Go on a Detective Alphabet Hunt! A Letter Learning Activity for Preschoolers

This detective alphabet hunt is such a fun activity for kids who are learning their letters!

Jonathan is currently working on identifying the letters of the alphabet. I set up this alphabet hunt for him that incorporates hiding letters, a clip board, a magnifying glass, and checking off letters after you find them. So much fun for a preschooler!

Supplies Needed:

• Clipboard
• Paper – with all of the letters written on it
• Letter cards – to match the letters on the paper
• Pencil
• Magnifying glass – to make it more fun!

Since Jonathan is really in the beginning stages of being able to remember the names of letters from day to day, I decided to stick with just the capital letters. If you prefer to teach the lower case letters first or to do both, then do that. I made a list of all the capital letters with a line next to each one. Then I made small letter cards. (By the way, you can find some great thoughts about teaching the capital letters first in this post by This Reading Mama. She has excellent literacy resources!)

I hid the letter cards all around the downstairs of our house. Then I handed him the clip board, the pencil, and the magnifying glass and told him that he was going to be a letter detective! I showed him how to use the magnifying glass to make the letters appear larger! Then I sent him off to find the letters, check his clipboard to find the matching letters, and check them off.

He was very serious about examining the letters!

It was interesting because I showed him how to make a check mark, but he decided to just go with a horizontal line. He must have decided that the check mark was too difficult to write.

Jonathan enjoyed this activity so much that he got it out while I was cooking dinner and asked his brother to hide the letters for him again so that he could check things off! 🙂

This alphabet hunt provided a great opportunity to work on writing skills (he doesn’t write many letters yet), visual discrimination between the letters of the alphabet, and learning the names of the letters. It was a fun way to talk about the letters in a playful way (“Oh! You found an M!”) rather than just sitting down and trying to memorize them.

More Alphabet Activities for Busy Preschoolers:

• Five Hands-on Ways to Learn the Alphabet

• Five More Alphabet Activities