Assalaamu 'alaikum.
When I first posted about the sandpaper letters I was full of enthusiam and excitement because the project would be my first arty-crafty project where I get to do everything. I actually didn't really know what I was in for and to be honest, I think my instructions made it seem a little airy-fairy [please excuse my funky terms - they pop up from nowhere].
Anyhow, I decided to embark on the journey – what a journey it is!
Here is what I did [I'll insert pictures where I can inshaa`Allaah] – please bear in mind that I did not do all of this in one day, rather over a two-week period (major procrastinator!).
1. First, I printed off the letters from here – actually, what I did was save each image onto my desktop, inserted them into a word document and edited them so that there was an outline of the letters rather than a filled background – gotta save ink!
2. Then I cut out each letter; there're no shortcuts for this one, you've gotta cut each individual letter.
3. Trace around each letter on the back of a sheet of fine (FINE) sandpaper. Remember: the letters must be traced back-to-front so that when you cut them, they'll appear the right way around.
4. Again, cut out each individual sandpaper letter – yes, it can be tedious, but stick with it. For letters with holes – i.e. a, e, o etc. – I used a stanley-knife blade to get an accurate cut.
5. I got an A4 sheet of card (blue for vowels and red for constanants) and cut them in half by hand; a paper cutter would have been useful here, but we use that which we have.
6. I glued a letter in the middle of the card to ensure that it was relatively even all round. For this I used PVA glue to stick the letter down, I'm not sure what else would work.
Let it be known that I've only actually done two letters because I realised that I don't have enough card to do all the letters of the alphabet. This will probably mean that the letters won't be finished anytime soon. Inshaa`Allaah, I plan to back each card with cardboard to make it less flimsy… this will probably lengthen the time it takes to finish these, but inshaa`Allaah they will be.
I hope this has been of some help. Feel free to ask any questions if I haven't been clear with any of the above.
Was-salaamu 'alaikum
~ Umm Junayd.
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Do one letter a week .
It is all we need to teach our 2 to 3 years- old
you may want to use rubber cement.
The paper will stay flat.
Thanks for the info on how to make sandpaper letters. I just wanted to share some info I learned from my son (19) about a glue that artists use. It’s called Contact Cement and it looks like Rubber Cement, but it is stronger. It can be found in hardware stores.
Hope this helps.
Patty Richards
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Maria and Patty,
Thank you for your suggestions and comments.
Assalamualaikum sister
I tried to edit the image but didn’t work well…How did u do it?Can you give me the copy if you still have it?It would be a great help because i’m not very good with computer…Thank you.
Good. Every mother should visit this website.
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As salamu alaykum, sorry that was my son, who decided to praticing his typing skills. JazakAllahu khayr for the directions. What grade sandpaper did you use?
Aslaamualykum
Im trying hard to get nice templates for lower case alphabets. Please help me.
Wa ‘alaikumus-salaam,
I used the ones found here: http://www.montessorimom.com/sandpaper-letters/
They are in the Montessori script.
Assalam u Alaikum
Good Work Sister
If you like to learn more about Early Childhood Education, I can share with you various effective and easy things.
You can watch videos and make material at home.
We have a very active group of homeschooling mothers here in Karachi, Pakistan.
You can join them at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/karachi-home-education/
Keep it up
Wassalam
Shahzad Qamar
Assalamualaikum,
Thank you so much sister this blog. It has been very useful.
Ws
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Here is a site with the upper and lowercase cutouts in Montessori font: http://www.montessorimaterials.org/lang2.html
You are so fantastic!!! I have become obsessed with your blog and I spend most of my days reading all your archives.
And I made a blog account JUST to post comments. I wish I had found you sooner, and I wish
you updated as much as you used to! You must be constantly busy now though because you’re so famous!!
Famous? Haha, I’m far from famous, life’s just changed a lot. But thank you!