Sidewalk Chalk Letter Sound Hide and Seek Activity

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I love to take learning outside and so do my kids. We also love fun, hands-on activities so we created this Sidewalk Chalk Letter Sound Hide & Seek game. This activity was created with preschoolers and kindergartners in mind, but it can be adapted for older or younger children as well!

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Sidewalk Chalk Letter Sound Hide & Seek

There’s a classic Montessori activity in which students match objects to letter cards. My girls liked it, but my son always needed more movement in his school work. Thinking back on those days (he’s 10 now), this Letter Sound Hide & Seek activity would have been perfect for him!

How to Set up the Game

You’ll need an assortment of small plastic animals and some sidewalk chalk. Choose animals that begin with the letter sounds you’d like to work on.

Next, write out the letters in chalk. We wrote each letter on an individual brick, but you could also just draw circles around each one. The idea is to create a space where animals of each letter sound belong.

Finally, hide the animals around your yard or playground. We hid them in plain sight.

Begin by hiding small plastic animals outside for your child to match with their beginning letter sounds.

How to Play Letter Sound Hide & Seek

Tell the kids the boundaries of the animals’ hiding area. Then, have them search for the animals.

As they find each one, help them decide what beginning letter sound it starts with and place the animal with the corresponding chalk letter on the ground.

After finding the animals, your child can place them next to their corresponding chalk letter that is written on the ground.

Extend the Activity

Have your child copy or trace the letters – using chalk makes it fun!
Take turns! Let your child hide the animals for you to find – and check that you place them next to the correct letters.

Toddler Version

To include a toddler sibling in this activity, use animals large enough to be toddler safe. Spread the letters out a little further apart. After your older child has found and placed all the animals based on their beginning letter sounds, give the toddler a small bag or basket to go collect them. Help them name each animal as they pick it up.

Early Reader Version

For kids who are already starting to read you can write out the full animal name instead of just the first letter. You can also have the kids do all the chalk writing themselves.

Have your child do the chalk writing of the letters for some great handwriting pratice!

I hope this beginning letter sound game gives you some active outside learning time this summer. Be sure to keep it playful and let your kids take the lead. Have fun!

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