Coffee Cups and Crayons

Simple play ideas, learning activities, kids crafts and party ideas, plus acts of kindness for kids!

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Kindness
  • Busy Bags
  • Science Experiments
  • Free Printables
  • SCIENCE CAMP
  • Shop
    • Cart

August 21, 2013

ABC Ice Cream Gross Motor Game

12625 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet

My preschooler is in the process of learning her uppercase and lowercase letters.  To make practicing more fun we decided to play an ice cream themed game.

Ice Cream ABCs Gross Motor Game

All of my kids LOVE to play pretend and kitchen and restaurant play is a favorite so this ice cream game was a hit!

Move and Learn--Upper Case and Lower Case Letter Match Game!

To make the game I used 12 ball pit balls and 4 paper towel rolls.  I cut the rolls into thirds to make the cones and wrote lowercase letters on the front.  Then I used a Sharpie to write the corresponding uppercase letters on the balls.  

Gross Motor Alphabet Game for Preschool

I set the “scoops” and “cones” up on a table on one end of the room and the big kids and I sat at the other end.  My 3 year old was the ice cream cone maker.  She matched the uppercase and lowercase letters together and then delivered the cones to us.  The added balancing practice as she walked across the room made the game even more fun!

Ice Cream ABCs Game!  A fun and active way for preschool kids to practice uppercase and lowercase letters!

I chose the 12 letters that are in our family members’ names to play with first and they were such a hit she has already requested the second dozen!  This game could easily be adapted to practice numbers, words and math facts so I bet the big kids will end up with some ice cream cones to play with too!

For more ways for kids to Move and Learn check out this week’s other posts:

Learning Shapes with a Ball for Toddlers from hands on : as we grow

Geometry Jump from The Pleasantest Thing

And come back next week for the next post in the Move and Learn series!

About Megan Sheakoski

Megan is the creator of Coffee Cups and Crayons, a blog full of simple fun and learning. She believes that kids’ activities don’t have to be complicated to be fun and that learning is better with play.

Move and Learn Activities for Kids
Kids Nature Craft: Rock People and Pets

Comments

  1. Trisha @ Inspiration Laboratories says

    August 21, 2013 at 4:31 pm

    I love it and I know my son would, too!

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      August 21, 2013 at 6:34 pm

      It was even more of a hit than I thought it would be! Thanks Trisha!

      Reply
  2. Allison says

    August 21, 2013 at 4:39 pm

    Brilliant. I am so in love with this idea and definitely plan to do it with my preschooler!

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      August 21, 2013 at 6:33 pm

      One,I love being called brilliant. 🙂 And two, it is super fun! Thank you!

      Reply
  3. Lorie says

    August 22, 2013 at 8:35 am

    This looks like so much fun. What a clever idea!

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      August 24, 2013 at 3:16 pm

      Thanks Lorie!!!

      Reply
  4. Nilda M. Fazekas says

    September 14, 2013 at 8:45 pm

    Re: ABC Ice Cream…. I could hear my preschoolers say: “Me, I can match it!”

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      September 16, 2013 at 8:21 pm

      Ha! I hope they love it!

      Reply
  5. Alyssa says

    May 14, 2014 at 1:33 pm

    What a cute idea! I just wanted to let you know that I am linking to this post at Simply Creative Kids on May 14th if you don’t mind.

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      May 15, 2014 at 5:58 pm

      Thanks Alyssa!

      Reply
  6. Bubbles and Giggles Nursery. Nursery for children 1 - 4 years says

    August 26, 2015 at 10:46 pm

    Very good information. Lucky me I discovered your website by accident
    (stumbleupon). I have saved it for later!

    Reply
  7. Robb says

    January 18, 2016 at 3:08 pm

    This is GREAT! But the people at Chuck E Cheese keep telling me I can’t take the pit balls home.

    Reply
  8. Kathryn Inouye says

    April 2, 2020 at 2:11 pm

    Instead of balls could you use balloons?

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      April 2, 2020 at 4:15 pm

      Yes!

      Reply
  9. Debbie Rietkerk says

    October 20, 2021 at 4:32 pm

    I work with toddlers do you have any idea for toddlers .

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      October 21, 2021 at 10:36 am

      You could do the same idea with colors! We also have a ton of toddler friendly activities under busy bags!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

AWESOME IDEAS MADE EASY!

So you can have fun and still have time to finish your coffee!

Join over 10,000 parents who use our newsletter to connect with their kids through fun activities even when they're short on time.

Megan from Coffee Cups and Crayons

Looking for Something?

  • About
  • Copyright and Terms of Use
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Disclosures
  • My Account

Copyright © 2023 · Website Design By Jumping Jax Designs

12625 shares