In this fast-paced game, children practice letter and sound recognition. The teacher sets up 10 chairs at the front of the room and places a letter written on construction paper on each chair. The letter may be capital or lowercase. The teacher plays music for a few seconds while 10 children march around the chairs. After the music stops, the children pick up the letter from the chair closest to them then sit down. The teacher calls out a letter name or sound. The child with the correct letter stands up and shows the letter to the class. That child returns to her desk, another student take her place and the game continues.
Played much like the original version, Alphabet Bingo is a fun whole-group game. Teachers can make their own cards or download and print them from Bingo Card Creator, an online educational resource site (see the link in the References section). Each child receives a card and bingo chips. The teacher calls out consonant or vowels, either by name or by sound. Children call "bingo" when they fill up a row or the entire card with chips by identifying letters or sounds correctly. Teachers can use pencils or stickers for prizes.
Teachers can use printable games to teach consonants and vowels as well as reinforce handwriting skills. Prek-8 is a teacher resource site with free games teachers can print. Students look at a picture of an object such as a bed and then look at the letters underneath the picture, which are scrambled. Students can work in pairs to unscramble the letters and spell the word correctly. Most of the words follow the consonant, vowel, consonant (CVC) pattern.
The Internet has many interactive games that help students learn consonants and vowels. Starfall is a premier early-childhood educational game site. Beginning with the alphabet, Starfall has games and tutorials that teach students sounds, letter names and shapes. Children can progress to listening and reading online texts. Games keep score and track student results as they advance to higher levels.