This week's nap time project: putting the kiddos' ABC box together. The purpose of the box is create a hands-on learning approach for the alphabet.
What else does it do? This box assists your child in developing phonemic awareness and helps them to learn independently (once introduced). You are building their literacy skills and confidence which will be a huge blessing as you enter preschool and kindergarten. Literacy is the foundation to a successful education.
I collected items from around try house, from the favor section at Party City, Toobs from Michael's Crafts (you can also find them on Amazon), a few miniatures in the dollhouse section, and a few little items from the Dollar Store. Below I provide a list of items I used. If I couldn't find an item I wanted, I printed a small picture on card stock.
You also need in include a capital and lowercase letters. You can use letter tiles, magnets, foam letters, or wooden letters.
I used a took storage chest and scrapbook alphabet stickers to label each drawer (the vowel stickers have dots; consonants are solid). NOTE: The children won't have access to the entire storage box, until all letters have been introduced. I will use small boxes to introduce letters at the beginning.
If you look at the picture above you will notice the letters are not in alphabetical order. When you introduce the alphabet you typical start with the song, maybe a puzzle, flash cards. These are all great things and helpful to memorization. The purpose of this box is to not only have children recognize (and memorize) the letters, but to also learn their sounds. This assists in developing early literacy skills.
Before I list all of the trinkets in my alphabet box, I wanted to share a list of ways to use the box (there are also some great blog resources out there - check out Living Montessori for additional resources).
1. Letter of the week (if you are starting early - say 20-28 months). Introduce the letter and objects. Get them out each morning, practice sounding them out. To extend- add a color page for the letter, a boon for each letter, a song, etc
2. Choose a grouping of 3-4 letters per week. The letter grouping should contain one vowel and 2-3 consonants which should NOT sound the same or look the same (this is one of the reasons my alphabet box is not in alphabetical order). Introduce them the same way as listed above, then play seek and find. "Can you find objects that sound like Ff?"
3. Sort the objects by sound/letter.
4. Find other objects around the house or outside (you may leave a few strategically lying around) and have them help sound the word out and add them to their box.
TIPS:
1. Introduce one box/drawer at a time when beginning at age 2 or 3
2. Once all letters are introduced, group them in letter groups of 3-4 and explore.
3. Incorporate money, food items, shapes, colors, animals, and household items to assist in shaping a wide vocabulary. You are also then teaching math but introducing money and shapes! Bonus!
4. Let kids play with the objects and explore. Maybe put them in water, kinetic sand, the tub, or in play doh. Do collect items and put them away each day or your box will become a disaster quickly.
Okay - let's talk trinkets! My minimum was three per letter (although I got stuck a couple times, as you will notice). Most have more than three though! I will not give eight a time, but am listing all of my objects to give you options.
A - apple, asparagus, airplane, alligator
B - balloon, barn, bucket, bear, bird, bananas, bowl, book
C - cow, cat, coral, car, camel
D - dime, dog, duck, dinosaur, donut, drill
E - elephant, eye (googly eye), egg
F - feather, farmer, flag, fork, frog, fish, french fries
G - gorilla, glue, guitar, giraffe (this one should be introduced later as it is not a hard g sound), golf clubs, gold
H - horse, hippo, hedgehog, hay, hamburger
I - ice, infant (this should be introduced after ice as the sound is not the same), iguana (sounds like "e" - should be introduced later)
J - jug, jet,
K - kite, key, kaleidoscope, kitty
L - lion, lobster, lantern, links
M - marker, mouse, measuring tape, Mickey, monkey
N - nut (as in nuts and bolts), nail polish, nickel, Nemo
O - oval (sounds like the letter o), octopus and octagon (this is that vowel sound we are trying to recognize)
P - paint, Panther, pig, penny, pan, pot
Q - question mark, quarter, Quartz (rock)
R - rabbit, rectangle, rhino, rooster, ravioli
S - star, spoon, starfish, square, sponge, sandwich, skunk (these words also work well when introduce consonant clusters - st, sp)
T - treasure, turtle, tractor, tiger
U - umbrella (doesn't sound like "u") unicorn (hard "u" sound),
V - violin, vegetables, violet
W - wagon, whisk, Winnie the Pooh, warthog, wrench (wr consonant cluster A to be introduced later)
X - x-ray, xylophone
Y - your, yellow crayon, yogurt
Z - zipper, zebra, zoo
