One Activity, Many Ways: Wooden ABC Puzzle | San Antonio Baby Sign Language Classes

I picked up this awesome wooden puzzle at our local consignment store last week. (Similar.) I totally intended it to be for our two-year-old, who is learning her letters thanks to this video:

She absolutely loves dumping the letters all over the floor (our red A is currently missing), but she'll sit down and put the letters in the right places if either her daddy or I sit with her. (She'll ask, "Where is the B?" in this cute little voice--then grin and slide it into its spot.) 

So a couple of days ago, when I was picking up all the letters for the hundredth time, I started brainstorming all the other ways we could use this $3 puzzle. Ready?

1. Sort the letters into colors. This was a little TOO tricky for Kate at the moment (SO close!), so I asked our five-year-old to come help.

2. While I had Addie's attention, we used the letters to build short three-letter words. Addie's been reading for over a year, but her writing/spelling skills need a little work. This will be a fun game to play five minutes a time during the next few months.

 

3. I happened to notice that the letters have a repeating color pattern, so as we put them in order, I asked Addie to predict what color the next letter would be. Math skills with an alphabet puzzle!

She was having so much fun, she started dancing. :)

4. Unlike our other ABC puzzle from the dollar section at Target, this puzzle includes a picture for each letter (airplane, butterfly, carrot, etc.)--perfect for building vocabulary with Kate (and sneaking in a little signing, too!).

5. Puzzles are excellent for building fine-motor skills and eye-hand coordination! It also requires problem solving skills when letters don't fit exactly right (the Z is not symmetrical, for example, so there's only one correct way to put it in).

Yes, this puzzle was a great find! I'm sure we'll get hours and hours of learning fun out of it. :)

Does your family have an alphabet puzzle? Can you think of any other extension activities we could use it for?