The banana matching game requires some craftiness and effort from the teacher. The teacher needs a large poster board, black and yellow construction paper, a stapler, a laminator and a permanent marker. Cut 26 squares from the black construction paper. Next, cut out 52 yellow bananas from the yellow construction paper, making sure they are just a little longer than the black squares. Write a letter on each banana, creating 2 sets of the alphabet. Laminate the poster board, pockets and bananas separately. Staple the black squares on three sides to make pockets on the board. When starting to teach the alphabet, begin with the first half of the alphabet by placing 13 pairs of letter bananas in the pockets. Mix them up among the pockets, ensuring the alphabet is not in order. Explain to the students that they are monkeys, looking for matching letter bananas. They are allowed to choose 2 bananas at a time, and must attempt to match the letters. Students must orally say the letters, which builds letter recognition skills. Once students have conquered the first half of the alphabet, try the second half using the appropriate pairs of bananas.
This activity requires that the teacher gather 26 objects in the class that start with all of the different letters in the alphabet. Have students sit in a circle with the objects in the center, and explain that they are going to recite the alphabet as a class. Students need to remember the objects that have been chosen before them. The first student to go starts with the letter A, and selects an apple, or other appropriate 'A'; object from the center, and says: 'A is for apple' . The second person to go must remember what object was chosen for A, repeating 'A is for apple', then choose an object starting with B, and state: ''B is for boat'. This continues around the circle until every child has had a turn, and the alphabet has finished. The objects are used as cues to aid younger children with letter and word recognition.
This activity allows children to get messy and physically attempt to create letters of the alphabet. The teacher needs a large table, aprons for the students, and goop or slime. The goop is washable, and comes off of the table and aprons with some soap and water. Have students put on the aprons, and explain that they are mad scientists that are going to make letters from the goop. Give each student a mound of goop on the table. Students smooth out the goop to make it more even on the surface. Students can practice writing letters in the goop with their fingers, and can even try writing their names. Students enjoy the physical aspect of this activity, and it allows them to play with their writing skills while applying their knowledge of the alphabet.