Childhood101

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Literacy Spot #29: Alphabet Rocks

preschool alphabet games

Given that our that our story stones are still very popular with Immy twelve months after I introduced them and her current fascination in all things alphabet, when I saw this gorgeous idea for Alphabet Rocks I knew that I wanted to add some to our playful collection of alphabet resources.

So out came the paint pens and the big tub of rocks hidden away in our shed. I chose small, flat rocks and drew the letters straight on with the paint pens.

Alphabet rocks are just another tool that can be used with interested preschoolers to further their interest in letters. Typically, Immy enjoys picking out and identifying the letters that are familiar to her – the letters from her name, M for Mummy, D for Daddy, etc. Sometimes she will ask what an unfamiliar letter is. We don’t push it, just answering her questions and singing along to the alphabet song when asked 🙂

Used with early primary aged children, alphabet rocks can be a fun, hands-on way to make reading sight words or spelling words – you may just need to double up on common, often used letters. Alternatively,  make up two sets of alphabet rocks for a fun twist on a Concentration style matching game.  Rocks, scrabble tiles, magnetic letters – these types of resources are especially valuable for reinforcing abstract concepts (like the alphabet, numerals or mathematical equations) with physical (or kinesthetic) learners who like to touch, feel and handle things.

P.S. For more rocky inspiration, Juliet also features stones as a playful learning resource in this great post.

Related Posts

What is Childhood 101′s Literacy Spot? It is a weekly reminder of the importance of young children learning playfully as each week I share one idea for playing around with literacy, taken from my many years working as an early childhood teacher. Visit the previous Literacy Spot posts for more fun ideas for playing with literacy.



Christie Burnett is an early childhood teacher, presenter, writer and the editor of Childhood 101. More importantly, she is a Mum who believes wholeheartedly in the value of children learning through play, the importance of quality early education, and the togetherness of family.

Read more of Christie's adventures at https://childhood101.com.

Read the comments or scroll down to add your own:

  2. jeanne says

    July 25, 2011 at 12:13 PM

    These blocks are gorgeously fabulous! The photo itself is a wonderful print or poster! Would it be way too fabulous if the small/lower case letters were on the flip side?? :)

  3. cathy @ nurturestore says

    July 25, 2011 at 8:39 PM

    A great idea Christie - and I love jeane's suggestion for putting the lower case on the other side. Having resources like these available for play is such a good way for kids to learn letters. My youngest loves to play with our alphabet fridge magnets. She turns each letter in to a member of a family, but calls them all by their letter names - so playing her way, but getting the literacy teaching too. :)

  4. Mel says

    July 26, 2011 at 8:11 AM

    This is a great idea, my little girl is into numbers at the moment so I might make her some number stones. Where did you get your paint pens? I've seen paint pens at an art shop but they were pretty expensive :( Did you need to varnish the stones too? Thanks for the idea!

    • Christie Burnett says

      July 28, 2011 at 7:38 AM

      Mel, we have a Riot Art Store near us and I managed to get some double ended paint pens that have two different colours which made the price a bit more reasonable. They also had the paint pens discounted when I was there. I think acrylic paint would work too. I haven't varnished our stones but did think that I would spray them with a spray sealant - though I never did this with our story stones and they have only rubbed off a little over time.

  5. Lindsay says

    August 31, 2011 at 11:39 PM

    This idea totally rocks (forgive me for being punny). :) Featured you today at http://www.craftbuds.com/fresh-picks-for-wednesday-8-31/

  6. Bridget says

    September 3, 2011 at 1:02 PM

    I was wondering if anyone has suggestions for which kind of paint pens to use? I am looking on amazon and it seems there is some difficulty with paint pents on different mediums. I don't want it to rub off. Thanks in advance!

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