diy alphabet tiles

Last June we spent a week with Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. In preparation, we brought out all of our alphabet puzzles, magnets, and fun. I wanted to add another alphabet element and a light bulb hit when I spied a pack of felt letters at our local craft store. I was able to purchase the letters for under five-dollars and while I wish they were in a different color I went for the yellow instead of navy blue.

To make your own alphabet tiles hit up your local hardware store for some wood floor samples. Home Depot carries samples that are about four inches square. I grabbed 26 in a variety of stains and checked with a clerk to make sure it was ok to take this many as they are free! I explained that I was a teacher and they were super cool about it.

Once I got home, I stacked my tiles in a not-too- random pattern, grabbed my felt letters and rifled though them until I had the entire alphabet by my side and got to sticking.

In no time at all I had a happy set of letters to share with my classroom. The children were really intrigued. At three going on four, the children are very interested in spelling their names. I explained that we only had one of each letter and that we might not be able to spell everyone's name with the tiles but that we could using our magnet letters.

The children took turns looking for the letters in their names and lining up the tiles in random patterns. It's a start. Yay for emergent literacy!