Summer Alphabet Relay Obstacle Course for Preschoolers

This alphabet relay obstacle course for preschoolers is an exciting way to learn letters while moving and playing this summer! It’s super easy to make too!

Preschoolers will learn the alphabet while running through an obstacle course! Summer fun!

This was a HUGE hit with Evan! He did not want to stop running through the obstacle course. It was tons of fun, great exercise, excellent for gross motor development and highly effective practice with letter identification! He even had the chance to develop critical thinking skills.

Making the obstacle course was so easy! Trust me. I had to move it twice because of logistical problems. It only took me a couple of minutes to set it up each time.

It is also very affordable and many of the supplies can be utilized in various ways all summer long and beyond! I got everything I needed to make the obstacle course for $8 at the dollar store.

Materials Needed:

  • Pool Noodles (4)
  • Hula Hoops (3)
  • Foam letters (I bought a foam lowercase letter puzzle from Dollar Tree)
  • 8 pens (the cheap ball point pens you can buy in a box are perfect!)
  • Water table

If you don’t have a water table, you can just put the letters in a bucket or bin.

Make a Summer Obstacle Course for Learning Letters

1. To make the pool noodle arches you will need to stick the ball point pens in the ground. Then place the ends of the pool noodle over them so that the pen slides into the hole in the pool noodle. I made two low arches for jumping over and two high arches for climbing under. Make sure to space them out enough so that your child can get a running start before jumping each arch.

Use a pen and pool noodles to make obstacle course arches.

2. Then lay your hula hoops in a row. Your child will jump in each one on their way to the water table. You could add a 4th hula hoop  and place them 2 by 2. Then run through them like those tire courses. We plan on doing this next time!

3. Remove the foam letters from the puzzle or grab your bath letters and throw them in the water table.

Learn the Alphabet while Running Through an Obstacle Course

I led Evan through the obstacle course and explained each step to him. Then I let him practice a couple of times.

Preschool gross motor and letter learning fun for the summer!

Finally, it was time to start the relay! Evan started in front of the low arches and ran through each part of the course. His favorite part was jumping over the hurdles!

Find the letters in the water table and put them back in the puzzle board.
Put the alphabet letters back in the puzzle board.

As he was getting to the water table, I called out a letter and he searched for it in the water table. Originally, I planned to have him run the letter back to the start of the obstacle course, but we decided to have him put it back in the puzzle board. This added an additional aspect of critical thinking, which was awesome!

Race through the obstacle course and tag the next person in line!

Eventually, he and my husband decided to race through the course together, grab a letter and get it in the puzzle. This added an element of competition and Evan loved that!

This was such a fun summer move and learn activity for Evan. He keeps asking me to set it up again. I really like that we can change the course up each time and use the supplies to do other summer learning activities too!

Head over to my Alphabet Activities page for even more fun, hands-on letter learning ideas!

Here are some more summer alphabet activities I think you will enjoy!

Water the Flowers Alphabet Activity

Alphabet Relay

Magnetic Letter Slam

Outdoor Letter Hunt

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