It is very important that children learn to write letters correctly and consistently from the start. This makes it easier for them in several ways.
- It helps prevent letter reversals and b/d/p/q confusion.
- It is easier to progress to “joined” writing.
- Old habits are hard to break.
The classic way to introduce this for younger children is using sandpaper letters. This provides a strong sensory input to help establish the shape of letters in memory. You just need to make sure that they trace the sandpaper letters in the correct direction. Associating writing the letter with its sound is also important.
Making a Textured Letters book can help with this. This has templates to make letters from sandpaper, red felt or something similar. You can stick on a star to show where to start, and also mark the directions to go. As children get older they can use this book as a reference so they can be independent if they need to check how to write a letter.
Cut out pictures from old magazines for each letter. Make sure that the pictures start with the most common sound of each letter. E.g. “c”: cat, camel, clown … NOT cheese, city … But, for “x”, use words that contain the /x/ sound, e.g. box, fox, axe … It is difficult to find pictures for some sounds, so I have included some that you can print. Print the rhymes for each letter on the facing page.
The video shows how it all works. Here a three-year-old is enjoying his Textured Letters book with his mother.
| . | .. | When you have a video playing, click on the bottom right hand corner of it to watch it in full screen mode. ……………………………………………….. If the video won’t play (or if you can’t see that there is supposed to be a video at all): Click here |
Making a Textured Letters book is quite a time consuming project. Perhaps a grandparent could volunteer to make it as a birthday present.
Alternatively, print the “alphabet sounds book” (Letter Rhymes available free of charge via the sign-up offer at successwithreading.com) and mark the starting points and directions to go. You could try tracing each letter with strong craft glue and sprinkling sand on it. (Make sure it is thoroughly dry before children touch it!). I haven’t tried this and it may be confusing for children because there is too much information in a small space. But, it would be very much quicker to make.
The necessary pdf files to make a Textured Letters book are given below:
Templates: A to E, F to K, L to P, Q to U, V to Z
Rhymes, Underline (Print these on 200gsm card – see Assembly instructions)
© J. Wherrett, 2003-14, Gilead Enterprises
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