Saturday, January 22, 2011

Experimental Alphabet

Caitlyn is really starting to explore letters and numbers, so I decided it was time to get a magnetic alphabet set.  Unfortunately, I haven't found anything that meets my requirements yet (no batteries required, and good reviews on Amazon).  So, while I keep looking, I came up with a temporary solution.  And hey, if it's successful, it may just be a permanent solution!

Armed with my usual plethora of coupons, I headed to the fabric/craft store to see what I could find that might work.  In the art foam aisle, I found a huge box of letters and numbers of all different colors.  Then, I found a roll of self-adhesive magnet material, and I was good to go.

I simply picked out the letters and numbers I wanted, cut the magnet strip to fit on the back, stuck it all together, and it was done!  Easy as pie. 

Pardon my dirty door!





The whole thing cost me less than $10, and I have enough material to make several more sets as letters get lost.

Note:  This is not a good project if your little one likes to put things in their mouths.  The magnet pieces are very small and, while they have a good sticky back, they could still be peeled off.  We're fortunate that Caitlyn is very good about that. 

2 comments:

Kimmer said...

As time progresses, you can make your own magnetic words, too. Just run magnetic "paper" through the printer. I did all the Dolch sight words when the kids were little (plus a few bonus words, like their names, etc.), and they really liked playing around with them.

kbeeps said...

I've never seen the magnetic paper - I'll have to look for it. That's a great idea, thanks!