Watering An Alphabet Garden: An Early Literacy Game
We love early literacy games where the kids can get moving. Our new favorite also includes lots of opportunities to get wet: Watering An Alphabet Garden.
Supplies: All you need is a watering can or two and some water.
Set Up:
Fill a watering can. We used two kid sized ones, because they were already out, and because my watering can is hard enough for me to lift, let alone my 4 year old.
Playing the Game:
We pretended we needed to water the garden, and I needed my son’s help to figure out what needed watering. I gave him a letter that needed water, and he would call out something in the garden that begins with that letter.
We decided that the garden could contain anything that grows – any kind of fruit, vegetables, plants, or flowers.
I would say, “I need to water my garden. I need to water the C’s. What is in our garden that starts with a C?” My son called out, “Cucumbers!” Then I said, “I see a little cucumber! I’m going to water him!” And I chased him with the watering can.
Sometimes he needed help coming up with a word, and I’d give the first sound, stretching it out, “What starts with an “S”? “Esssssss…” And he’d chime in with “squash!”
To his delight, I also reversed roles, and let him water me.
Variations:
- We played a version where I would tell him what I was watering, and he would need to give me the first letter. I’d tell him, “I’m watering the tomatoes. What is the first letter in tomatoes?” and he would respond with “t”.
- Another version is to use only one letter, and come up with as many things as possible beginning with that letter. “Raspberries, rhubarb, roses, radish…”
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