Korean Alphabet Toys: Fun Ways to Teach Hangul Letters to Kids

Korean alphabet sound games

Before reading Korean words, children learn the language by watching and listening to other people speak. As children become familiar with common sounds of a language, they will start to notice patterns. For example, 불 (bul / light) and 발 (bal / foot) start with similar ㅂ sounds. 물 (mul / water) and 모자 (moja / hat) begin with similar ㅁ sounds.

Then, you can play a simple sound game by asking them to find things in a room that start with the same sound. When children become confident about this, they may be ready to learn which Hangul letters represent those sounds.

Korean alphabet toy letter matching for kids

Is your child learning Korean for the first time? Matching games are simple, low-prep, and interactive ways to introduce Hangul.

Start by introducing a few Korean alphabet toys at a time while giving examples of the phonetic sound. After your child feels confident about the first few Hangul letters, gradually show them more.

To create a simple matching activity, trace the Korean alphabet toys onto paper. Coloring in the outline so the traced letters stand out in the bold black color (not pictured here).

When kids are ready for more challenge, you can try matching block characters (outline of each Korean letter shape) as shown in the images above!

Play dough stamping and puzzle matching with Korean alphabet toys

Here’s another fun, low-prep activity! With a rolling pin, flatten a slab of homemade or store-bought play dough. Then, use Korean letter toys to stamp letters or words into the playdough.

In the past, my older child would stamp Korean words in play dough. Then, my younger child would find the matching alphabet toys and put them on the corresponding letters.

Spelling with magnetic Hangul alphabet toys

Ready to blend phonics and make words? The magnetic Korean alphabet toys are fun to use on the fridge!

But what if your child is not ready to spell? No worries. Just have fun like my son in these pictures! Sticking the Korean letter toys on and off magnetic surfaces is a fun way to explore and get familiar with the alphabet.

Play tic-tac-toe with Korean alphabet toys

Our family loves the timeless tic-tac-toe game! Instead of Xs and Os, you may have seen how we’ve used tic-tac-toe to teach English letters and Chinese characters. We’ve also used tic-tac-toe with our Korean alphabet toys!

In the above photo, we played yellow letters versus blue letters and created the game board with painter’s tape on a magnetic whiteboard. If your child is comfortable with writing, you can also play tic-tac-toe with Korean letters on scrap paper.