ABC Treasure Hunt

What You Need:

• 26 brown paper lunch bags
• Markers

What You Do:

1. Ask your child to label each bag with one letter of the alphabet with markers.
2. Tell your would-be pirate that they are about to embark on a treasure hunt. Together, you'll find items to fill each of the treasure bags. But here's the catch: you must look for objects whose names begin with the letter on each bag. (For example: A=apple, B=ball, C=car, etc.)
3. Help your child sort through their toys, search the kitchen, troll the living room. Urge them along with questions like, “What is this?” or “What sound do you hear at the beginning of the word when you say its name?” When they tell you the sound, for example “bah” for ball, ask what letter makes that sound, then ask them to put it in the appropriate bag.
4. If your house is short on certain letters, take your quest to the street! Walk around the neighborhood looking for plants or other objects to fill the empty letter bags.
5. All right pirates, review! Once each bag has at least one object, ask your child to reach a hand in, hold up the treasures, and recite their names and the letters they start with.

You can keep the bags and review one letter each day, or better yet, ask your child to make up a story using all the items in a given letter bag. Write down what they say and you'll have an instant book, ready for homemade illustrations, and sure to be treasured on the road to reading.