Uppercase & Lowercase Letters: ABC Parking Lot
Use toy cars to match the lowercase letters with the uppercase letters. This DIY game requires minimal setup and is a playful hands on way to engage with alphabet recognition.
Toy Cars That Teach Letter Recognition
How many of us have extra cardboard just laying around the house (or in the garage)? I know I do! This game uses a leftover cardboard box and turns it into an alphabet parking lot puzzle.
The goal of this game is for your child to match the uppercase letters on the cars with the lowercase letters in the parking spots. Of course, after they match all the cars, the fun really begins – free play!
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Watch the Video to See The Lowercase and Uppercase Letters Game In Action
This is a really fun game that’s portable – so you can take it camping or in the car during long road trips. You can customize this board and make it any size that you want. If you have kids that are going to play with it together you could even add each letter twice, doubling the size of the parking lot.
Watch the video to see how a child will engage with this DIY puzzle. I love how this game not only teaches the alphabet, but also encourages independent play. Even after they match everything kids can play with the cars and roll them around on the board.
Watch the Video to See The Lowercase and Uppercase Letters Game In Action
This is a really fun game that’s portable – so you can take it camping or in the car during long road trips. You can customize this board and make it any size that you want. If you have kids that are going to play with it together you could even add each letter twice, doubling the size of the parking lot.
Watch the video to see how a child will engage with this DIY puzzle. I love how this game not only teaches the alphabet, but also encourages independent play. Even after they match everything kids can play with the cars and roll them around on the board.
How to Make This DIY Alphabet Parking Lot Puzzle
The best thing about this game is that since it doesn’t have any strict rules, kids can play it as long as they want to. Even if they stop matching the cars to the correct letters, they are still seeing and interacting with the letters.
When your children are ready to learn the sounds the letters make, ask them to park the “M” car in the spot that goes “Mmmm.” It’s a fun way to mix things up and challenge them.
Here’s a video that shows you how easy it is to make this DIY ABC Parking lot puzzle. It’s so simple to do and uses materials from around your house, which I’ve listed below with step-by step instructions.
Materials
- Piece of Cardboard
- Dot Stickers
- Piece of Cardboard
- Dot Stickers
- 26 Small Cars
- Marker
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1
On a piece of cardboard create a parking lot with parking spaces for the number of letters in your alphabet!
Step 2
Write the lowercase within each parking space.
Step 3
On dot stickers, write one uppercase letter on each sticker.
Step 4
Place the dot stickers on each car.
Step 1
On a piece of cardboard create a parking lot with parking spaces for the number of letters in your alphabet.
Step 2
Write the lowercase within each parking space.
Step 3
On dot stickers, write one uppercase letter on each sticker.
Step 4
Place the dot stickers on each car.
Free Printable of This ABC Parking Lot Puzzle
Don’t have time to create this DIY puzzle? No problem! I wanted to make things extra easy for busy parents and teachers by providing a FREE printable version of this activity!
You can also combine scissor skills with alphabet learning by allowing the child to cut out each of the car puzzle pieces!
Just print the pages, cut out the cars and match them to the corresponding lowercase letter in the parking lot!
And if you like this, don’t miss our FREE Number Parking Lot printable too!
Educational Benefits of The Alphabet Parking Lot Game
This educational game with toy cars isn’t just lots of fun, it teaches your child lots of important skills too.
The most obvious skill it teaches is print awareness. This is the very first step in teaching children that writing in English follows basic rules, such as “big” and “little” letters.
That leads directly to letter knowledge. As they match the uppercase and lowercase letters, they are identifying their names. This is also called letter recognition. It’s the first thing they learn when they get ready to read.
If you want to teach your children the sounds the letters make at the same time, just play along with them. When they park the d in the D spot, ask, “what sound does D make?” It’s one more way to prepare them for those reading skills they are going to need soon.
Another way to challenge older children with this game: Write out easy words on paper (like CAT). Ask them to drive to the parking spots and sound out and read the word.
Driving the cars into the parking spots also helps them develop hand-eye coordination too.
Educational Benefits of The Alphabet Parking Lot Game
This educational game with toy cars isn’t just lots of fun, it teaches your child lots of important skills too.
The most obvious skill it teaches is print awareness. This is the very first step in teaching children that writing in English follows basic rules, such as “big” and “little” letters.
That leads directly to letter knowledge. As they match the uppercase and lowercase letters, they are identifying their names. This is also called letter recognition. It’s the first thing they learn when they get ready to read.
If you want to teach your children the sounds the letters make at the same time, just play along with them. When they park the d in the D spot, ask, “what sound does D make?” It’s one more way to prepare them for those reading skills they are going to need soon.
Another way to challenge older children with this game: Write out easy words on paper (like CAT). Ask them to drive to the parking spots and sound out and read the word.
Driving the cars into the parking spots also helps them develop hand-eye coordination too.
Store-Bought Alphabet Games
Here are my top picks for the best alphabet games you can buy!
Wooden Uppercase and Lowercase Matching Puzzle
This beautifully crafted interlocking wooden puzzle is a great way to explore uppercase and lowercase letters.
Fantastic for the ice cream lover! This fun matching game is played with interlocking popsicles. Great for recognizing lowercase and uppercase letters!
Here is a board game version of our DIY alphabet parking game! Match the lowercase letter labeled cars to the uppercase labeled parking spots!
This picture puzzle not only encourages uppercase and lowercase letter recognition, but can be used for word creation, color recognition, memory, and fine motor skills!
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