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Gross motor letter hunt

April 25, 2014 by Katie 5 Comments

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QBoy was born with congenital orthopedic issues, although most people would never guess just by looking at him. His condition was corrected when he was younger, but he still has some mild gross motor delays for which he receives regular physical therapy services to strengthen his legs and core. In addition to his work with the physical therapist, our family has developed a routine that includes daily strengthening exercises for both kids.

I’m always looking for playful ways to get him to do his exercises. I am also always looking for ways to support his early academic knowledge. Thus, the focus of this next installment of my 101 Ways to Teach the Alphabet Series is a gross motor letter hunt activity we did on our driveway. I was excited to find an activity that would help both kids work on learning their letters while also giving them additional physical exercise. Plus, we did this activity outside on a beautiful spring day, so it was a win-win-win all around!

Click here if you want more information about teaching the alphabet in a fun, hands-on, and multi-sensory way. 

Gross Motor Letter Hunt 101 ways || Gift of Curiosity

I set up the activity on our wonderfully long driveway.

XGirl is working on the letters S, M, A, and T, so I grabbed several of each of those letters from our Montessori small movable alphabet. I placed them in a line down one side of the driveway for her to find.

QBoy, on the other hand, knows virtually all of the letters, so I set out a smattering of different letters from our Montessori small movable alphabet on the other side of the driveway.

Gross motor letter hunt - combine gross motor physical strengthening exercises with a letter learning activity #handsonlearning || Gift of Curiosity

Once the letters were set up, the fun – and exercise – began! I told the kids that they would need to find a particular letter, and that I was going to assign them different ways to go down the driveway to find them.

101 Ways to Teach the Alphabet: Hands-on, multi-sensory activities for teaching the alphabet to children ages 2 to 7.

I pulled out the scooter board QBoy’s physical therapist lent us. (Learn more about scooter boards here, although note that the scooter board I have linked to is different than the one the therapist lent us). We haven’t been using the scooter board as much as I would like. But it provides a great core workout, so I decided to have the kids go down the driveway by “walking” the scooter board.

Gross motor letter hunt - combine gross motor physical strengthening exercises with a letter learning activity #handsonlearning || Gift of Curiosity

I also had them go down the driveway “crocodile style” by balancing on their bellies and using their hands to move the scooter board along.

Gross motor letter hunt - combine gross motor physical strengthening exercises with a letter learning activity #handsonlearning || Gift of Curiosity

 Of course, we did a lot of old fashioned running, hopping, and skipping down the driveway as well.

Gross motor letter hunt - combine gross motor physical strengthening exercises with a letter learning activity #handsonlearning || Gift of Curiosity

I also had the kids walk on tippy toes – another one of QBoy’s physical therapy exercises.

Gross motor letter hunt - combine gross motor physical strengthening exercises with a letter learning activity #handsonlearning || Gift of Curiosity

Anyway, each time I sent them down the driveway doing various exercises I had them look for a specific letter.

Gross motor letter hunt - combine gross motor physical strengthening exercises with a letter learning activity #handsonlearning || Gift of Curiosity

And we all celebrated when the correct letter was found.

Gross motor letter hunt - combine gross motor physical strengthening exercises with a letter learning activity #handsonlearning || Gift of Curiosity

And that is how we did our gross motor letter hunt to work on physical strength and letter learning at the same time!

Have questions about teaching the alphabet? We’ve got answers! Click here to learn more.

More ways to teach to the alphabet

More alphabet posts from Gift of Curiosity:

  • Letter hunt sensory bin
  • Making letters with straws and play dough
  • Spaghetti letters
  • Letter puzzles
  • Montessori sandpaper letters
  • Smash the puffy letters
  • Mini letter hunt with a magnifying glass
  • Kinetic sand letters
  • Crystallized letters
  • Letter hop
  • Yarn wrapped letters
  • Letter tic-tac-toe
  • Rainbow letters


You can find more ways to teach the alphabet on my Literacy Activities for Kids page and my Letter Learning Pinterest board.

Follow Katie @ Gift of Curiosity’s board Learning Letters on Pinterest.

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5 Comments

Comments

  1. Catherine says

    April 28, 2014 at 5:34 pm

    This is simply perfect! I love it… more than you know. This is simply a MUST for me to do in my classroom. I have a set of 6 and three little boys that are new to letters, and 3 that are missing a few (and some that are just like Q and are olde hat)

    Thank you for giving me a great idea that will really build upon our efforts in motor lab. THANK YOU! You are amazing.

    Reply
  2. Tiffiny says

    April 29, 2014 at 5:48 pm

    What a fun way to combine mind and body!

    Reply
  3. Ashley says

    April 30, 2014 at 1:05 pm

    I love how they are scooting on the scooter to look for letters low to the ground!

    Reply
  4. Jill says

    May 4, 2014 at 10:25 pm

    This sounds like a great way to get the brain and body busy.

    Thank you for stopping by the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop this week. We hope to see you drop by our neck of the woods next week!

    Reply
  5. Ness - One Perfect Day says

    May 12, 2014 at 7:36 pm

    This is fabulous. I’m featuring it on Tuesday Tots this week. Thanks for linking up.

    Reply

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