The Imagination Tree

Creative play and learning for kids

  • Home
  • Welcome
    • About Me
    • Popular Posts
    • Play Challenge
    • Subscribe
  • Age
    • Baby
    • Toddler
    • Preschooler
    • School Age
  • Activities
    • Literacy
    • Numeracy
    • Creativity
    • Physical
    • PHSE
    • Science
  • Resources
    • Spaces
    • Toys
    • Books
  • Contact
  • Kindness Elves

Alphabet Ping-Pong Drop Literacy Game

September 25, 2013 by Anna Ranson

Make a fun and engaging early literacy game for kids using alphabet ping pong balls and letter tubes. Exciting, fun and adaptable for younger and older kids, this is a great DIY resource to add to the collection for rainy day learning through play!Alphabet ping-pong drop literacy game

After we made the alphabet ping pong balls for our literacy fishing and matching game, we have been playing with them ever since. Of course, baby likes to just hurtle them through the air and roll them across the floor with great hilarity, whilst the older girls and I have been playing some super-simple and fun learning games together!

Alphabet ping pong balls for literacy play

To make this game I simply wrote each letter of the alphabet, in both upper and lower case, on a set of ping-pong balls (I got mine, incidentally, in the £1 shop.) I used a permanent marker which adheres well to plastic surfaces.

Alphabet drop game

Then I cut 13 cardboard tubes from long wrapping paper rolls and wrote the alphabet in upper and lower case on either side of each one e.g. both Aa and Bb were on opposing sides of the first tube. This was to save me cutting 26 tubes, but of course you could make an entire, individual set too.

Dropping alphabet ping pong balls literacy game

We put all the balls into a large bowl and then set up the letter tubes in random order on the floor. These could also be suspended or attached to a back board for more stability, although my girls loved the chance to play freely with them  too.

I called out each letter by using its sound (phoneme) and they had to find the corresponding letter (grapheme) on each ball as quickly as possible and then post them into the correct tubes, whilst saying the sounds out loud too.

Literacy play with alphabet ping pong balls

With my 5 year old we were able to move onto segmenting and sounding out small words together, matching the balls to the tubes and saying the phonemes out loud in the right order before blending to form the whole word. Eg “c-a-b makes cab!”Sorting and matching alphabet balls

Baby Bean enjoyed collecting all the tubes and posting the balls into them, which was a great fine and gross motor game for her and lots of fun too. She even joined in randomly with some of the phonics game, calling out letter sounds as she heard her big sisters say them!Aplhabet ping pong ball drop literacy game

What they are learning as they play:

literacy: recognising, naming and matching letter names (graphemes) to their corresponding sounds (phonemes), segmenting and blending small CVC words to read and spell them

physical: gross motor coordination, fine motor skills, balancing, stacking, posting

Cakie: 5.0

Pop: 3.7

Bean: 19 mos

See our whole Playful Literacy series here for lots more active play activities!

For alphabet specific activities click here!

 

Related Posts

  • Phonics Ball GamesPhonics Ball Games
  • Phonics Cups Literacy GamePhonics Cups Literacy Game
  • Candy Cane Sensory Writing TrayCandy Cane Sensory Writing Tray
  • Flower Themed Sensory Writing TrayFlower Themed Sensory Writing Tray
  • Ocean Sensory Writing Tray
  • Matching Alphabet Beans Literacy Game

Filed Under: Activities, Age, Alphabet, Kinaesthetic Learning, Learn, Letters, Literacy, Make, Motor Skills, Pre-Writing, Preschooler, School Age, Toys & Games Tagged With: Early Literacy, Letters, Phonics, Playful Literacy

« Learning as a Family: The Actimel Family Wellbeing Index
Exploring Reggio: An Introduction »

Comments

  1. katherine marie says

    September 26, 2013 at 5:41 am

    LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

  2. Sarah @ How Wee Learn says

    September 26, 2013 at 1:06 pm

    What a brilliantly simple and creative idea!!

  3. Malia {Playdough to Plato} says

    September 26, 2013 at 10:07 pm

    What a creative way to practice letters! Love it. I can’t wait to put our stash of empty paper towel rolls to good use.

