My grandchildren and I used to play this alphabet sound recognition game in the car all the time. It didn’t matter if we were taking a short or a long trip, we all loved it. Before playing it, you may want to familiarize your children with the parts of the inside of the car – glove compartment, dashboard, speedometer, etc. Show them the jack that stays in the trunk, discuss the zones you drive through, such as school zones and make them aware that you have to use an exit when you get off of the Interstate highway. Raise their awareness of some of the vocabulary words that deal with cars.
Directions
This is how you play the Alphabet Car Game. Beginning with the letter “a,” each family member takes turns saying an alphabet letter (and its sound) pertaining to a car, in sequence, beginning with the letter “a.” The person who is “it” says the letter “a,” the sound, as in “apple,” and then names something in the car which corresponds to that beginning sound, such as “ashtray.” The object is to get the child to recognize the sounds of the letters and connecting with the idea that objects in or outside of the car may match that sound at the beginning of an automobile word. Some of the words may seem a little far-fetched, but this is a fun game, which is played lightly. Even made-up words may be excused as long as the child is getting the idea of hearing those beginning sounds and recognizing a car-type word that starts with that sound.
Before you begin playing the game, you may benefit from a few bits of information about phonics. The vowels are most important – a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y. Any letter that is not a vowel is called a consonant (“y” can be both). Beginning readers need to learn the short sounds of vowels first, since most beginning books have mostly short vowel words. The short vowel sounds are “a,” as in apple, “e,” as in egg, “i,” as in iguana, “o,” as in octopus, and “u,” as in up. Therefore, use short vowel beginning sounds when you play this game. Examples include “a” – ashtray, “e” – engine, “i” – ignition, “o” – on/off on the air conditioner, “u” – up (for the windows).
Examples of Car Words for the Alphabet Car Game
| a – ashtray | b – belt/buckle | c – car |
d – door/dashboard |
| e – engine/empty | f – full | g – gas | h – heater/handle |
| i – ignition | j – jack | k – key | l – lock |
| m – mirror | n – needle | o – on/off | p – park (gear) |
| q – ABC quiz –like this one | r – radio | s – steering wheel | t – tires/trunk |
| u – up (windows) | v – volume (radio) | w – windows | x – exit (Interstate) |
| y – yield signs | z – zones (school) |
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