Alphabetizing Activities for Older Children

Real Life Experiences Beyond Pencil and Paper Work

Jul 3, 2009

Children often need to keep practicing their alphabetizing skills for several years. Take it beyond pencil and paper with manipulative and real life activities.

Alphabetization is key to a child's ability to organize and to do research. When looking at a word bank of words to be alphabetized, his mind may become overwhelmed. Here are a few alternative methods of practicing alphabetizing words.

ABC Index Cards

Practice alphabetical order by using index cards. When given a list of words, place one on each index card. The child can then lay them out in order. Start with a control chart of the alphabet printed on poster board. The child can start by placing the word cards next to or on top of each letter of the alphabet.

Start with each word representing a different letter of the alphabet. Later add a couple of words that have the same initial letter, but differ at the second letter. Continue adding to the difficulty by making the words more and more similar.

Alphabetization skills are necessary when using reference materials, such as dictionaries and encyclopedias. Give the child a list of words to look up. Start with identifying in which encyclopedia the word would be found. Encyclopedias tend to be divided primarily by initial letter. Later the child can try to find the entry in the encyclopedia.

Dictionaries and thesauruses require finer alphabetizing skills, as the child must use guide words on top of each page. Start with words that completely differ by initial letter, then gradually use words that have more initial letters in common.

Use the Phone Book

Use the white pages to look up different company names. Start with companies that tend to have larger entries in the white pages, as they will stand out more on the page. Later add people's names. The child has to remember that people are alphabetized by their last names, not their first names.

Add categorization by looking up a company in the yellow pages. First the child has to identify into which category the company falls. The categories are alphabetized in the yellow pages. Then the company names are alphabetized within each category.

The child can practice organizing her DVD collection in alphabetical order. Start with a shelf of ten movies. Gradually add more and more until she can organize her entire collection by title.

Music collections can be alphabetized by artist names. Books can be alphabetized by author.

Sort Other Belongings

Any group of belongings can be sorted in alphabetical order. The child can try to abstractly sort them in order by listening to the beginning sounds and thinking of how to spell it. Or he can create labels for each item to help him put them in order. Also have him look up words in the dictionary to help him with the spelling, and for extra practice.

For some children, these manipulative versions of alphabetization will help them better understand the concept and see the patterns. It will also help them to see how these skills are applied in real life.

The copyright of the article Alphabetizing Activities for Older Children in Lesson Plans & Materials is owned by Andrea Coventry. Permission to republish Alphabetizing Activities for Older Children in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.