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Smash the puffy letters {101 Ways to Teach the Alphabet}

Preschool, Kindergarten

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If you have a child that likes to punch, hit, and smash things, this is the activity is for you.

The next installment in my 101 Ways to Teach the Alphabet Series is called Smash the Puffy Letters, and it gives active and kinesthetic kids a chance to smash, smoosh, and squeeze away while learning their letters.

Smash the Puffy Letters is a letter learning activity that gives kids a chance to smash, squeeze, and pound their way to learning the alphabet. Great for kinesthetic learners and active kids! || Gift of Curiosity

To make the puffy letters I whipped up a batch of super simple puffy paint by mixing together approximately equal parts white glue and shaving cream. I then dropped dollops of the mixture onto a tray and let it dry over night. Then voila! I had puffy balls on a tray!

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

I took a marker and wrote one letter on each of the puffy balls to create puffy letters. (I had two leftover puffy balls, so I wrote numbers on those.)  Then the activity was ready.

Smash the Puffy Letters is a letter learning activity that gives kids a chance to smash, squeeze, and pound their way to learning the alphabet. Great for kinesthetic learners and active kids! || Gift of Curiosity

You can see in the image below just how puffy the letters were. The puffy letters feel delightful to the touch, and then quickly bounce back to their original shape when smashed.

Smash the Puffy Letters is a letter learning activity that gives kids a chance to smash, squeeze, and pound their way to learning the alphabet. Great for kinesthetic learners and active kids! || Gift of Curiosity

My daughter approached the tray, and I called out a letter for her to smash.

Smash the Puffy Letters is a letter learning activity that gives kids a chance to smash, squeeze, and pound their way to learning the alphabet. Great for kinesthetic learners and active kids! || Gift of Curiosity

She found it and squished it with her fingers.

Smash the Puffy Letters is a letter learning activity that gives kids a chance to smash, squeeze, and pound their way to learning the alphabet. Great for kinesthetic learners and active kids! || Gift of Curiosity

Then she smashed it with her fist.

Smash the Puffy Letters is a letter learning activity that gives kids a chance to smash, squeeze, and pound their way to learning the alphabet. Great for kinesthetic learners and active kids! || Gift of Curiosity

She loved getting physical with this activity and trying to “defeat” the letters. But no matter how many times she smashed them, they kept puffing right back up.

Smash the Puffy Letters is a letter learning activity that gives kids a chance to smash, squeeze, and pound their way to learning the alphabet. Great for kinesthetic learners and active kids! || Gift of Curiosity

After she played this game on the tray for a while, she decided to remove the puffy letters from the tray to play some more.

Smash the Puffy Letters is a letter learning activity that gives kids a chance to smash, squeeze, and pound their way to learning the alphabet. Great for kinesthetic learners and active kids! || Gift of Curiosity

The letters came off the tray and retained their shape. You could easily spread the puffy letters on the floor and let your kids stomp on them. Or let your kids smash them with a toy hammer.

Smash the Puffy Letters is a letter learning activity that gives kids a chance to smash, squeeze, and pound their way to learning the alphabet. Great for kinesthetic learners and active kids! || Gift of Curiosity

I hope your kids enjoy smashing the puffy letters as much as mine did!

More ways to teach to the alphabet

More alphabet posts from Gift of Curiosity:

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

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Reader Interactions

9 Comments

  1. Marisa

    Thank you for all your great ideas and all of your hard work. I really appreciate all your emails.
    It is so awesome and selfless to share your ideas with all of us.

  2. Rebecca

    This seems like a great activity for boys especially. May I ask how long the balls lasted before they were unusable anymore?

    • Katie SG

      To be honest, we didn’t keep them long enough to find out. 🙂 Once my daughter got over the fun of playing with them, we threw them out.

  3. Nicole

    Hi there. I tried making these today w 2 cups of shaving cream to 2 cups of glue. It was like pancake batter on my tray. Any tips?

  4. hEATHER Combs

    I also have had a disappointing and frustrating time with the smash the alphabet activity – flat pancake shaped “dollops” and only the very top thin outside layer hardened! Once you broke through that they were runny and not squishy at all! HELP PLEASE!
    Heather @ wonderyearsacademy@gmail.com

    • Katie

      Hi Heather, I suspect you need to add more shaving cream to your mixture. If there’s too much glue they will become too flat when you put them out to dry. With more shaving cream they will stay fluffier. I wish you luck!