Tactile ABC Flashcards with Elmer’s

I have been trying to teach my son the Alphabet Song since the moment he started talking. I think it was the past educator in me that really wanted him to be the best, the brightest, the smartest and for some reason, knowing that silly song made me think he would be all those things. I’ve since calmed down and have let him develop at a pace he’s comfortable with and since he’s started a preschool class where he has a teacher who *isn’t* his mom, he’s miraculously started belting out that Alphabet Song day and night.

With his new-found love of his “Baby See’s,” I wanted to capitalize on his desire to learn his letters by creating alphabet flashcards and because he is still so young and because his little sister will more than likely get her hands on these too, I wanted to make sure they were durable and that they had a tactile component to them. Here are some of our finished cards:

The kids and I had a great time shopping (or as the husband would call it, wandering) around our local Wal-Mart searching for the best products to create our flashcards. You can read more about our experience here. We ended up picking up an Elmer’s Tri-Fold Display Board and an Elmer’s CraftBond Extra Strength Glue Stick. The rest of the materials we already had on hand. Are you ready to learn how to make your own sensory flashcards?

Materials: (2) Elmer’s Tri-Fold Display Boards, self-healing cutting mat, ruler, X-acto knife, Elmer’s CraftBond Tacky Glue, Elmer’s CraftBond Extra Strength Glue Stick, foam letters, miscellaneous decorative supplies (fabric, wrapping paper scraps, Elmer’s Jumbo Glitter Paint Pens, puff paints, jewels, twine, ribbon, etc.)

1. Begin measuring and marking where the cuts will need to be on the Elmer’s Tri-Fold Display Boards. You’ll end up fitting 18 flashcards on a single board with each card measuring 4″ x 5.5″.

2. Score down the marks to cut your display board. I really like having the long sewing/quilting ruler to keep my lines straight. If you don’t cut all the way through on the first cut, your board will look like the second picture. Make sure you cut all the way through and have a pretty little stack of blank flashcards waiting to be decorated like the third picture.

3. Now comes the fun: decorating! Choose one letter of the alphabet. I’m starting with W.

4. I wanted to make a whale to correspond to the letter W. I had ocean print flannel fabric on hand, so I free-hand drew a whale on there and cut it out.

5. When the shape is cut out, it’s time for gluing. Glue tends to be one of the few craft items I don’t always go for the cheapest version; when I use glue, I want it to stick and I’ve never had any issue with the Elmer’s #GlueNGlitter family. You’ll also notice I have Fray Check in there too. This is important if you are using fabrics that unravel a lot or if you are going to be working with ribbons.

Get a nice amount of glue around the edges and then stick it on your blank card.

6. Done! Piece of cake, right? Now you only have 25 more left to do. 🙂

Here are some of the other ones that I came up with. The designs don’t need to be anything intense or strenuous; this is one of the cases where simple is better. After I’d started this project, I even realized I could have used my Silhouette to cut out the shapes for me too.

I hoped you enjoyed my little learning project as much as my son is enjoying playing with them now!

This project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Elmer’s #gluenglitter, but all opinions and ideas are 100% my own.  #collectivebias

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