Try this festive ornament letter search activity for a fun way to build letter recognition! Download the free printable for an engaging holiday literacy game.
- Ornament letter search = Christmas + literacy + fine motor fun
- Kids love games like ornament letter search
- Materials
- How to play the ornament letter search game
- What else can you do with this activity?
- Why ornament letter search totally rocks
- What age is this activity for?
- Ornament letter search is the best
- Frequently Asked Questions
Ornament letter search = Christmas + literacy + fine motor fun
Learning letters is an essential preschool skill…but it can quickly get boring and stale. Bored kids don’t typically want to engage in the content, so enter in fun ideas like ornament letter search.
Use simple materials + a free printable to get your littles shouting, “I FOUND M!” and “LOOK! IT’S T!”
When kids are overjoyed to play a game where they’re also learning letters, it’s the most epic win-win of them all.
🎄 Related: Check out our list of the best Christmas sensory activities for kids!
Kids love games like ornament letter search
Kids love to play, and there are endless ways to sneak in fantastic learning opportunities in games.
Games using commonly found materials in new ways are enticing and irresistible for little learners.
Games where kids are also active participants and moving their bodies while simultaneously learning? 10/10 recommend.
Ornament letter search is all of the above.
🎄 You’ll love these other Christmas activities, too:
Materials
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- Free ornament letter search printable
- Plastic ornaments
- Rice – or small beans
- Letter beads
- Dot stickers
How to play the ornament letter search game
One of the best things about this activity is that your little learners can help you set everything up.
You know how kids who help cook and prepare their foods are more motivated to eat them? The same concept works for learning activities: kids who help set up activities are more excited about engaging with them!
- Fill your ornament with rice until it’s about halfway full.
- Add in letter beads – making sure to include at least one of each letter in the alphabet.
- Fill with more rice, add the top of the ornament back on, and shake to mix everything around. If the letters aren’t mixing well, you might have too much rice inside.
- Invite your child to shake, rattle, and roll their ornament to find all of the letters from A-Z.
- As they find a letter, encourage them to use a dot sticker to cover it up on the printable. Then, as they find more and more letters, the ornament will begin to fill up!
What else can you do with this activity?
As your child finds letters, they put a sticker on their printable.
BUT, there’s so much more that you can do with this activity!
- Letter sounds: Invite your child to share what sound each letter makes.
- Words/phonics: Invite your child to name a word that begins with each letter.
- Before & after: Invite your child to share what letter comes before and after the letter they found
- Writing letters: Instead of using the printable, give your child a marker + paper and invite them to write the letters as they find them.
Why ornament letter search totally rocks
We’re combining early literacy skills (an important foundational skill) with FUN (an essential ingredient for learning).
We’re getting kids engaged with and excited about letters.
The secret sauce to teaching isn’t that much of a secret, after all… it’s simply about taking important skills and making them joyful.
Activities like this make letter learning something kids look forward to and not just “another thing to do.” Kids who are excited about learning letters will be excited about learning to read, too!
What age is this activity for?
Honestly, any! It’s easy to scale up and down.
For younger learners, you can do this activity with them, pointing out letters and inviting them to repeat after you after they’re named.
For older learners, they can write down words that begin with each letter found.
Ornament letter search is the best
It only takes a few seconds to set up, your kids are going to love it, and it’s loaded with learning.
Once you’re done, you can empty the ornament and save the materials for other learning activities.
You’re going to love this!
Frequently Asked Questions
Any that can safely use the materials. This is a great activity for both kids who do and do not yet know all of their letters as there are so many ways to tailor it to your individual child.
Absolutely! This is a fun thing to be able to pull out and use year after year.
Yes! A clear jar would work great, too.
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