I’m always looking for new and fun ways to engage my children in practicing the alphabet. With summer right around the corner, I knew I needed some fresh gross motor alphabet activities that would get them moving and learning at the same time!
When children combine gross motor activity with learning, the benefits are amazing. Gross motor activity engages the whole body, as they are developing skills such as balance and hand-eye coordination to hop, run, skip, throw, or kick. Young children especially need lots of opportunities to move and strengthen gross motor skills. It also helps in getting some of that endless energy out!
We’ve found some fun ABC activities that will get your kids moving and learning. Whether you’re looking to practice upper and lowercase letter recognition, letter sounds, or alphabetical order, any of these fun gross motor alphabet activities can be modified to fit your needs. Check them out!
Gross Motor Alphabet Activities
I Can Teach my Child has a fun gross motor alphabet game where your kids can play connect the dots. Map out a fun picture for your kids to discover, while they practice alphabetical order!
Get your little ones jumping, singing, and thinking all at the same time with this fun ABC game on the trampoline from The Imagination Tree. You can have them sing the alphabet as they jump from letter to letter, or even call out words and have them jump onto the beginning sound. Don’t have a trampoline? Write the alphabet on the sidewalk!
Shoot some hoops and practice the alphabet with this basketball ABC game from School Time Snippets. After a letter or sounds is announced, your kiddos will also work in some fine motor practice along with some gross motor as they crumble up the paper then shoot!
Mom Inspired Life has a fun and active way to practice the alphabet with their ABC kicking activity. Call out a letter or sound, then aim and KICK!
Do your kids love to pull or carry things in loads? Then this outdoor ABC pulling game from Growing Book by Book is just what you’re looking for! Just give your kids a set of letters to collect and watch them gather and pull their way to learning and gross motor fun!
Calling all transportation enthusiasts! Grab a dump truck, front end loader, or any other form of toy transportation you have and scoop up those ABC’s to make it to the relay finish line! Kids will love this alphabet relay game from Mom Inspired Life for Pre-K Pages!
The Educators’ Spin on It has a fantastic way to get kids moving with their ABC obstacle course. Just cut some pool noodles, stick them on some craft sticks, and arrange them in an open area for kids to run the obstacle course in alphabetical order!
Similar to musical chairs, this alphabet movement game from Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas will get kids moving around the alphabet to music. As soon as the music stops, you have to shout out the letter and/or sound that you are closest to.
A Dab of Glue Will Do has a fun way to get kids moving, learning, and having fun all at the same time with their snowball fight literacy game. Write some upper and lowercase letters on some “snowballs” and let the fight begin!
This alphabet gross motor game from Coffee Cups and Crayons serves up so much more than just “ice cream!” Kids will get to combine imaginative play while also working on their balancing skills.
Hunt for letters in the garden with this fun ABC scavenger hunt. As letters are retrieved, have kids arrange them in alphabetical order on the sidewalk. This also helps with discovering which letters are still hiding in the garden!
This ABC gross motor activity with leaves from Toddler Approved would be a perfect movement and learning activity for a Fall or leaves theme. A free leaf template is included!
If you have kids who are ready to start working on beginning sounds, try our free printable dinosaur beginning sound scavenger hunt.
The ABC I Spy Games can also be used as scavenger hunts to get kids moving as they learn the alphabet.
Do you have any fun ways that you combine gross motor skills with the alphabet?
Need more ideas? Head over to the Top 10 Ways to Remember the ABCs for a HUGE collection of alphabet activities and inspiration.
More Alphabet Activities
Try these excellent resources for more hands-on alphabet activities.
Andrea Myers
I found it interesting when you said that children can learn the alphabet while jumping on a trampoline and have them sing it as they jump from letter to letter, or even calling out the words. I think this is a fun idea because my kids love to play in our backyard. I should consider installing a trampoline in our yard and will also add a letter board on the sidewalk for them to easily remember the letters.