# Alphabet City
> Bend pipe cleaners into letters, stand them up with play dough on a shower-curtain road map with LEGO buildings, then drive toy cars around the city, greeting and naming the letters. Older kids get fine-motor practice building the letters; younger kids get letter recognition and pretend play.
- URL: https://www.funlittles.com/alphabet-activities-alphabet-city/
- Ages: 2–5 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: low
- Time: prep 15 min, activity 30 min
- Works for: one-on-one, small group · one batch serves about 2 kids
- Skills: letter-recognition, fine-motor, pretend-play, storytelling
- Cautions: wheat-gluten

## Materials (one batch)
- Pipe cleaners (assorted colors)
- 1 piece White shower curtain
- 1 piece Marker for drawing roads (household)
- LEGO or DUPLO bricks for buildings (household)
- Play dough
- 1 piece Toy cars (household)

## Safety
- Supervise toddlers closely: LEGO pieces, play dough bits and torn pipe cleaners are small enough to mouth.
- Pipe cleaner ends can poke. Twist or fold cut ends in, especially if letters get pulled apart during play.
- Most play dough contains wheat. Check the label or use a gluten-free dough for kids with wheat allergies.

## Before you start
- Make the pipe cleaner letters, or make them together with a preschooler as a fine-motor activity. Take breaks; the whole alphabet takes a while.
- Have kids build a few LEGO buildings for the city.

## Steps
1. Bend and twist pipe cleaners into the shape of a letter.
2. Lay the pieces together to finish each letter from memory.
3. Keep going until you have the whole alphabet, or just 6-7 letters for a toddler.
4. Spread a white shower curtain on the floor and draw a very simple roadway on it.
5. Add the LEGO buildings around the roads.
6. Stand each letter up by pressing its ends into a blob of play dough.
7. Drive a car around the city and say hello to each letter you pass.
8. Make up a story about the letters as you drive around the city.

## Tips
- Working with a toddler? Create the city with just 6-7 letters. Kids that age enjoy it more when there is more space to move about.
- Preschoolers love creating more stories around the city and appreciate the details.
- Let an older sibling build the city for a younger one. Big sister loved creating something special for her sister; it made her feel responsible.
- Getting the letters to stand up in play dough is more fine motor practice for a preschooler. It's an easy task for an adult if you're setting up by yourself.
- Don't expect toddlers to stay on the roads. Ours circled the LEGO buildings, jumped over and under the letters and shouted "Move over J, I'm going to bump into you."
- After a while the letters HAD to get into fights, and pipe cleaner letters got torn apart. Gently distract and have the letters be nice to each other.
- My kids aren't obsessed with cars, and even they played with this for a long time. It's a natural fit for vehicle-loving kids.

## FAQ
**Can I use trains instead of cars?** Yes. The author says trains would be just as fun. Draw train tracks instead of roads.

## The original post by TurkeyMom (2013)

**Before we start a quick tip.** If you are working with a toddler, it is probably better to just create the city with **just 6-7 letters.** Kids that age would enjoy this alphabet activity better when there is more space to move about. Preschoolers would love creating more stories around the city and would appreciate the details. When my preschooler and I had some very rare alone time together we planned on creating a fun alphabet activity for the younger sister. Big sister loved creating something special for her sister, it made her feel responsible. We sat about with our pipe cleaners and made letters out of them.  This turned out to be a GREAT fine motor exercise for my almost 5 year old. Fine motor activities in general are a great precursor for future pencil holding, combine that fine motor actitivity with an alphabet activity you got yourself a wonderful hands on learning activtity.



At 5 most children have mastered letter recognition, but building the same letters from memory and creating them is a little challenging- a challenge a 5 year old will enjoy.



After a couple of breaks here and there we finished the entire alphabet. Now we are ready for a playful alphabet activity.



Next I put down an white shower curtain purchased from the Dollar Tree. It is super wrinkled due to its serious usage. Ha! On the curtain I drew a very simple road way and added the LEGO buildings my toddler had made earlier. Then I stood up the pipe cleaners using some play dough. My preschooler loved helping me set up this alphabet city for her sister. Again it was another time to exercise those fine motor skills- getting the letters to stand up using play dough. It's an easy task for adult though, just in case you are planning on doing this just by yourself.



Invite your eager toddler to drive and recognize those letters.

**Few things I observed during playtime**

My toddler was very keen on jumping through the letters, over the letters and in a few cases under the letters while screaming " Move over J, I'm going to bump into you"* letter recognition*

For the most part my toddler did not drive exactly on the roadways. She was interested in circling around the LEGO buildings while wishing "Hello" to the letters. * Letter recognition and pretend play*

After a while letters obviously HAD to get into fights. Fights mean the pipe cleaners letters being torn apart. I had to gently distract her and have her letters be nice to each other.

My older child (5 years) had just as much fun in a different way. Owing to her age, she had more of a story going on around the letters. While driving around the alphabet city she had created an entire chapter of a book. *Story telling abilities*



My kids enjoy playing with cars but not the extent that they are obsessed with them. Even they adored this activity and played with it for a long time. I can totally see how a child with big interest in vehicles having fun with this alphabet activity.

**Thanks for reading**