My 3 year old is really after her 5 year old sister who is enjoying reading a lot! She is desperately trying to keep up with her, trying to write her name, engage in number recognition activities and recently has been very excited about pre writing activities. That’s a younger sibling for you! To encourage her natural curiosity in a playful way we did this simple alphabet activity with things around the house. This memory match game is something you probably are already doing, but this is our first time with my younger one. Materials I did not include a materials list because this alphabet activity can truly be just two things - some form of letters/numbers and some sort of container that you can use to cover the letters or numbers. But here is what we did - I gathered all our magnetic letters. You can easily use your wooden letters, foam magnets, foam letters, foam stickers or any letters you have lying around. Just find cups which are larger than the letters you use. Along with a few paper or plastic cups you are ready for the game. I picked out those letters she is still not sure of and gathered 2 of each and arranged them on a bright sheet of paper. 
She took a look at all the letters and covered them all up with the cups while calling out the letters. 
Then it was time to play the alphabet game. She picks up one cup at a time and checks out the hiding letter under it. Covers the letter again and finds the matching letter by opening one cup at a time.
She really enjoyed finding the hiding letters and was very excited when she matched the letters. After a couple of rounds, I change the alphabet game a bit and added lower case letters to the mix. We played the same game except this time we memory matched the upper case letters to the lower case letters. 
Simple isn’t it? Something all parents can do NOW! 
Here are some more alphabet activities you can do with a little planning
Alphabet City
Have licorice lying around AND your kids don’t eat them ? use it for in an engaging alphabet activity
Have corn meal? Make this easy sensory bin for a fun alphabet activity 
The same cornmeal can be used this way too. Leaf picking- swap letters for numbers.
Read all 5 comments
The Doctor and The Dad · Nov 2013
Wow, today's post on the Doctor and the Dad is also a new twist on the old "Memory" game. It comes with a keepsake for Mom and Dad -- and we think it's a great compliment to your twist on the game!
Cherine · Nov 2013
We are working on Upper & Lower Case letters, and I have the Leap letters!! We will try this one for sure:) I linked to your post!! Thank you for the fun ideas :)
Emma @ P is for Preschooler · Nov 2013
How fun! My daughter loves the guess-what's-under-the-cup kind of games so she's going to love this one!