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I am a blogger, and, as you might have guessed, I loved reading and writing in elementary school. I devoured books and composed stories of my own, many of which my parents still saved to this day.

Yes, I was one of those kids who read for “fun.”

My oldest, so far, shows no signs of having inherited this trait. He is much more into running around, building train sets and pondering highly existential thoughts. Sitting down and working on his writing is not high on his list of priorities.

Granted, my son, who will be five in November, is very young for Kindergarten, and may develop more of an interest in writing as it gets more comfortable for him.

Like all of you, I want my child to do well, without pushing him so far that he completely loses any interest in learning.

So, when I learned he needed a little more help with his literacy skills, I knew I had to come up with some fun ways to make reading and writing fun.

I decided to take something my son loves (trains) and use it to create a fun learning tool.

My son doesn’t love to practice his writing, as he finds the task tedious. However, this project kept his interest and taught him a lot at the same time.

ABC Lift-the-Flap Learning Train Instructions

1. On a piece of construction paper, draw a locomotive followed by 26 rectangles, curving around the sides of the paper.
2. In each rectangle, draw a dotted outline of each letter (or leave blank for more advanced writers)
3. On a separate piece of paper, cut out 26 squares and draw one letter of the alphabet on each one.
4. Place each square over the rectangles, making sure they are flipped to the blank side and each letter is upside down.
5. Tape the top part of each square, enabling your child to flip them over to reveal the letter.
6. Encourage your child to guess the next letter, and use this opportunity to work on phonics at the same time.

 

You can have your child complete the train in one sitting, or, as I did, work on a few letters each day. When finished, your child will have a cool reminder of their hard work.

For an evergreen alternative, try drawing the train on a dry erase board and let your child practice writing over and over again. Or use large poster board to create a larger floor version.

What do you think of this project? Share your thoughts below!