I printed the template from here . We were inspired to make ours after seeing some amazing examples online. I reverse printed the letters and cut them out to fit all of them on two pieces of sandpaper.
I chose red sandpaper for all the letters, by 3M. We did not want to paint our boards. We made ours with smooth (both sides) Masonite. I did paint my vowel boards blue.
A typical early MontessoriCursive Moveable Alphabet has blue vowels and red consonants as does mine, so I wanted to do the same scheme. If you are using these for writing practice alone then colour coding is not necessary. The vowels are an alternate colour as we will be using these potentially along side our Pink Series Reading Materials. In this first series vowels are presented in an alternate colour.
I used a glue stick to place the template on the back of the sandpaper, and then cut them out. I used an exacto blade to cut the centres of a...b...etc.
This is basically the same explanation I gave in my Make D'Nealian Sandpaper Letters post. For more info on making them check it out here . Again these were quite simple to make. The hardest part was cutting them out. Also don't forget to try and peel off as much of the paper template ( glued on the back for cutting) that you can.
I used wood glue to adhere them to the boards. Also one last thing I did was to use a water based clear coat over the finished boards. We found that mod podge marks up easily on the sandpaper.
If you make them, let me know how they turn out!
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Thank you! I stumbled across your blog while searching for a more cost-effective way to make these. I'm Montessori trained but recreating some of my favourite things, at home, on a budget can be tricky. Much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteThank you!!!
ReplyDeleteI hope they work out well for you!!
Thank you great idea.Where did you get the wood from?
ReplyDeleteMichelle
This was smooth masonite from the back of a book case...I've also used some from the back of old picture frames. Any smooth masonite... mdf...thin plywood will do. Some people have used foam core board, and heavy card stock. I prefer some type of wood myself.
DeleteLiving Montessori Now has a great recent Sandpaper letter post!
Good luck with it Michelle!!
Thank you so much for sharing all you DIY knowledge! I am so excited to start making some new things! I was thinking of making these with glue piped over the letters template and sprinkling sand on the glue, as I can't stand touching sandpaper, let alone cutting it. Do you think this method would work? Otherwise I'll have to delegate the task :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!! I'm happy you found us:))
DeleteThere are so many variations on how people are making these. I actually at one point thought of using adhesive felt. It comes in sheets from the craft store and you could just cut it out and stick it on what ever you are using for the boards. You could even cut out any textured paper and Mod podge it to your boards as well - hand made paper would work really well and you could colour it yourself?? Just a few thoughts...I'm sure the glue and sand method would work out just fine also:)) Let me know what you make!! Good luck:))
Hi, just wondering if you could post your cursive/reversed document you made to use less sandpaper. That would be so great!
ReplyDeleteI actually did a reverse print (just change your printer settings) - cut them out, and glued them to the back of the sandpaper to make them fit, and then I cut them out. I hope that makes sense:)
DeleteHi Cherine, I'm so sorry if this is an absurd question. But may I know the size of the rectangle of each letter board? Thank you.
ReplyDelete