The more senses involved in learning the better. This new addition to our school room adds a tactile sensory experience to learning the alphabet.
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Materials:
Poster Board
Scissors
Instructions:
Draw the letters on the back (untextured) side of the foam. Be sure to think through whether the letter needs to be drawn in mirror image on the back so it looks the right way when cut out.
Cut out the letters with scissors and use a craft knife to get at the little circles on the inside of the letters. (Like the inner part of the “P”.)
Use a hot glue gun to secure the letters, texture side out, to the board.
I arraigned the letters in such a way that they naturally followed the rhythm of the alphabet song.
The post is a great visual reference for a school room. Both boys love to touch it since each letter feels so new and fun. Loopy is working on tracing over each of the letters, building that “muscle” memory.
There’s the extra benefit of enforcing that in English, we read from left to right. As Loopy points to each letter as he sings the alphabet song, he tends to get lost at the end of each line, searching for the next letter he knows is next because of the song. He’s starting to realize that it’s always the next line down on the left!
Lumpy is somehow singing along to the alphabet song and recognizing some of the letters throughout the world around him. He’s got the “O”, “Y”, “T” and “W” down pat. Totally blowing me away!
Wanna know what to do with all those scraps from cutting out the letters??? I have just the thing!
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Emma says
I love this! You’re right – the more senses are involved, the easiest it is to learn. And I also love that it can just hang on the wall so kids can go up to it when they want to.
Julie says
Thanks Emma! My boys just LOVE it!
Kristen says
I like this idea a lot. I have a variety of small, textured papers for scrap booking that I have never really found a use for but this looks perfect for them.
Thank you for sharing.