Montessori at Home: Sandpaper Letters

Sandpaper Letters are probably the most famous Montessori manipulative, and one of the few we elected to buy. However, simple versions can also be made at home.

In the book, Teaching Montessori In The Home The Pre-school Years.
by Elizabeth G. Hainstock there are instructions and templates for making your own sandpaper letters mounted on index cards.Below is a very good visual of what homemade Sandpaper Letters could look like (please be patient w/the link, takes a few seconds to load):

http://totallytots.blogspot.com/2011/11/little-hands-on-abcs-and-123s-simple.html

As I mentioned in a previous post, the sand paper is there for extra tactile stimulation of the brain. To read more on that you can follow this link:

http://www.blog.montessoriforeveryone.com/montessori-basics-9-sandpaper-letters.html

  If the concept interests you, but you don't want to buy the Sandpaper Letters, or make them at home, you can go to any store you know of that sells print flash cards and buy two packs, Upper and Lower case, and teach a Montessori lesson with them.

Below is a short video of a Montessori lesson on letters and letter sounds, and recognition.