The Sandpaper Letter Project

The other day, I was the happy recipient of a huge pack of cardstock from Caryn - 300 beautiful sheets! The next day, I stumbled across a project that allowed me to create something that I'd been looking to buy, but hadn't due to the cost. The project is Sandpaper Letters, a fundamental Montessori language lesson which can run over $200 for a professionally made set. The project required Cardstock (check!), Glue (check!) and Sand (Leif, Let's go to the Beach...Check!). So, this little project cost me $0 and helped me not to spend $200. Cha. Ching.

I cut 30 sheets of 12x12 paper into 3.5" wide strips (a goof there, they were supposed to be index card sized, which I thought was 3.5x5, after years in the photography industry, that was the number stuck in my head - index cards are 3x5, not the same size as the "old" standard photos! D'oh!) Then I cut the strips in to 5" lengths. Leif, of course, was helping me the whole time, gathering the waste strips leftover after the pieces had been cut.

Each 12x 12 sheet of paper made 6 cards.

Then, we flipped the cards over (to their solid color side) and wrote in glue on the right side of the card, a single letter of the alphabet.

Then, we took sand that we had scooped up from the beach (and then filtered through a mesh screen to remove debris - which Leif really loved) and sprinkled it over the glue letter. We shook off the sand back into the sand bucket, and voila - our glue letter was covered in sand, and set out to dry.

Letters and numbers set out to dry overnight.

So, what, you might ask, does one do with Sandpaper letters?

Well, little biddies learn how to make letters using them. They trace their finger over the letter in the same manner that it is written out - the sand texture helps them to remember the movements. Montessori is big on tactile learning - it is one more method to help them remember. So, the cards can be used for that, as well as learning to spell, etc. and work in conjunction with some other Montessori lessons, like the Letter Sand Box (I'll do that in a bit).

More letters.

Leif and I had a great time making these - working on the alphabet as we went along (he also had his alphabet dice and flashcards from Williamsburg out and was using those to match letters to spell words like his name) - so even the creation of these letters was a lesson in itself!

The best part about these little cards (aside from the cost)? They're business in the front and party in the back - because they have the pretty patterned paper on the back. Each letter is its own design on the back, so all the E's match, all the Q's match, so forth and so on. I am the girl who falls in love with purses not for their looks on the outside, but for their lining on the inside, so pretty Sandpaper Letter Cards are right up my alley!

More bloggage below!