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2- to 5-year-olds love fishing games, and it is just when they need to learn their letters! So, it makes great sense to try an alphabet fishing game with your child (or students). Another great reason to use them is to make children improve their hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.
But what are the ones available out there and how do they differ?
All alphabet fishing games are magnetic (never based on hooks), which is a good thing as younger children would have a hard time with hooks. Here are the different types, based on the board design:
- Flat board: The fish are laid flat, all over the board in no specific order. The fish have letters and often also numbers.
- Pool board: Here the board is replaced by a “pool” made with cardboard or fabric.
- Ice fishing board: Thick two-sided flat board with a hole to play “ice fishing” on one side of the board.
- Flat board with flat holes: The fish lay flat in matching holes.
- Thick wooden board with vertical holes: Each hole has a letter on the bottom, and the child has to put the fish vertically in the matching hole.
- Without board: You get fish and fishing rods, but no board (you can play on the floor or any flat surface).
“Flat” designs are better in my opinion (rather than those with vertical holes) because:
- Letters are always visible.
- It makes the layout more fun, like in the sea where the fish can be anywhere.
- It is possible to give instructions (take the A fish for example), just as with the other designs (the hole-based matching does not really bring anything).
Some people will prefer that the design with vertical holes enables to put the letters in alphabetical order, a feature that is not important in my opinion, as the alphabetical order is best learned with songs and the critical knowledge to acquire is learning to recognize the letters themselves.
Alphabet Fishing Games Comparison Table
I put up this table to enable you to compare those games at a glance.
| Game | Board Type | Fish | Price | Rating |
| Top Bright | Flat round | Letter on one side, name & score on other | $$$ | ★★★★☆ |
| GameNote | Flat pool | Letter on both sides | $$ | ★★★★☆ |
| Alibb flat pool | Cardboard pool | Letter or number on both sides | $$ | ★★★☆☆ |
| BeebeeRun | Ice fishing | Letter or number on one side | $$ | ★★★★★ |
| Lewo | Ice fishing | Letter on one side | $$ | ★★★★☆ |
| UMU | Ice fishing | Letter on one side | $$ | ★★★☆☆ |
| Lakeshore | No board | Letter on both sides, can float | $$$ | ★★★★★ |
| Balala | No board | Letter on one side | $ | ★★★★☆ |
| Alibb w holes | Vertical holes | Letter or number on both sides | $$ | ★★★☆☆ |
| Aptify | Vertical holes | Letter on one side | $$ | ★★★☆☆ |
| Coogam | Vertical holes | Letter on one side | $$$ | ★★★☆☆ |
| Lee | Flat holes | Letter on one side | $$ | ★★★☆☆ |
| Nashrio | Flat holes | Letter or number on both sides | $$ | ★★★☆☆ |
All games here are meant for 1 to two players (two fishing rods are provided with each game). You can play them with your child or have two children playing.
They are best played from age 2 to 4 (or 5, depending on the child).
They are generally meant for families rather than Preschool or Kindergarten but using them in professional settings is possible.
Note: you sometimes find on amazon different brands with exactly the same products. It generally means that all these sellers are buying from China and selling on Amazon identical white-label china-sourced products. It does not mean that the products are bad ones, but rather that you can them for much less on AliExpress 😊, if you can wait a bit for them. In this case I give you the link to AliExpress rather than Amazon (why pay 50% more after all?).
Flat Board Based Alphabet Fishing Games
“Plain Vanilla” Flat Board Alphabet Fishing Games
Fishing Game (Top Bright)
★★★★☆
The Top Bright flat board alphabet
fishing board ($$$) has large fishing poles where you can rotate a crank to lift the fish. It makes it look like you are really fishing.
You are supposed to not only fish the letters, but also in the end add up the scores (on the back of the animals) from the animals you have fished during the game. The sum adds up to around 100 maximum. You also have the names of the animals on the back.
This clearly is a mismatch of learning objectives relative to age:
- Learning the letters is a relevant objective for 2- to 4-year-olds
- Adding up to 100 is rather for 5- to 6-year-olds (but they might find that a fishing game is for babies, not for a big boy or girl anymore), as is trying to read the animal’s names.
So, I recommend:
- With younger children (2 to 4 year-olds): play the game without the scoring mechanism
- With 5 to 6-year-olds: introduce the scoring. They will like it as it makes the game more interesting for them.
This particularly makes sense if you have a 3-year-old child and a 5-year-old child playing together. You will be able to make the game interesting for both.
Pool Shaped Alphabet Fishing Games
Having a pool (or pond) shaped swimming area for your fish feels natural and is a good alternative to having a board.
Alphabet Fishing Game (Gamenote)
★★★★☆
The Gamenote Magnetic Alphabet Fishing Pool Game ($$) includes a pool-like “pond” to put the fish in. Each fish has the letter in uppercase on one side, and lowercase on the other side, which is an interesting feature.
