If you’re looking for an interactive way to reinforce letter learning with your KneeBouncer as an extension for our games like Balloon Popper or Cookie Caper, then Chelsea Day from Some Day I’ll Learn has a great idea!
Alphabet balls! Alphabet balls offer many ways to develop and foster ongoing letter learning! This fun learning tool is easy and inexpensive to create, and you can adapt it to your child’s abilities by changing how you play.
For example, you can use buckets to match letters, like our Cupcake Catch game, or practice letter recall skills by spreading the balls out over the yard or the room and asking your child to find individual letters.
Chelsea’s blog has a handful of great ideas, but all you need to get started are a pack of plastic play pit balls and a permanent marker.
Start by writing upper case letters on the balls. If you have enough, make two of each letter for playing letter-matching games with your tot! Once your letter learner has mastered most uppercase letters, meaning they can identify 15-20 letters, start sprinkling lowercase letters into the games, too!
Other Fun Ways to Reinforce Letter Learning with ABC Balls
- Use a blanket to create popcorn letters by bouncing them in the air. If a ball falls off, your child has to retrieve it and name the letter!
- Use the balls to work on color recognition and matching.
- Play ABC Hide-and-Seek by hiding different letters for your child to find.
- Practice matching upper case and lower case letters.
- We recommend using the same color for the upper- and lowercase letters to build initial recognition. For example, both “A” and “a” should be red, “B” and “b” yellow, and so on.
- Have your child choose a letter ball. Next, find an object that starts with the same letter.
- Allow for free play and exploration with the Alphabeth Balls; what your child comes up with may surprise and astound you!
Additional Skills Developed
More than letter learning occurs when your toddler or preschooler plays with Alphabet Balls! Additionally, they are developing fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, gross motor skills, problem-solving, and color recognition.
When your child plays purposefully, the learning goes much deeper than what’s on the surface, so look for other opportunities to stretch and expand play daily!
Updated August 14, 2024, by L. Elizabeth Forry