  4. JDaniel4's Mom says

    September 29, 2013 at 11:11 am

    This is such a great idea. I am going to try it for sight words with my son.

  5. Peter says

    November 5, 2013 at 11:34 pm

    What a great idea – thanks for sharing :o)

  6. nidia says

    December 11, 2013 at 2:55 am

    loved it going too use it for a class project.

  7. overstock deal code says

    December 22, 2013 at 7:08 pm

    In some cases, these tasks would not even be possible or
    at least very difficult to perform without some form of computer
    assistance. com: Apple is an American corporation that designs, develops, and sells
    consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers including the i – Phone,
    i – Pad, Mac and many other products. Consider store brands as your first choice for basic office supplies as many
    of these brands are just as good as the brand name products but cost a fraction as
    much.

  8. Kadri-Anna Sklave says

    January 22, 2014 at 1:38 pm

    Amazing idea! Thank you very much!

Trackbacks

  1. Fantastic Litteracy Games and Ideas | Apprendre en s'amusant... says:
    October 24, 2013 at 12:52 pm

    […] I has just found this amazing page […]

  2. Fantastic Litteracy Games and Ideas | English Fun for Kids says:
    October 24, 2013 at 12:56 pm

    […] I has just found this amazing page […]

  3. Alphabet ping pong | catech2013 says:
    November 24, 2013 at 6:10 pm

    […] Alphabet ping pong […]

  4. Winter Activities: Week 3 | a pinch of homestead says:
    January 11, 2014 at 10:06 pm

    […] use up some of those empty toilet paper rolls I’ve been saving for no apparent reason: the ping-pong alphabet game. Write upper and lower case letters on toilet paper rolls and upper and lower case letters on […]

  5. Winter Activities Week 4 | a pinch of homestead says:
    January 19, 2014 at 1:55 pm

    […] Activity We didn’t get to the ping-pong alphabet game. Mostly because I could not find a bulk package of ping-pong balls at a reasonable price. But now […]

  6. 15 activitats creatives per treballar les lletres | Educació i les TIC says:
    January 27, 2014 at 9:33 am

    […] Font: https://theimaginationtree.com/2013/09/alphabet-ping-pong-literacy-game.html […]

  7. Winter Activities Week 5 | a pinch of homestead says:
    January 27, 2014 at 9:01 pm

    […] Activity Well, the ping-pong balls were late so we will be getting to the ping-pong alphabet game later in the week. Joe has also been “reading” lately…telling the stories from […]

  8. Winter Activities Week 6 | a pinch of homestead says:
    February 3, 2014 at 4:49 am

    […] Activity The ping-pong alphabet game took a twist when Joe decided to throw the balls at their matching toilet paper roll instead of […]

  9. Teaching Pre-Kindergarten Skills: No Flashcards Required | Part 1. Reading | jaxinthebox.com says:
    February 14, 2014 at 3:09 am

    […] So leveraging that fascination with a “learning” activity is right up our alley. I used Imagination Tree’s idea as a foundation to create our own […]

  10. Els millors 25 jocs infantils | Educació i les TIC says:
    March 12, 2014 at 7:32 am

    […] Font: https://theimaginationtree.com/2013/09/alphabet-ping-pong-literacy-game.html […]

  11. Los mejores 25 juegos infantiles | RECURSOS SOCIO-EDUCATIVOS says:
    March 17, 2014 at 10:39 am

    […] Fuente: https://theimaginationtree.com/2013/09/alphabet-ping-pong-literacy-game.html […]

The Imagination Tree on FacebookThe Imagination Tree on TwitterThe Imagination Tree on PinterestThe Imagination Tree on G+RSS feed from The Imagination TreeThe Imagination Tree straight to your inbox

Search The Imagination Tree

About The Imagination Tree Hello and welcome! I'm Anna, Mama of 4, early years teacher and play enthusiast from the UK! Click here to read more about me.

The Kindness Elves Store
Play Ideas on The Imagination Tree

Create with The Imagination Tree

Makes on The Imagination Tree

Sign up for our FREE emails:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Categories

Archives

Copyright © 2023 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT