Driveway Letter Dash and outdoor game for learning letters

It's officially Fall and while temperatures are still in the 90's here in Texas, we are excited to get outside and enjoy the (slightly) cooler weather!  Today, I want to share with you a fun game we've been playing while we're outside, that gets the kids moving and helps them learn their letters!

Set up and rules are simple.  Using sidewalk chalk, draw a starting square at one end of your driveway.  Next, draw large letters (upper case or lower depending on what you're working on with your child) randomly along the rest of your driveway.  Space the letters out a couple of feet or so to allow for plenty of room to "Dash".  Draw your letters with the starting square as the bottom of the letter and the opposite point of your driveway as the top of the letter, so all letters have the same orientation, otherwise an "N" could be mistaken for a "Z".  (does that make sense?)

Your child begins in the starting square.   Then an adult (or big sister) shouts out the letters for him or her to dash to.  

When we first started playing the game, we came back to the starting square each time before running to the next letter so that he could view the letters in their correct orientation.  I also like to call out the letters closest to the starting square and then move towards the opposite end of the driveway so that as he runs to the next letter, he can read it right side up instead of side ways or upside down.  

Continue calling letters until your child has either mastered the alphabet or is too tired to run any more.  Kidding!

You can also play this game pushing trucks or tricycles to the letters.  Which is A for Awesome!

And if they get bored playing this way, I also like to switch it up and have them run from letter to letter shouting out the letters they land on.  Or switch places and let them shout out the letters for you to dash to!  Either way, they are learning and having F for FUN!

My son asks to play this game every time we are outside!  It makes me happy to help him enjoy learning his letters AND get out some of that never-ending boy energy!!

Have you been enjoying the outdoors lately?  Any favorite games you've been playing with the fam?  I'd love to learn more!