Letter Recognition Tale-Tail

This fun format (method of play) is enjoyed by all ages. Here little ones work on recognizing small and capital letters while they have some fun.

To Make:

Make a path using 3/4" stickers on a colored file folder. Have start and finish spaces. I used the cute trucks with "T" and "t" on them from a preschool activity sticker book. In fact, they inspired the game. I would add some decorative stickers or pictures to brighten the board and attract the child. The trucks were enough decoration (you don't want to over do it). However, a little girl might prefer some pretty butterflies, ballerinas, or flowers.

Now you have to write the letters, both capital and small, on the stickers. The order is random, but the placing is important. The placing will be easier understood as you see how the game plays. Letter matches should be fairly close to each other (3-10 spaces apart). However, whatever letter is on the finish space, its match should be about halfway through the path.

To Play:

In turn, players toss a die or spin a spinner to determine how many spaces they can move their marker. They name the letter on which they have landed. However, their turn does not end here. They must find the matching letter to the space on which they landed and move to that space, ending their turn. This move to the matching letter may be a forward or a backward move.

Example of a turn:  The player shakes a 5 and moves to "E". After he has named the letter, he looks for the matching letter. They will find that the match, "e", is back two spaces. This is where their turn would end.

Now if a player were to land on the truck with small t, they would get to move all the way to the end of the path and WIN. This is always a fun surprise and a plea to play again. We also play that a player who is near the end and shakes a high enough number wins by landing on or passing the last truck.

I wrote and printed out the directions along with some variations for play. I attached these to the back of the file folder.

Variations:

1. Players can give the sound rather than the letter's name as they land on a space.
2. Players may be required to name a word that begins with the letter.
3. Older players could be required to name a word that fits a topic as they land on each space. (Example: If the topic is "Space" and the player lands on "L" he may say "lunar" or "launch.")

The "Tale-Tail" format is a favorite of ours and can be used for so many skills.