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Alphabet action cards

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Today I’m sharing a set of free alphabet action cards – in two different versions!

Learn letters and their sounds with these fun (and free!) alphabet action cards!

(This post contains affiliate links.)

A few months ago, I finished teaching my Three the alphabet through our simple letter of the week activities.

Learn letters and their sounds with these fun (and free!) alphabet action cards!

She loved it, and is busy writing letters wherever she goes – as you can see in the above story about a “cweepy monster.” 🙂

One thing she hasn’t picked up on is letter sounds; she knows just a few of them. Her older siblings learned these relatively easily as we did our alphabet activities, so I realized that I needed to try something new.

The trick is that it needs to be something that feels like playing, because I am not going to drill my three-year-old on letter sounds.

(Not that it would work anyway.)

As I was studying my book Phonics They Use, by Pat Cunningham, she suggested creating a set of alphabet exercise cards. When you use them enough, children start associating particular letters with an action and eventually learn each letter’s sound.

So … I gave it a try!

Learn letters and their sounds with these fun (and free!) alphabet action cards!

There are two versions of cards. When you print this set front to back, you get the lowercase letter on the front …

Learn letters and their sounds with these fun (and free!) alphabet action cards!

And you get the action on the back of the card.

Learn letters and their sounds with these fun (and free!) alphabet action cards!

G is for go!

Learn letters and their sounds with these fun (and free!) alphabet action cards!

R is for read.

Learn letters and their sounds with these fun (and free!) alphabet action cards!

X is sort for for mix. (That tricky letter x!)

Learn letters and their sounds with these fun (and free!) alphabet action cards!

A is for apple.

I know, I know. Apple isn’t an action word. The only one I could come up with was act, and that wasn’t something my Three was going to understand. I had to get creative with some of the short vowels, but they do have an action associated with them.

A … eat an apple

O… get on something

U… get under something

Learn letters and their sounds with these fun (and free!) alphabet action cards!

We had fun using the cards outdoors on a beautiful summer day, but they’re simple enough that you can do them inside, too. This is the other set of cards. They’re single-sided.

Learn letters and their sounds with these fun (and free!) alphabet action cards!

You can even “go” in a messy playroom.

Learn letters and their sounds with these fun (and free!) alphabet action cards!

Here’s our letter o card. Another one of those tricky letters whose key word isn’t exactly an action. Blame the alphabet.

Learn letters and their sounds with these fun (and free!) alphabet action cards!

Getting “on” a box lid.

Learn letters and their sounds with these fun (and free!) alphabet action cards!

E is for exercise. That’s a fun one!

So are they working?

Well, we’re having fun. And my Three is getting more practice recognizing lower case letters. I can’t say that it’s helped her learn her letter sounds yet. One thing I do is emphasize the letter sound each time we use a card. “M! /m/, /m/, March!”

We’ll get there. All in good time!

Here are some other ways to use the cards:

  • Laminate the cards, hole punch the upper left corner, and put them on a ring. Then go through the cards one by one just for fun.
  • Let your child be the teacher. He/she can name each letter, and you do the action. (My Three loves this.)
  • After you’ve been doing the cards a while, see if your child can remember the action word before turning the two-sided card over.
  • If you really want to use these cards to teach letter sounds, it’s wise to do just a few at a time. Make a big deal about each new key word. Act it out with props. Get silly!
  • Lay the cards in alphabetical order on the floor.
  • Just let your little one have fun playing!

Learn letters and their sounds with these fun (and free!) alphabet action cards!

So how will you use these cards? Let us know in the comments!

P.S. Yes, they come in both color and black and white.

Get your free alphabet action cards!

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In this 16-minute workshop, you will get quick, powerful strategies for helping children of different ages remember letters of the alphabet.

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Reader Interactions

87 Comments

  2. Lashon Rogers

    Hello,
    I’m a mom of year old twin and on a tight budget. Im about to purchase your letter of the week curriculum. What else would you reccomand to use as i try to homeschoolmy boys

    Reply to this comment

  9. Donna

    These are awesome for preschoolers when they need to exercise or move around from sitting too long. With school starting soon they will be very helpful and I like the idea of putting them on a card and ring. Very helpful

    Reply to this comment

  12. Sharyl

    I love that these cards have the lowercase letters on them. Most of the cards available for youngers are uppercase. The clipart is adorable, and since I’m a big fan of multi-sensory teaching, I love having the picture, the word, and a motion all on one card! Thank you!!

    Reply to this comment

  14. Jennnifer Franklin

    Thanks again, Anna! Yet one more resource that I can pull out for alphabet review. I will probably use these whole-group and we will just do the motions you provide in your pictures.

    I have some teeny tiny abc exercise cards in black and white that my kids have loved, but yours are larger and more colorful and therefore more attention-grabbing.

    THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL YOU DO.

    Reply to this comment

  15. Joan Boardman

    They are brilliant cards my grand children are picking up the Alphabet quicker then the normal way of teaching. I have printed out both the colour and black and white as I thought the black and white would come in handy as a useful colouring activity. Brilliant cards I love them

    Reply to this comment

  17. Christine

    Love the cards for my kinder class. I did change a few of the actions and pictures that suited my style better. A for astronaut (float on moon). C for clap. F for fly I like fall as well. G for giggle. H for hide but I like hop as well. L for lay down. R for run in place. T for tap foot. For z I switched to zip up a jacket.

