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Baking ABC’s : A Fun Alphabet Game for Hot Summer Days

July 30, 2012 by notjustcute Filed Under: Get Outside, Learning through Play and Experience, Uncategorized 7 Comments

Today I welcome Carolyn from the blog, Pleasantest Thing!  I think we’ll be playing this great alphabet game out at our house today!

The unrelenting heat we are experiencing means that our outdoor games are mostly water games in the shade. A recent favorite game is “Baking ABC’s.”  In addition to getting everyone wet, this is a literacy skill game in which your child can play with sounds and letter recognition.

Set Up

For this game, all you need is a muffin tin, a measuring cup or two, masking tape, and water. Write out a letters on pieces of tape for each cup in your tin, and stick them into the middle of each muffin cup. Fill a bowl with water, and head outside.

The Game

Tell your child that you are hungry and want to bake muffins. To make the muffins, they need to find the first letter of the muffins you want.  The more dramatically I tell my 4 year old that I am hungry, the more he laughs. For example, I clutch my stomach and say, “I am SO HUNGRY! I need a BANANA muffin. Can you help me bake a BANANA muffin?” Then he fills the measuring cup with water, and pours the water into the tin marked “B.”

The game usually ends with splashing each other with water-filled measuring cups!

Age Adjustments:

  • For little ones working on letter recognition, simply ask them to find the letter: “I want a CARROT muffin. CARROT begins with C.”
  • For children who are very comfortable with the alphabet, you can make the game a bit harder by mixing up the order in which you put the letters in the tin. First ask your child to identify the first letter in the word, and next to locate that letter in the tin.
  • For beginning readers, you can put sight words into the tins for your child to identify.
  • You can add another challenge for beginning readers by asking your child to put water in the tin containing the letter before the first letter in your word. When you tell them you are looking for a “raisin” muffin, they would need to put the water in the tin marked “q”.
  • You can also add some math into this, by having a variety of measuring cups, and telling them how much water you need.

Carolyn is a stay at home mom to two boys, ages 4 1/2 and 1. She believes play is critical to child development, and her blog, the Pleasantest Thing, chronicles the way she brings play into activities, projects, reading, and meals. With two active boys, the ideas she likes best are easy, inexpensive, and fun!

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Comments

  1. 1

    Steph says

    July 30, 2012 at 6:18 am

    This is a great idea. We are definitely only going outside when it involves water and shade and I was running out of ideas…

    Reply
  2. 2

    debra says

    August 7, 2012 at 10:35 pm

    Wait a minute, wait a minute… “Baking fun for a HOT Summer’s Day?!” Anyone else see the problem with cranking up the oven when it’s 102 outside?

    Reply
  3. 3

    debra says

    August 7, 2012 at 10:36 pm

    (; I know there’s no baking involved actually… just the title was funny (;

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Baking the ABC’s – Guest Post | The Pleasantest Thing says:
    January 21, 2013 at 11:16 pm

    […] that I read regularly, and I am so happy to contribute one of my early literacy games to her site. Check it out here.Here’s a photo sneak peek of what you’ll find over […]

    Reply
  2. 50 Incredible Alphabet Activities for Preschoolers on hands on : as we grow says:
    March 6, 2013 at 5:24 am

    […] “Baking” the Alphabet on a hot day from Not Just Cute. Hungry for a banana? Fill up the letter b-b-b-B! […]

    Reply
  3. Backyard Play Area » The Pleasantest Thing says:
    May 27, 2013 at 12:38 pm

    […] Extras: Shovels, trucks, watering cans, kid spades, buckets, paint brushes, and our old muffin tin have taken up residence in our […]

    Reply
  4. 50 Incredible Alphabet Activities for Preschoolers says:
    February 5, 2019 at 4:30 pm

    […] “Baking” the Alphabet on a hot day from Not Just Cute. Hungry for a banana? Fill up the letter b-b-b-B! […]

    Reply

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I’m Amanda Morgan. Here’s what I’m about…

In early education, there is too much distance between what we know and what we do. I bridge the gaps that exist between academia, decision-makers, educators, and parents so that together, we can improve the quality of early education while also respecting and protecting the childhood experience.

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