X is a notoriously difficult letter to teach. It’s not a problem when it occurs at the end of words and makes a simple “cks” sound (box, fix, ax), but it’s a finicky, stupid letter that makes a totally different sound at the beginning of words when it suddenly decides to commandeer the poor, victimized letter Z for words like xylophone and xenophobia.
What a ridiculous letter!
That also makes it very difficult to teach preschoolers, in my opinion. Most letter cards have pictures of xylophones, which is just confusing when 99% of the time X makes a completely different sound!
I’ve been homeschooling preschool with my boys for the past year and a half and we’ve now learned the entire alphabet three times, and all three times that we’ve come to X I’ve struggled to find books, crafts, and activities for this letter. It’s just a hard one.
Until Round 3 of learning our letters.
We normally focus on a letter a week for our preschool. However, come springtime I had roughly a month of empty free time for preschool before summer started and so I decided to do a Speedy Preschool Review. That means that instead of doing one letter a week, we learned one letter a day. See the details for how I made my Speedy Preschool a smashing success here.
But of course I came to the letter X and needed a food and an activity for our Speedy Preschool X Day.
And this is the solution I came up with: a scavenger hunt where X marks the spot.
Get it? X marks the spot!
But this wasn’t just any old scavenger hunt. We did an Alphabet Review Game Scavenger Hunt.
And guess what?
My boys LOVED it! They had a BLAST!
It did indeed take a little prep on my part, writing out the clues and taping them around the house.
After that it was easy peasy! I sat on the comfy couch while my boys ran all over the house. They’d bring me each newly-discovered clue to read to them and then off they’d go again in search of the next one. And I just sat back and let them run around and enjoy.
Because our X scavenger hunt was such a smashing success I’ve decided to document it here, both for my own future reference and to share with other mamas who are looking for a fun, easy, and educational preschool activity. So here we go!
Note: One particular aspect of this scavenger hunt is that I included each of our names. I taped the clues to each of our backs and my boys thought that was such a hoot to be a clue themselves as part of the scavenger hunt.
That includes D for Dad and M for Mom, which obviously only worked with my husband because he works from home. Besides D and M, I also used the following letters: A, H, and R, which are my boys’ initials. So I will list some alternatives down below if you need something else. So yes, you’ll notice in the picture that the letters A, H, R, D, and M are different than the list below.
- A is for Apron (or Kid #2)
- B is for mom and dad’s Bed
- C is for the back of the Couch
- D is for Dog bowl (or Dad)
- E is for Eggs
- F is for Fridge
- G is for Garage
- H is for laundry Hamper (or Kid #3)
- I is for Ice maker in the freezer
- J is for Jumpropes
- K is for mom’s Keys
- L is for Laundry room
- M is for Microwave (or Mom)
- N is for son’s New bed (we’d only just upgraded my youngest into a NEW big boy bed)
- O is for Owen book by Kevin Henkes in our book box
- P is for Pirate ships (in our toy closet)
- Q is for Quilts
- R is for Rug (or Kid #1)
- S is for Sink
- T is for Toilet
- U is for Under your bed
- V is for Vacuum
- W is for Window in your room
- X MARKS THE SPOT
For a prize at the very end of the scavenger hunt, I taped two candy bars together like this to make an X shape. The boys couldn’t be happier to find such an exciting prize and we all shared the chocolate together.
Done and done!
There you have it. It’s simple, super fun, and a great way to review the letter X, as well as all the other letters too.
Happy preschooling!
