Blocks, beads, crayons, coins, toy cars . . . As any parent
knows, children can find ways to sort just about anything. One
of our all-time favorites for sorting and grouping: letter
magnets! These seemingly simple toys can fuel surprisingly rich
play for kids of all ages, and they’re terrific for building
pre-literacy skills and having fun with emerging spelling
skills. Here are some of our favorite ways to play and learn
with letter magnets: FOR ALL AGES: - Sort the letters by color.
(A relatively simple—translation: encouraging!—way to get
started.) - Sort the letters by size. (This can mean
uppercase/lowercase or a more subjective big/small, depending on
how well your child knows letter shapes.) - Group all the
letters with “holes” (closed letters such as a, o, g) and the
letters with no holes (open letters such as w, r, v). - Look for
other visible differences between the letters and come up with
your own groupings! (Examples: letters with tails, letters that
criss-cross, letters with two bumps or angles,