There are some basic skills that every parent needs to teach their child. One of the most important is the alphabet and reading. It requires a great deal of patience and perseverance to teach a child how to recognize letters. Young children have short attention spans and they often come to hate learning because they associate it with sitting quietly for hours. As a teacher you will find it very difficult to teach anything to a child who has this attitude. The solution is to make learning fun by turning it into a game. When you explain learning in terms of fun and games kids will immediately become interested. If you consider the games that really excite children, most of them are outdoor games. There are few things that children love more than recess; they play outside with their friends in healthy competitions. If you are looking for a great and fun way to teach your kids their ABCs consider doing so with an outdoor game. Described below are some wonderful outdoor ABC games that will make learning fun for you and your children.
1. ABC Hopscotch. There is no reason to play an outside game unless it involves some sort of physical activity. Draw a large square on the pavement and fill it in with smaller squares. Draw chalk letters into the squares. You can do them in alphabetical order or a random order. Make the letters large so that the children can see them. Use different colors of chalk so that the finished product is a bright and fun checkerboard of letters. Call out certain letters and have the children jump on them.
2. ABC Hoops. If your child is athletic and likes basketball consider a fun sports game. If the child is particularly young you will need a small basketball hoop and stand. Shout out random letters and have your children shout the letter back to you. If they can pronounce the letter correctly they get to shoot a basket. Keep the game going quickly so that you can cover lots of letters. The quicker the game the more likely it will be for your child to have a great time. You could also shout out the name of a favorite superhero or animal. When the child can shout back the letter that begins the animal’s name they get to take a shot. This game becomes even livelier if you play some upbeat music while doing so.
3. ABC Lineup. If you have a group of children make cutout letters for all of them. Attach letters to each child’s shirts or clothing. It might be best to make necklaces out of them so that the children can change to a different letter. You don’t need all the letters of the alphabet but it would be best if you do. Play some music for about thirty seconds and challenge the kids to get into alphabetical order. A big part of learning about letters is learning their proper order. When the music ends all of the children need to be in the right order. If they are not in proper order then move them until they are. At some point you can change places with a child and they become the one to put everybody in the right order.
These are just a few ideas for fun outdoo ABC games. Be creative and come up with some games of your own. If you find that your child prefers one game over another stick with it. You will see rapid improvement in their knowledge of the alphabet.