the sea shore….
Do you remember this tongue twister? Well tongue twisters and silly sentences are a great way to extend literacy and language learning with ABC flashcards.
This activity invites your learner to listen to and create an alliteration! A concept that they will learn and manipulate later in their academic years.
You will need a set of ABC flash cards that include pictures. Instruct your learner to pick any card in the deck, and together make up a silly sentence about the picture using as many words with the same beginning letter as you can.
For example, for the letter ‘A’, your sentence may sound like:
“Ally the alligator ate apples on the airplane.”
You’ll be surprised at how creative your little learner can be!
Want to extend the learning even further? Write down the sentences you create, and ask your learner how many letters you used in the sentence.
5. Rhyming Time
While you can engage in this activity with a set of rhyming cards, it can also be completed with your traditional ABC cards.
Choose a card and ask your learner to name the object pictured. Together, think of words that rhyme with the picture. Create both nonsense words and real words. The point is to encourage your learner to employ their phonological skills… and for it to be fun!
As an extension write out the rhyming words that you and your learner have discovered. In doing so, they will visually see how the words are the same and how they are different.
6. Name It
What’s the sweetest sound to the human ear? A person’s name!
Instruct your learner to find the letters that make up their name. If needed, write down their name first and they can match the letters by looking at their written name.
Be mindful that you may need duplicate letters in order to fully engage in this activity.
After you have laid out your learner’s name, talk about the sound that each letter makes, and any rhyming words you can think of. Repeat with other familiar words.
7. ABC Order
Together, place the flash cards in alphabetical order while singing the alphabet slowly. Once the song is complete, and all the cards have been placed in order, sing the song faster and point to each letter.
How fast can you go??
8. Size Wise
Randomly choose 5 uppercase letter cards and 5 lowercase letter cards. Mix up the cards, and instruct your learner to sort the cards into two piles – uppercase and lowercase.
This activity can also be adapted to be ‘Vowel Wise.’
9. Sound Off
With all the cards laid out in front of you, say the name of a picture that is displayed on any of the cards. Instruct your learner to identify the beginning sound of the picture you have named, and then find the card with the letter that corresponds with the sound.
Your ‘Sound Off’ dialogue would sound like this:
You: “apple”
Your learner: “/a/” *finds the letter A card
10. Write Away
While engaging with the letter cards, have your learner trace the letters with their fingers. Then instruct them to write the letter on a piece of paper, or in a sensory tray with sand.
I encourage you to use various sensory materials to engage in this activity, because learning is solidified when children use more of their senses. Not only will this spark novelty, but they will also be employing 3 of their senses in just this one activity!
They will hear the sound of the letters as they are said, see the letters as they are read, and feel the formation of the letters as they trace them on the cards and in the sensory tray.
Continue throughout the ABC letter cards, and allow your learner to complete each letter as many times as they would like.
When extending the learning of any activity, always encourage your learner to tap into their imagination. Emotional connections lead to long term retention of information. So always make sure your learner is laughing and learning!
Are you looking for the perfect ABC Cards, or activities to use these strategies with your learner?
Guess what?! You can access the ever growing selection of number cards, printable activities, activity bundles, and resources in the VIP Learning Library!
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