CVC Alphabet Cracker Activity & Snack Mat

The return to school this year is definitely taking more energy than we expected this fall. An increase in work hours for me and Big Brother kicking off kindergarten, combined with our normal, busy family routine, means it's been hard to share some of the fun after school and fall activities we've been squeezing in. But now we have a bunch of new posts lined up to share in the next week!

One thing we really enjoyed was an engaging snack that built upon the new reading skills Big Brother is quickly taking on in kindergarten: a CVC Alphabet Cracker Activity & Snack Mat.

My kiddos are huge fans of ABC crackers, we especially love the ones made by Cheez-It, although we've seen other brands at the store. 

Big Brother is loving that at kindergarten he is already learning letter sounds and words. As he already had a beginning understanding of these concepts, the new exposure is creating a drive to learn to read. Once kiddos learn their letter sounds, CVC words are great place to start with practicing the skill of sounding out to read. 

A CVC word is a three letter/three sound word. The pattern of the word is constant vowel constant. I created this blank mat so that each time we have this snack we could change the words Big Brother is working on by printing a new mat and writing new words onto the mat. Each letter gets its own box.

For our first activity day I used these words: CAT, HOP, WIN, RED, BUG, and SAT. I set up the mat with a small bowl of cheese crackers.

When Big Brother started the snack he quickly began looking for letters to match to the mat. Once he had matched all three letters, he would work to sound out the word. If he sounded out the word, he could eat it.

He decided he wanted to fill the whole mat before he ate any of the crackers on it (although he would eat some of the other crackers in the bowl if he determined he didn't need them.) He was pretty proud of the fact he finished the whole mat and could read all the words he had built. 

We're looking forward to doing this again, with different words. It's always fun to combine learning with play, and snacking! 

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