Versatile Alphabet Toys for Toddlers

February 22, 2025

This gift guide is inspired by my oldest toddler's love of learning. One of his favorite things to do right now is to pull one of the many first word books we own off the shelf and point to anything and everything he can. He will name the items he knows or wait for you to name the item, letter, shape, color, etc. and then repeat it back to you.

When it comes to deciding which toys to bring into our home, one thing I value is versatility. I look for toys that can be modified to suit multiple stages of development, will grow with my children, and can be utilized in multiple ways.

Shop these items (left to right, top to bottom):

Alphabet Action Cards | Stackable Letter Blocks | Alphabet Bingo!

Magnetic Letter Set | ABC Board Book | Alphabet Puzzle Flash Cards

Alphabet Dinos Matching Game | Foam Bath Alphabet

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Alphabet Action Cards

These cards are an absolute favorite of ours! They are double sided and contain upper and lower case letters. Each letter has a picture of something that starts with that letter and then suggested actions to perform. We flip through these multiple times a day at my toddler's request.

He's a younger toddler, so as we flip through the cards, I will read the letter and the item. "A is for Airplane." He will then imitate the sound of the vehicle or animal shown, name colors, count shapes, or interact with the cards in the ways that he is capable of at this time. As he ages, he will be able to perform more and more of the suggested actions.

For older toddlers, these cards would be a great way to add movement to your day and help get the wiggles out in a structured manner.

Stackable Letter Blocks

These multi-colored letter blocks come with 10 additional letters for spelling simple words, are stackable, and the back of each letter can be used as a stamp for play dough. They are the perfect size for small hands. As a note, letters such as J, O, and S are flattened on the top and/or bottom rounded edges to allow for stackability.

Alphabet Bingo!

Alphabet Bingo! is on our wish list for my oldest’s next birthday. While he currently isn’t ready to play Bingo, he likely will be soon. Until he is ready, we will use the bingo cards similar to the way we play with the action cards and first words books. He can point to the objects and letters he knows and name all the things. I’ll use the included letter and object coins and turn our Bingo cards into a matching game when we aren’t using them for a multiplayer game.

This game can easily be modified for children of different developmental stages to play together.

Leap Frog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Letter Set

What I love most about this set is that all the pieces are magnetic including the apple and all the letter tiles. While the tiles are a little difficult for younger toddlers to get lined up in the apple correctly without assistance, I found this toy to be a great independent play item as well. It has different learning levels and my toddlers love that it makes noise. It provides the phonic annunciation of the letter tile inserted into the apple in addition to stating the letter and objects that start with said letter.

We also use the letter tiles to spell simple words and my toddler loves to trace the raised letters with his finger.

Dr. Seuss's ABC Board Book

My toddlers love books and will sit and flip through the pages when we are not reading together. And while I love that they will “read” independently, they are not gentle on their books. Therefore, all of the books my toddlers have access to are board books for the time being.

The publisher slightly modified some of the text of this Dr. Seuss classic to better condense the content to fit into a board book. While the omissions don’t bother me or my toddlers’s short attention spans, lovers of the classic story may find the hardback version is a better fit.

My oldest has requested we read this book so much, I can recite the whole book by memory - which happens often when riding in the car.

I have noticed that this book has aided in his retention of the sequence of the letters of the alphabet.

Alphabet Puzzle Flash Cards

This set of double-sided wooden flashcards includes letters and numbers. Each flashcard has a slot like a puzzle that the letters and numbers fit into. There are so many ways to play with this set: use the cards as flashcards, match the letters/numbers to their coordinating flashcard, sort the letters and numbers by color, spell simple words, arrange the letters in alphabetical order and numbers in numerical order, trace the letters with your finger, count and name the animals, make animals sounds and more!

Alphabet Dinos Matching Game

These colorful dinos feature upper and lower case letters. Each dinosaur is double sided so there are 13 dinos in total instead of 26. I find this handy because we have very limited storage space in our playroom. We use these to match letters, sort colors, count, create patterns, etc. There is a set available for numbers too!

My toddlers love dinosaurs, but there are many variations of these to suit other interests (some variations are not double sided and will include additional pieces): Unicorns | Animals | Ice Cream Cones | Nuts and Bolts

Foam Bath Alphabet

My oldest toddler loves any excuse to play in water. Every time someone steps foot in the bathroom he asks to take a bath and he goes strait for the garden hose as soon as he steps outside. Needless to say, we play in water a lot. These foam letters are great for bath time, water tables, shaving cream play, etc. The vibrant colors and cute animals are an added bonus. They come in a pink set as well.