Learning the alphabet is one of the first skills that children are expected to learn when they enter Kindergarten. There are countless ways to teach this all important skill, but every child learns differently. That can make it challenging, as the teacher, to teach a roomful of 5 year olds when they are all at different levels. One of the best ways that I found to teach the alphabet was with my Letter Monsters.
Oh, the Letter Monster. Such a simple concept, but still all of my kiddo’s favorite way to learn about letters and sounds. Letter Monsters make learning hands-on fun and allow me to level my lesson as the teacher. Let me break it down for you:
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Letter Monsters
Materials:
- Letter Monster(s)
- Small letter magnets or other small letters
- Letter Cards
- Objects beginning with the focus letter, and a few other letters
- Children eager to learn!
How To Use One Letter Monster:
Begin by having the children sit in a circle or U-shape on the floor. It’s much easier for everyone to see when there is no one blocking their view.
Place your Letter Monster in the center and read the Letter Monster Poem to the kids. Insert the letter that you are focusing on in the blank space of the Letter Monster Poem. For example, if you are focusing on the letter ‘Bb’, you would say ‘Bb’ in the blank space.
Once the kids know what letter you are focusing on, lay out the letter card that matches your focus letter (for our example above, you would lay out the letter ‘Bb’ card).
Then, lay out a bunch of small objects that will fit inside of your Letter Monster. Make sure that you have one object that begins with your focus letter for each child. They will be feeding the Letter Monster, so you want to make sure everyone gets a turn.
To challenge your kiddos, lay out objects that do not begin with your focus letter as well. That way, they have to find the correct beginning sound.
If you have some kiddos who are still working on letter identification and are not at the point of letter sounds yet, lay out magnetic letters and see if those kids can find the correct letter for the Letter Monster.
Go around the circle and let each child find an object beginning with your focus letter to feed the Letter Monster. I like to make sound effects for my Letter Monster when the kids feed it something (think Cookie Monster here!).
Example using the letter Bb as the focus letter:
Seat children and put Letter Monster in the middle.
“I am a Letter Monster and I am as hungry as can be. I am looking for yummy things that begin with the letter Bb! Can you help me?”
Lay out the letter Bb card/block and a bunch of objects that begin with Bb (example objects: bird, bear, bee, block, beaver, blue block, butterfly, bus, banana, bell, bat). Also lay out objects that do not begin with Bb (example objects: dog, cat, deer, dinosaur, seal, fish, star, red block, car, airplane).
Tell the students, “Our Letter Monster is hungry for objects that begin with Bb, we need to help fill it up!” Invite the students to come up one at a time and choose an object that begins with Bb to feed the Letter Monster.
Review the Letter Bb sound together before beginning. When each child chooses an object, have them say the name of the object and then the beginning sound before feeding the Letter Monster.
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How To Use 2 Letter Monsters:
You can also use 2 Letter Monsters to practice letter sounds (this is what I did in my classroom). There are 2 ways to go about using 2 Letter Monsters.
You can choose 2 letters to focus on and assign each Letter Monster one letter to eat. That way, the kids have to decide where each object belongs based on its beginning sound.
The other way to utilize 2 Letter Monsters is to choose one focus letter and have the other Letter Monster eat all of the other sounds. That way you could have multiple beginning sounds out for the children to differentiate between.
Example using the letters Bb and Dd as the focus letters:
Seat children and put the Letter Monsters in the middle.
“I am a Letter Monster and I am as hungry as can be. I am looking for yummy things that begin with the letters Bb and Dd! Can you help me?”
Lay the letter Bb card or block in front of one Letter Monster and the letter Dd card or block in front of the other. Lay out a bunch of objects that begin with the letter Bb (example objects: bird, bear, bee, block, beaver, blue block, butterfly, bus, banana, bell, bat) and the letter Dd (example objects: dog, deer, dinosaur, dolphin, duck, doughnut, dragon).
Tell the students, “Our Letter Monsters are hungry for objects that begin with Bb and Dd, we need to help fill them up!” Invite the students to come up one at a time and choose an object that begins with Bb or Dd to feed the correct Letter Monster.
Review the Letter Bb and Dd sounds together before beginning. When each child chooses an object, have them say the name of the object and then the beginning sound before feeding the Letter Monsters.
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Let the Magic Happen
This was, hands down, my kid’s favorite letter activity. It’s such a simple way to practice, but the hands-on nature keeps the kiddos engaged and excited.
These Letter Monsters can easily be turned into an independent literacy center, a partner activity or even used to review other concepts (think ending sound, middle sound, rhyming words, and even math!).
Be sure to grab your Letter Monster and practice with your kiddos today!
Thank you so much for reading, sweet friend. As always, you can find me on Pinterest and see what we are up to on Instagram. I truly hope you have a blast with this Letter Monster activity!
Looking for another way to practice letters? Check out our Letter Animal Match Activity!
