Alphabet Fishing – a Name Spelling Activity

Names are a GREAT place to start when teaching kids many concepts, but especially the alphabet. Even reluctant learners may enjoy learning the alphabet if they are the subject of study! This alphabet fishing and sorting game uses kids’ names in a fun, playful name spelling activity. {Our FREE, 27-pg printable pack can be found at the END of this post.}

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I will be the first to admit that this activity took a little more prep time than the activities we normally do, but I believe it was WELL worth it. My daughter, NSis {3 years old} LOVED this game and it has heightened her awareness of the letters in her name even further. PLUS, I plan on using these fish in the future for some other skills, so be on the look out!

 

Name Spelling Materials

• fish* {from printable pack} – print onto card stock and laminate
• letter cards** {from printable pack} – print onto card stock
• letter mats {from printable pack} – print onto card stock. Only print the mats needed to spell your child’s name. The only time you might need to print more is if you’re preparing this activity for more than 1 child.
• paper clips***
• fishing pole – you can make your own with a wooden dowel. Ours came from our Melissa & Doug puzzle.
• A “body of water” – We used an old “pond” I had from my teaching days, but you could use a blue bed sheet, a blue carpet square, or just pretend on your floor space. You might even use a large bowl.
• A large bowl for the fish you “discard”

*I printed 3 copies of each fish page for a total of 30 fish. And we used all 30, which I was surprised she stuck with it that long.

** First, I printed off only the letter card pages that contained the letters of her name.  Then I printed a couple extra letter card pages that did not have letters from her name. Altogether, I only included 30 letters for the game. Her name starts with N, so I included 4 N’s in the game. I did this with each letter of her name, including 3-4 of each letter. I also included other letters, like S that are not in her name, but I only used 1 of each of those letters.

***Use the paper clip to clip the letters to the fish. This also makes them magnetic for the fishing part.

 

Alphabet Fishing and Name Spelling

I placed her name on the floor with the letter mats and asked her what it spelled. She looked at me kind of funny, but once I spelled each letter, she knew right away that it was her name. {It helps that I have the letters of their name displayed in her room and we frequently spell it together and have since she was very little.}

First I explained the “rules” of the game; and this is exactly how she looked while waiting to play..so excited!

1. Use your fishing pole to catch a fish. {We used the fishing pole from our Melissa & Doug puzzle.}

2. Name the letter you caught. If you prefer letter sounds instead of names, go for it!

3. If the letter is IN your name, place the fish on the corresponding letter mat of your name, like her letter N.

4. If the letter is NOT in your name, place it in the yellow bowl.

 

She had the BEST time with this and even wanted to play again when we were finished. Here are a few shots of her in action:

 

catching a letter F fish,

I mixed upper and lowercase letters, because she knows many of them, but you can use what you think your child can handle. Each time she caught a fish, we’d take it off, identify it, and I’d spell each letter in her name from the letter mats and ask, “Is the letter f (or whatever letter it was) in your name?”

 

catching a capital N fish, the first letter in her name

 

placing the N on the N letter mat

 

tossing letters in the “discard” bowl – “That’s not in my name.”

 

Her letter mats that formed her name were completely covered in the end with the letters that matched from her fishing adventures!

 

More Alphabet Fun:

• Teaching Toddlers the Alphabet
• Learning the Alphabet, printable ABC packs
• Alphabet Grid Games
• Alphabet Clip Cards
• Open-Ended Alphabet Playdough Mats

Follow This Reading Mama’s board My Name is… on Pinterest.

Follow This Reading Mama’s board ABC Goodies on Pinterest.

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy Teaching!
~Becky