Chicka Chicka Letters Climb

My son's PreK/Alternative Kindergarten teacher had nothing but good things to say about our 5-year-old's progress so far this year. One thing I did note though, was that when tested for letter recognition, he missed the Mm.

This little 1-person activity is meant to improve that, but can be played with any upper and lower case letter.

It pairs perfectly with Chicka Chicka ABC, which has been a favorite book in our house for years.

What You Need

1 die or a wooden cube

Masking tape

Permanent marker

2-page PDF printed on cardstock (download it free here)

2 game pieces (glass baubles, buttons, coins, etc.)

Clear plastic page protectors (optional)

Fine-tip dry erase marker (optional)

Prep

Cut the masking tape into six small squares and write the upper and lower case letter (3 of each) onto each in permanent marker.  Adhere to the sides of your die.

If you want to make the game reusable, slip the printed coconut tree pages into the sheet protectors. Use the dry-erase marker to write the upper case letter on one page (both in the lined strip and inside all the tree trunk's circles); do the same with the other page, but with the lower case version of the same letter.

Play

The child rolls the die and moves the game piece up one of the trees, depending on whether they rolled the upper or lower case letter. Which will reach the top of the coconut tree first? Have your child guess before they begin rolling.

Even though this is a 1-child game, our oldest son got in on the action and the boys took turns rolling the die and predicting which would make the climb fastest.

The boys played three rounds and even our 9-year-old said, "This is kind of fun!" SUCCESS!

This game was inspired by Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten's activity (check it out here).