To play this game, divide children into two teams, and have them line up against one wall. Along the other wall of the room, hang pieces of paper with a large letter written on each one. Include all the letters of the alphabet, and write two of each letter. When the game begins, the first student in each line runs to the other end of the room and tries to find the letter "A." This student brings back the letter to her team, and then the next child in line will run to find the letter "B." The winning team is the one who collects all of the letters of the alphabet, in proper order, first.
Make a typical game of bingo even more educational by putting letters of the alphabet on the squares instead of numbers. You can call out either letters, or the names of words that start with various letters. For example, if the letter is "C," call out "can." Children need to put a scrap of paper on the letter that you choose. The first child to fill up his board wins.
To prepare for this game, make a game board that consists of 26 consecutive squares. On each square, write a different letter of the alphabet. Players take turns rolling a die and moving a game piece the number of spaces shown on the die. When a student lands on a space, she must say the name of the letter (or the sound the letter makes) in order to stay there. Otherwise, she must go back to her original space. The child whose game piece reaches the end of the board first wins.
This cooperative alphabet game is easy to do, and students can play it independently; it does, however, require some advance preparation. Make index cards with one letter of the alphabet on each card. Store the cards inside a plastic bag with a zipper seal. When children are ready to play the game, they simply shake up the bag and spill the cards onto the floor. They can then work together to put all of the alphabet cards in order.