Alphabet Scooping Game

Need a fun outdoor activity? Try this Alphabet Scooping Game.

I love “overusing” my kiddie pool. Kiddie pools are the best – they keep messes contained, they’re a whole lot of fun, and they are insanely versatile. I’ve filled ours with pom pom balls, beans, even Jell-O! Our latest kiddie pool fun: the alphabet scooping game.

It’s so easy to set up an alphabet scooping game!

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• Kiddie pool
• Foam bath letters
• Bug catcher (mine is from the Target dollar section)
• Corn meal

This was a snap to put together: I dumped our bath letters into the kiddie pool and covered them with tons of corn meal. Don’t worry – this isn’t wasting the corn meal. At the end, we saved it in a plastic container and we will use it over and over again (we love corn meal play). I added in our bug catching net and one very excited toddler.

Corn meal is awesome for sensory play. It’s taste safe but moves similar to sand. That means you can sift it. My toddler would dip his bug net into the pool and aim to scoop out a letter or two.

Once he caught one, he’d sift out the extra corn meal and set the letters in a little plastic tub I had left for him.

He thought this was a hoot “fishing” for letters in his pool.

I love that he was calling out the letters as he found them. Nothing like a little sensory play and literacy fun rolled into one activity together. It was perfect for him!

There are so many variations to this activity!

If your toddler isn’t so into letters yet, try other toys. Animal bath toys would be great in this and so would shapes! Anything that can be scooped up into the bug catcher will work just great. Find whatever is best for your tot.

Once my toddler was done scooping out the letters, we turned this into one of our summer go-to activities: a corn meal sensory pool. Because corn meal is taste safe, 18 month old sister was able to join in the fun of this activity. Both my kids love driving construction vehicles through the corn meal! I love when an activity is a “two for one” and this Alphabet Scooping Game did just that.

What would your toddler think of this Alphabet Scooping Game?