Roll and Say games are easy to prepare, and your kids will have so much fun playing them. They also have the chance to practice early phonics skills with these fun and easy game mats. This Roll and Say Hot Cocoa ABC game ties in perfectly with a preschool winter unit, Christmas activities, or anytime you want to practice the alphabet. This is a fun and festive way to celebrate winter while also learning about letters.
GET A FULL WEEK OF WINTER THEME ACTIVITIES IN OUR PRINTABLE PRESCHOOL WINTER LESSON PLANS.
SEE THIS PRINTABLE IN ACTION…
Watch this short video clip to see the free printable Roll and Say Hot Cocoa ABC Game in action!
SETTING UP THE ROLL AND SAY HOT COCOA ABC GAME
I mentioned earlier that roll and say games are easy to set up. All you have to do is choose the letters you’d like to focus on and print out the game mat.
Then it’s time for the fun! Gather a manipulative you’d like to use as the game pieces. Mini marshmallows, white pom poms, white navy beans, white pony beads, and mini erasers all work well. You’ll want something that isn’t completely round so that it will stop rolling and land on (or near) one of the hot cocoa mugs.
I also like to put the game mat on a surface with edges to prevent the game piece from falling off too much. We used a baking sheet as a tray, but anything that will contain your manipulative and game sheet will work fine.
If you want to add a little more to this activity, you can also include a set of letter manipulatives that will match the letters on the game mat.
TIME TO PLAY THE ROLL AND SAY HOT COCOA ABC GAME
To play, have the kids roll the manipulative then name the letter that it lands on. If it doesn’t land on a letter, choose the one that it’s closest to.
It’s really that easy, but you’ll be amazed out how much kids enjoy it!
Plus your kids will get a ton of letter practice on the way, and it’s a great activity for extra fine motor practice.
If you decide to include different game piece options, your kids will have fun experimenting with them to see how they roll and spin in different ways. While it may seem like they are just playing a fun game, they are identifying and saying letters.
Depending on what you choose to focus on with this activity, you can practice naming letters, sounds, or even words that begin with the letter.
If you are looking for a fun way to extend this activity, you can set out a second matching mat and have your kids cover them on their game board as they say them each time on the original mat.
This will help make sure they land on all of the hot cocoa cups before the game ends. We like to play until there are three marshmallows in each cup.
You could also include a bin that has more than one of each letter and have your kids create a graph with which letter was rolled the most.
GET THE FREE PRINTABLE ROLL AND SAY HOT COCOA ABC GAME
This free printable set includes 6 game mats. There are mats that include both upper and lowercase letters so you can practice both.
As you can see this is an excellent quick-prep game to help kids learn the alphabet! Click the pink button below to get your set.
Don’t see the pink button? Click here to get your free printable ABC mats.
Want more ways to practice the ABCs? Check out our list of the Top 10 Ways to Teach The ABCs and have some fun!
PRINTABLE WINTER THEME LESSON PLANS
Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. We have a variety of lesson plan sets that work well as winter themes. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.
This set currently includes active hands-on learning ideas and the following printables:
1) 10 Little Trees Winter Song and Number Cards (in color and b/w)
2) Get Dressed for Winter Activity Mats and Clothing (in color and b/w)
3) Hot Cocoa Counting Mats 1-20 (in color and b/w)
4) Winter Color Matching Puzzles
5) What Can We Do in Winter? Emergent Reader (4 versions)
6) Child and Snow Angel Uppercase and Lowercase Alphabet Matching (in color and b/w)
7) Winter Number Cards 0-35 (3 versions in color and b/w)
8) Winter Roll and Graph (in color and b/w)
9) Winter Tree Dice Game (in color and b/w)
10) Winter Picture-Word Cards
GET YOUR LESSON PLANS
Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers.
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