DIY Cardboard Alphabet Train - Letter Matching Toddler Activity with Free Printable

I LOVE DIY toddler activities! First of all, I LOVE making things. Secondly, I LOVE making things for other people, especially my toddler. Thirdly, its a great way to reuse old boxes/containers that were going to the recycle bin anyway AND it’s a great way to save money. Finally, it’s always such a joy when picky toddlers actually enjoy the activity you spent time making them 🙂 I smile because a big part of the fun (for me at least) is seeing if my toddler likes his new homemade activity. Sometimes it’s a winner, sometimes not so much. I actually think I’m WAY MORE excited to see my toddler’s reaction than him seeing his new activity, haha.

Recently I came across an Instagram post of a DIY letter matching activity for children, made completely out of cardboard. The goal of the activity is to match lowercase letters to uppercase ones. I thought this would be a fun activity for my 2 year old since he enjoys matching games. However, to make things easier I made it matching only capital letters. And since my little guy is currently in a train craze, I decided to create some trains for the letters as well.

Shows a toddler trying to match train letters on the ABC train letter Matching toddler activity

The purpose of this activity is to match the correct alphabet letters to each other. To make things easier, the same letters are on the exact same train (color and train design). Set up is very easy to create and consists of 4 basic steps:

Print out My ALPHABET TRAIN MATCHING TODDLER ACTIVITY FREE Printable (available in my free resource library)
Stick the printable onto cardboard.
Cut out the individual train letter pieces
Stick adhesive Velcro on the train pieces and the matching train board and you are done.

I applied mod podge (gloss) onto the train board and train pieces because I like the glossy finish it gives. Additionally, mod podge acts as a sealer which will protect the letter train pieces from grubby little hands!

Alternatively, you could also print the train pieces, laminate, and cut out each individual piece instead of sticking onto cardboard. The lamination will also improve longevity of the train pieces. I’m also a fan of self-laminating sheets (if you don’t own a laminating machine) that you can DIY at home.

MATERIALS/TOOLS:

My ALPHABET TRAIN- LETTER MATCHING TODDLER ACTIVITY FREE Printable (available in my free resource library) *
a large cardboard box – cut into two pieces: one 17″ x 10″ and the other piece 11″ x 10″
glue stick
paper scissors
X-acto knife
Mod Podge (I used gloss) and brush
Sticky Velcro – I used 1″ Sticky Velcro Strips that I cut into 1/2″ wide pieces. I like these because I can cut them into the size that need for different projects. However, sticky velcro dots such as these 20mm ones would work great as well, and you don’t need to pre-cut them.
Packing tape – to join the two cardboard pieces together into one giant board at the end.

NOTES:

*You can also print the printable on sticker paper. That way you will only have to stick the printable on cardboard inside of gluing it on.

Shows Materials needed to make Cardboard ABC Train activity, includes modpodge, brush, ABC Train Printable, and Cardboard

HOW TO MAKE ABC TRAIN BOARD:

Gluing ABC Train Strips on cardboard — Cut out a strip of train letters and stick it onto a piece of cardboard. Leave about 3″ in between the strips on the cardboard. This cardboard space will be where your child will put the matching letter pieces. Apply a nice thick layer of mod-podge over the trains and allow to dry (~20 minutes)

Applying Mod Podge over ABC Train Strips — Cut out a strip of train letters and stick it onto a piece of cardboard. Leave about 3″ in between the strips on the cardboard. This cardboard space will be where your child will put the matching letter pieces. Apply a nice thick layer of mod-podge over the trains and allow to dry (~20 minutes)

HOW TO MAKE ABC TRAIN PIECES:

Gluing ABC Train Pieces to Cardboard with Modpodge — Stick train pieces to cardboard with modpodge (or if you printed on sticker paper, simply peel and stick on the cardboard). Apply a thick coat of modpodge over the train pieces and allow to dry (~20minutes).

Applying Modpodge over ABC Train Pieces — Stick train pieces to cardboard with modpodge (or if you printed on sticker paper, simply peel and stick on the cardboard). Apply a thick coat of modpodge over the train pieces and allow to dry (~20minutes).

Cutting Each Individual ABC Train Piece apart for Train ABC Matching Activity — Cut out train letter pieces according to dotted lines (Note: You don’t see dotted lines in the photo because I added dotted lines later on for the printable to make it easier for you to know where to cut). Stick velcro loop on the back of each piece of train letters.

Applying Sticky Velcro to Back of ABC Train Pieces — Cut out train letter pieces according to dotted lines (Note: You don’t see dotted lines in the photo because I added dotted lines later on for the printable to make it easier for you to know where to cut). Stick velcro loop on the back of each piece of train letters.

Sticking ABC Train piece with velcro onto Cardboard for ABC Matching Train Activity — Stick hook onto the other side of train letter velcro, remove adhesive backing of the hook and stick the train piece onto the cardboard. You now have a Velcro piece of train letter.

Shows Velcro piece stuck on Cardboard for ABC Matching Train Activity — Stick hook onto the other side of train letter velcro, remove adhesive backing of the hook and stick the train piece onto the cardboard. You now have a Velcro piece of train letter.

Shows Back side of Train pieces with velcro for ABC matching Train Activity — Repeat for all letters. Your Train board and letter piece will look like the photo.

Two pieces of Train board with all the matching letter pieces in alignment — You will end up with two pieces of cardboard that look like this. To connect them, simply tape (I used packing tape) the back of the boards together.

Finished Train ABC Matching Toddler Activity Board — Finished ABC Train letter matching Activity board with all the matching pieces in place!

Toddler trying to figure out where to put train pieces on ABC Letter matching Train Activity — Hmmm….where do these pieces go??

Toddler placing the "L" piece of yellow train next to matching "L" yellow train on ABC Train Matching Toddler Activity — Learning how to match trains and letters!

This is a great activity for toddlers because it:

Introduces the alphabet to your child
Encourages color and letter recognition
Allows your child to practice hand-eye-coordination as they stick the appropriate train pieces to the correct place.

I have to say that my toddler did enjoy his new train alphabet matching activity. Hooray! He did need a little guidance in the beginning as he was confused how the game goes and would stick the pieces wherever there was an empty slot. And….now this little two year old is starting to recognize some letters as well. I’m definitely a happy mama!

I hope your child enjoy this letter matching game as well and learn some letters in the meantime. Happy crafting!

Grab it here: My Alphabet Train – Letter Matching Toddler Activity FREE PRINTABLE (available in my free resource library)

Want more DIY toddler activities? Check out the following: