Test Blog

I finished my first set of sandpaper letters!

I originally wanted to buy a set of Montessori sandpaper letters, but I figured I could save the money and try a little DIY project at home. It turned out to be pretty easy and only cost a few bucks since I already had everything except the mat board. These letters will be a great literacy tool to for R and R. Rebecca is anxious to get started reading and writing. She already knows letter names and most letter sounds, so for her I'll use these letters to teach letter formation. They'll provide her with a multilsensory approach to writing since she can see as well as feel each letter. Ryan is a little young for learning his letters (and isn't the least bit interested yet), so I'll wait until he's ready and use these letters to help him practice letter names and sounds.

Here's how I made the sandpaper letters.

Materials

Mat Board - I purchased a large sheet of blue mat board, for the consonants, at AC Moore (found in the framing department) and bought a couple scraps of red mat board, for the vowels, at JoAnn's
Fine Grit Sandpaper
Elmer's glue
Scissors
Pencil
Paint Scraper
Set of Lowercase Letters - I used DLTK's Alphabuddies
Razor blade

First, I cut the sheet of mat board into 5 1/2 by 7 inch pieces using a razor blade. Some of the edges were a little jagged so I used a piece of sandpaper to smooth them out.

Then I printed out the letters from DLTK's website and cut them out, making them into stencils.

Next I traced the letters backwards onto sandpaper and cut them out.

Then I used Elmer's Glue to paste the sandpaper letters onto the cut mat board. My hubby came up with a great idea to use a paint scraper to smooth out the letters. This worked well, I just need to quickly wipe up the extra glue.