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August 12, 2013

DIY Felt Montessori Movable Alphabet

I got the idea to make felt letters from a friend. About halfway through making the blue letters, I decided that it was so easy, I should just go ahead a make a felt movable alphabet.

A Montessori inspired felt moveable alphabet. This DIY is an easy replacement for a traditional Montessori writing work.

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A traditional Montessori movable alphabet is a set of wooden letters used by preschoolers to start forming words and sentences. In a traditional set the constants are red and the vowels are blue. 

While I would love a traditional set {and I hope to eventually get one} but they are very expensive. At this point, I just can't justify the expense. My set cost less than $5 to make. I stuck with traditional colors but you could make a set in any color. Ideally, you would use lower case letters, but I went with capitals for this one because that is what my child was learning in his non-Montessori school.

A Montessori inspired felt moveable alphabet. This DIY is an easy replacement for a traditional Montessori writing work.

To make you'll need: 

Stiffened Felt -- found at Michael's or any fabric store. I used about three paper-sized sheets for a  full alphabet set. The amount you'll need depends on the letters you want to  make. 
Permanent marker
Scissors/Exacto Knife
Letter Template -- I made these using Microsoft Word. I just picked a font I liked -- Arial Black size 250 -- printed them and then cut them out.

These were very simple to make. I'll you need to do is trace the templates on the felt with the permanent marker and cut out the letters. I used scissors for the majority of the letters, but an exacto knife for the inside sections of letters with holes {like A, R, O}. 


I made a full set of red constants plus some extras of the more frequently used letters, and a several full sets of vowels. 

At this point, I don't really expect Henry to use these to make real words, since that a little beyond his skill level. But we will use them to make words and identify letters. I will keep a set on our felt board which is moving to our new classroom. 

A Montessori inspired felt moveable alphabet. This DIY is an easy replacement for a traditional Montessori writing work.

Do your children use a moveable alphabet?

A Montessori inspired felt moveable alphabet. This DIY is an easy replacement for a traditional Montessori writing work.

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Comments

Michele Chronister
Have you tried plastic craft boxes, like the kind used for jewelry making or embroidery thread? Those are pretty inexpensive, especially with a coupon, and you can find ones in all different sizes with any number of compartments!
kelly
kelly said…
Tackle box tray maybe or what about a box with dividers tapped in ?
Suzuki
Suzuki said…
Great idea! Have you considered making them in lower case letters a la Montessori?
Nicole @ The Kavanaugh Report
Thats actually a great idea! I did upper just cause they were easier to cut out, but I should probably do lower case too!
Nicole @ The Kavanaugh Report
Ill have to look for these, I'm not a jewelry person, so I had no idea these boxes existed.
Kirstylee @ Moms Have Questions Too
These look really great! I have been wanting to make a moveable alphabet for my 5 year old, but I just didn't think it would be worth my time. It sounds like it went fast for you though. I'm sure using an exacto knife helped with that. I might actually tackle this project now. :)
Nicole @ The Kavanaugh Report
This actually too WAY less time than I thought it would. I think in total it took maybe 2 hours once I cut out the templates which maybe took another 30 minutes. Seriously, so fast. And for the price, I think the work was well worth it.
Unknown
Unknown said…
These look great! I was wondering if you can email me your alphabet template. My email address is karishma.prasla@gmail.com. Thanks a bunch.