1. Gather up favorite characters. You could use toys you own or printed pictures. We used a printable puppet playset from 1+1+1=1.
2. On small pieces of paper, write the first letter of each character you have, and spread them out. Castles, farms, or dollhouses work great for this! I put one letter in each room or special spot in the castle.
3. Give the characters to your preschooler and help them find the right “room” for their characters, using the initial sound in each of their names.
Once the royal family was all safely tucked away in the right room, the imaginary play took off from there!
Variations:
– For a preschooler just learning letters, attach the first letter to each character and have them match to find the correct home.
– Use final sounds instead of initial sounds.
– Attach a sight word to each character and have your child match them up.
– Use family pictures and let your child find the appropriate letter somewhere in the house, scavenger hunt style.
– Turn it into a gross motor game by placing letters at various spots outside or on a playground to find the right “home” for your toys.
Check out another way to learn letter sounds while playing in your pretend kitchen!
Written by Alicia