Alphabet Practice with Balloons

The easiest, most simple activities tend to be the ones that always fascinate my students.  So it should come as no surprise that this alphabet activity is one of their all-time favorites.  

The concept is ridiculously simple, I just blow up a bunch of balloons (ideally at least one per child) and use a permanent marker to write a different letter on each balloon.  Then I turn on some music and we hit the balloons around, trying to keep them from touching the floor.

When the music stops each child has to catch a balloon, and tell me what letter is on their balloon.  We repeat this until they get bored or we’ve practiced each letter multiple times.  Then I collect the balloons and we save them for another day.  As long as I store the balloons well we can usually use them for 3 or 4 days, which is a pretty good deal if you buy a pack at the dollar store!

I’ve also used similar activities to practices numbers, name recognition, and even emotions by drawing faces on each balloon.