    Reply to this comment

  20. Deborah

    I like to pass the cards around and have students act out their card while classmates try and guess the letter and or the sound the letter makes. Those more advanced can name an object that starts or ends with the sound too. You can do whole group or divide the class into groups of 4 or 5 and using your assessments group them according to the specific letters they have not yet learned for extra repetitive practice.

    Reply to this comment

  22. Sidike Buayixiamu

    Thank you so much! I have found the perfect source that I was looking for. I downloaded these to print out. I am excited to teach my kids. I believe that there would be good result.

    Reply to this comment

  23. JRP

    These look great! May I suggest for A “applause” – I know it’s a long word but kids know clap- so it might just work. If you happen to be looking- no pressure. These are all wonderful resources. God bless! Thank you for sharing your wealth.

    Reply to this comment

    • Anna G

      That’s a great word! The reason I wouldn’t use it, though, is because it doesn’t have the clear short a sound. For this set of cards I wanted to make sure that the letter’s main sound (as in the short vowel sound or the more common consonant sound) was easy to distinguish.

      Reply to this comment

  24. Kathleen

    Hello, my name is Kathleen and I’m a Babysitter Grandma to 3 of my 4 grand babies. I’ve been working with my 4 yr old since birth and he is more than ready for preschool, which he started just 5 months before he turned 4. I’ve grabbed everything free off the internet to teach him with, and I’ve compiled a notebook full off pages and am beginning to use these tools on my next little boy. When I saw your site with the community pages I had to grab them and put them in my book. I’m excited to see what else I can use of yours to teach him and his new little sister with.

    Reply to this comment

    • Anna G

      Thanks for the suggestions! For each featured picture I do want its beginning sound to match the most common sound of the letter (short vowel sound, /k/ for letter c, etc.) – so that makes it tricky.

      Reply to this comment

  27. Alina

    What a lovely set of alphabet cards-thanks for sharing. Thank you so much! I have found the perfect source that I was looking for. I downloaded these to print out. I am excited to teach my pupils. I believe that there would be a good result.

    Reply

    Reply to this comment

  29. Libby

    Hi Mrs Anna
    Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful ideas. I work with children in the crèche(6mths-1yr9mths) and I have printed some of your printable works for my kids, they love the colorful letters of the alphabets. I will love to use this too with them.

    Reply to this comment

  31. Judith Finger

    Thank you for the idea!!!
    I love the photos ideas with the letters.
    I have students who are part of the LIFE Skills program and teaching them the letters with no visuals is a struggle! This way I can get them up and moving instead of just sitting to learn the letters. I am taking this idea and taking actual photos of the students doing the action for each letters in hope that it will motivate them to see their photos to letters!
    Thanks Again!!
    Judy

    Reply to this comment

  34. Ashley

    I just have to say your site is by far the best one I have seen! I’ve been looking at quite a few sites for ideas and material to teach my preschooler at home. I have bought workbooks for him to do, but he gets bored quickly. I can’t wait to try some of the ideas you suggest. Thank you so much!

    Reply to this comment

  35. sonia

    ana.
    muchas gracias por el alfabeto,al fin lo puedo ver, es muy entretenido, Maximiliano (nieto)lee muy bien español ahora tiene 5 años, esta actividad me servirá para introducirlo al ingles , conoce los nombres de los colores, y los números (0-10) en ingles desde 1año a 5 años, hice los libros mudos. voy a impimir las tarjetas , buscare la prunciacion .
    gracias Ana.

    Reply to this comment

  38. Deborah Hoyle

    I have been with this website for a very long time and it is truly the best website for people and or teachers to learn what to teach and why. She not only has 100’s of free learning games but explains how to use them in different ways. She also educates people about ages and stages and what to use. I have been a preschool teacher Head Start director, sped teacher and kinder garden teacher. You will find anything you need on her web site. Thank you so much for being there for all of us!

    Reply to this comment

  39. Michael

    Regarding Teach letter sounds with alphabet action cards! Thanks so much. Will use with my active little one. I know others have made suggestions so . . .
    For the letter “A” could be “Fly like an airplane” – arms can be outstretched as they move around.
    For the letter “U” sometimes there may be nothing to get under where you are. Another option could be “Look up”
    Thanks again for your generosity and creativity.

    Reply to this comment

  41. Trinity

    I LOVE this idea, what a fun way to reinforce the alphabet and get some wiggles out. For A I might have gone with “ACT like and ANIMAL”, that way they could choose a different animal every time you play and I don’t have to worry about having apples on hand because they go fast in my house LOL. Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful talents with use <3

    Reply to this comment

  44. Michelle

    Love your “alphabet action” cards. I have been doing this for years with my preschool class. Only I don’t have cards. Never thought of that, but love the idea. Letter A was a tough one, but we “arch” our backs for letter A. We like to stretch those back muscles! Also, we have a strange one for X…X marks the spot and we make three different sizes. Small X with fingers crosses, medium X with arms crossed and large X using arms and legs outstretched for full body X. It’s fun to come up with different things and to see what others are doing. Very well done!!

    Reply to this comment

  46. Marla

    These are wonderful and I think it will really help my little multi sensory friends! Thank you for making such a wonderful resource! Do you happen to have a small version of them all on one page so that they can keep a reference in their folders?

    Reply to this comment

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