The game is rather large (and the fish also are large) but is not too large to store because the pool can be folded.
So I find this game to be a really good value.
Magnetic Fishing Game (AliBB) – Flat Pool Game
★★★☆☆
If you want a cheaper pool, you can opt for the AliBB flat pool alphabet game ($$) if you can wait for the delivery from AliExpress.
This game is cheap, but also a good value as is not only features letters but:
- Has an associated object on each letter to fish, which starts with this letter (for example a Dog on the “D” and a Kite on the “K”). This enables to learn the sound of each letter as well as how it is written.
- Has sea animals with number on them up to 20
The game is in a cardboard box that is also the “pool” or “pond”, so that you do not need to prepare anything to start.
Ice Fishing Board Based Alphabet Fishing Games
These boards feature a two-sided thick hollow board, which enables to have two gameplays:
- On one side, the fish lay flat on the surface of the board (the sea), and players can do “regular fishing” directly catch them with their fishing rods
- On the other side, there is a hole (the hole in the ice), and players are ice-fishing the fish in this hole, and there are little holes on the board so that the players can use a magnet to move the fish which are “under the ice”.
All three games presented here have a side with the letter (or the number), and the other side without it, which is great. You can teach the letters progressively to your child while always playing with the same number of fish. For example, you can add new letters progressively, or you can also progressively hide the letters that the child already knows.
Fishing Game (BeebeeRun)
★★★★★
The BeebeeRun ice fishing alphabet ice fishing board game has bright colors. The 26 letters and 10 number fish are readable and pretty when turned on the “fish side”.
Fishing Game (Lewo)
★★★★☆
The Lewo ice fishing alphabet ice fishing board game is very appealing too:
- Bright colors and readable letters
- A standard ($$) and a larger ($$$) version are available.
Note that there are only letters (no numbers).
Wooden Fishing Game (UMU)
★★★☆☆
The UMU alternative ($$) is less appealing: the fish are less pretty, there are 26 letters but no numbers.
Flat Board with Flat Holes Alphabet Fishing Games
Flat boards with flat holes for the fish are an interesting alternative compared with the “vertical design” of thick boards. The fact that the fish are each in their hole means that the game is very compact once stored and can be started again any time. To me, it is less fun than a game where the fish are in random order though.
Lee
★★★☆☆
The Lee’s square flat alphabet fishing game on AliExpress ($$) is a very good value, as the square board has a nice sea design, and the letter fish have the letters on one side which enables to manage a progression with the letters. You can even choose between two board designs.
Nashrio
★★★☆☆
The Nashrio square flat alphabet fishing game ($$) has a more basic design, but the letters are also very large and visible on the fish, which is nice (they are on both sides). It features numbers up to 9 too, which is great.
The letters are sorted in alphabetical order, which will please you if you were considering buying a “thick board” game with vertical fish holes (and the letters will be way more visible).
Thick Board with Vertical Holes Alphabet Fishing Games
As I stated before, I am not a fan of these “vertical” fish game designs, but some people like the fact that the holes are sorted by alphabetical order.
If you are one of them, you might consider one of these possibilities:
Alibb
★★★☆☆
The AliBB Wooden Magnetic Fishing Game is useful for teaching the alphabet in order. Each fish comes with its own hole based on its letter, and there are also numbers.
As each player catches a particular fish, they can match it with the right spot on the board based on the color and letter. Then, you place the fish where it needs to go.
Fish with numbers have a rounded shape, whereas the ones with letters have two flat sides. This facilitates to sort letters and numbers.
The game is a good value at $$, but the letters are not very visible in my opinion.
Letters Fishing (Aptify)
★★★☆☆
The fish of the Aptify alphabet fishing game ($$) are very colorful, but the letters are also a bit small (although more visible). The letters are on one side only. The letters on the bottom of the holes are very readable though.
Letters Fishing (Coogam)
★★★☆☆
Despite its price ($$$), the Coogam alphabet fishing game is good because the letters on the fish are very readable, and have the same design on the fish itself and the bottom of the hole, which is a good thing with 2 and 3 year-olds.
Alphabet Fishing Games Without Board
Catch a Letter Magnetic Learning Game (Lakeshore)
★★★★★
This magnetic fishing game ($$$) is an excellent choice for teaching your children the alphabet while they take a bath. The fish float (and are designed to go in the water), and you can use the fishing poles to catch the letters in the water (they are in plastic).
The magnetic fishing poles extend to just over 18 inches long, so your child can easily reach the fish from another area of the bath.
So, although it is more expensive than other game sin this selection, Lakeshore’s magnetic fishing game really makes a lot of sense.
Balala
★★★★☆
On the cheap side, you can get on AliExpress alphabet magnetic fishing games such as the one on the Balala store for $, which is great price.
Not having a board is not really a problem, as you can indeed play on any flat surface. And it also makes this game more compact and easier to store.
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