Follow the Alphabet Road | Playful Preschool Literacy Activity

8.01.2016


As a kiddo, searching for letters of the alphabet via road signs, license plates, and billboards kept my mind off the many three-hour road trips to our summer cottage or trips to see our cousins, who lived a few hours away.

Not sure what it is called-- maybe, Road Trip Alphabet Hunt?!

Have you ever played ?  

Today for our Alphabet Bookspiration theme, we are sharing a hands-on literacy activity inspired by that alphabet game without getting in your car!

alphabet road activity for preschoolers
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A fun go-along book is Alphabet City by Stephen Johnson.  It's a wordless picture book that captures the letter of the alphabet throughout city scenes-- such as a letter A from a construction sawhorse and letter Y can be found in a highway lampost.  The book will definitely make you more aware of your surroundings as you go about your day searching for letters of the alphabet in the things around you.

Another fun book with a similar idea is The City ABC Book by Zoran Milich.

Alphabet City Preschool Activity


If you aren't able to go on your own alphabet city scavenger hunt, make one yourself!

What you need:
Set up the activity by laying out your alphabet manipulatives on the city play mat in alphabetical order.

I chose alphabetical order so we could practice singing our ABC's, too.  But keep reading for a few more variations for older kiddos.

Have your child grab a toy car and find the letter A.

My 3-year-old son was adamant about "driving" around town in a monster truck, but any toy car will do.  

Encourage your child to drive around the city with his toy car and collect each letter while saying its name and the sound(s) the letter makes.  Or instead of collecting letters, smash the letters as you drive over them-- that is what my son chose to do!  Crazy driver!

This Alphabet City Activity is a wonderful and playful way to work on letter recognition!

Activity Variations for Older Kiddos:

  • Say the letter sound{s} and have your child drive through the city to find the letter.
  • Work on beginning sounds by saying a word and having your child find the letter.
  • Have your child spell simple CVC words by driving through the city and collecting the correct letters.

Alphabet City Letter recognition for preschoolers

More Alphabet Bookspiration: