DIY Alphabet Matching Puzzle

Teach The Alphabet with a DIY Puzzle

This is another one of my favorite sensory activities. Not only are they looking at the letters and identifying them, but they are actually picking them up and moving them around.

When you lead this activity with them, it can teach them a lot more than just how to match uppercase and lowercase letters. You can encourage listening and speaking too. 

Ask your child, “where is the lowecase a?” When they find it, exclaim, “there it is!” 

Here’s how to make a DIY counting puzzle for your kiddos. This is a basic tutorial, please change things up and make it fit your child’s needs.

• Painter’s Tape
• Craft Knife or Scissors
• Clear Contact Adhesive Roll

• Cardboard
• Markers
• Self Adhesive Dots
• Painter’s Tape
• Craft Knife
• Clear Contact Adhesive Roll

Step 4

Attach a hook and loop adhesive pad to the pack of each lowercase letter piece. Place the other half of the hook and loop pad next to each uppercase letter.

Step 5

For vertical play, use painter’s tape to attach clear contact paper to the wall, sticky-side facing up. 

Step 6

Hang up the large uppercase letters board to the wall above the contact paper and let your child match the lowercase letters with the uppercase ones.  

Step 1

Use a sharp craft knife or scissor to cut out 26 rectangles from one of the pieces of cardboard. Retain these as they will be your 26 lowercase letter puzzle pieces.

Step 2

On the other large piece of cardboard, write each uppercase letter in the alphabet, leaving room next to each letter for the lowercase letter to be attached next to it.

Step 3

On the small rectangle pieces, write each lowercase letter from the alphabet.

Step 4

Attach a hook and loop adhesive pad to the pack of each lowercase letter piece. Place the other half of the hook and loop pad next to each uppercase letter.

Step 5

For vertical play, use painter’s tape to attach clear contact paper to the wall, sticky-side facing up.

Step 6

Hang up the large uppercase letters board to the wall above the contact paper and let your child match the lowercase letters with the uppercase ones.  

Educational Benefits of This DIY Matching Alphabet Puzzle

There are so many wonderful things that this simple puzzle can teach your child!

Letter Recognition: Every single time they pick up a letter and match the lowercase to the uppercase, they are putting the letters into their memory.

This is one of the earliest reading skills that children need before they start to put sounds together. Even children as young as toddlers can learn this part. 

Early Phonics: When children are ready for it, they can begin adding the sounds to the letters they pick up. 

Ask them, “Which letter makes the “sss sound?” and watch them reach for and match the S.

You can even modify this to teach your child how to read cursive. Print out the uppercase and lowercase letters in cursive. 

Then, ask them to match the letters together. Even if you aren’t going to teach them how to write the letters in cursive, being able read script fonts is an important skill they will need in life.