Rex is learning his letters and I love to find simple games and ideas to help him with it. I had this idea a long time ago, but never got around to it. I took a bunch of river rocks and painted them with the alphabet letters. He loves rocks, so I thought this might be a fun idea. (I had a couple of boys who are 5 years old over this week and they both loved playing with them, too.)
I had some rocks from a decorating item I was no longer using. (I think you can usually find a bag of them pretty cheap at Wal-mart.) I painted them with acrylic paint.
Then I edged the letters with a Sharpie. I still need to coat them with some spray polyurethane or the paint will scratch off. (I'm also thinking nail polish would stay on better then acrylic paint.)
He can have fun putting them in order.....
...sorting them by color...
.......and eventually writing small words with them.
While he knows the uppercase letters, the lowercase are a little trickier for him. So, I painted the corresponding lowercase letter on the back of each uppercase. I think we'll come up with lots of games to play with them.
That's all for today.
Linking to Tatertots and Jello
Great idea! We use lowercase more so encourage that side of the rocks! (I teach Kindergarten!)
ReplyDeleteI love this. They are so much prettier than the ones you can buy
ReplyDeleteYou're a genius! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI have been thinking about these for a while too, but I'm glad I saw your version first, I would not have thought of putting lowercase on the other side. Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteThose are SUPER cute!!
ReplyDeletewhat a cool idea. they turned out so cool looking. I'm loving the idea of having uppercase on one side and lowercase on the other. Gonna bookmark this idea for later. :)
ReplyDeleteAdorable,as you are!!
ReplyDeleteI'm silly but the Thank You (in rock speak) made me cheese a little. Grand Idea of course :)
ReplyDeleteThese rocks ROCK! And so do you, momma!
ReplyDeletefabulous idea. something I'll have to give a go soon!
ReplyDeletethat's awesome!! i love it!
ReplyDeleteLove, love, love it! So fun. I might try this one. And awesome to put the lowercase letters on the back. It is tricky when they are first leaning to get them to understand the difference :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the idea.
ReplyDeleteYou could also brush on a couple coats of modpodge. It's my go to when I paint on something that paint won't normally stick to.
Now, I'm off to find some river rocks.
Leighann
Those are super cute! What a fun idea!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea, Cheri! They are so cute!
ReplyDeleteThese are also really helpful the early grades. We used something similar to help our son learn his spelling words. He is a kinesthetic learner and the movement of letters seemed to cement them into his brain.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant! We are so doing that this week!
ReplyDeleteLOVE love love this!! I'm teaching my little guy his alphabet too. I'm looking for any fun ideas that will hold his interest for longer than 4 seconds. Thank you for sharing!!
ReplyDeleteSo we have tons of alphabet stuff in our house, magnets, blocks, puzzles, what not, but these are seriously cool looking! Plus I think all boys love to play with rocks! They are going on my to do list thanks for sharing the idea! You are endlessly creative!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if modge podge over them would work. hmmm. love the idea!
ReplyDeleteTotally adorable! Great job! I wish I had a set for Laci to learn with. Will have to consider doing this too!
ReplyDeleteI love rocks and I love to paint on them, so I absolutely love this!!! We are going to make some this summer for my 3 year old and her 7 year old sister can tutor her!
ReplyDeleteIf you use patio paint (that acrylic that is for outdoor use) you might not have to spray coat them.
I love this idea! They look great!
ReplyDeleteSuper cute! and easy too!
ReplyDeleteI love alpharocks! I plan on making some for Josiah to use Montessori style. Little boys and rocks go so well together!
ReplyDeleteThis is super cute! I'm a first grade teacher, so I love stuff like this. As he gets older, you can move to smaller items (like lima beans) for letters so he can string them together for words and sentences. Also, putting vowels in a different color help when they begin to read.
ReplyDeleteAwesome (and pretty!) idea! :)
Great idea, and like others have said, I love the lower case letters on the other side!
ReplyDeleteI just stumbled upon your site and seriously, I am in love, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteGenius! Off to make some....
ReplyDeleteI love this!! My son is always collecting rocks. We have about a million "pet rocks" because I just let him color them. Now I can have him "rock hunting" for flat, cool, rocks to make letters on! Thanks for another great BOY craft!!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea. Kids love holding, sorting, and looking through rocks anyway. I love that you combine a literacy element to beloved kid activity. :)
ReplyDeleteLove your blog and I can't wait to 'go exploring' on it!
ReplyDeleteOh these are brilliant! Love the idea Cheri!
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ReplyDeleteMy boys are going to love these! We come home with about 10 rocks every walk we go on. They love collecting (and throwing…sigh) them. How did you get the lowercase letters so perfect? Did you use a paintbrush? Thanks for the idea.
ReplyDeleteThat's adorable! Of course, mine would look ridiculous, considering I can't just free-hand it like that.
ReplyDeletei love this! totally doing it!
ReplyDeletethanks, lady!
What a great idea!
ReplyDeleteBrilliant! I LOVE this post! Gorgeous letters, too. Fantastic!
ReplyDeleteThose are so fun! I'll have to make some for my little one who's starting kindergarten in the fall.
ReplyDeleteCute idea!
ReplyDeleteAs usual, you are one rocking momma! Another tip, make some letters cut out of sandpaper. Glue them to a piece of cardstock and let him to rubbings of them, and I loved to cut out a letter a week (5x7 size) and find things that start with that letter and glue them on. Put them on a ring and he can play with it all the time.
ReplyDeleteI'm new here and wanted to say I love this idea! You have so many great ideas. Thanks for the site!
ReplyDeletelove these!!! you rock! had to be said :)
ReplyDeleteI love this and will be making some for my son as soon as he stops putting things in his mouth that don't belong there. I might make some for my friends' kids too!
ReplyDeleteI totally love this!!! What a great activity! I just had my kids pull all the "big" rocks out of my garden, so now we can scrub them up and paint the letters. AWESOME!!!
ReplyDeleteI totally have to do this for my niece. I went through this phase once when I would paint little stones with fun pictures and leave them in random places. I had the notion that people would find them and smile... But probably I was the only one smiling. This gives me an excuse to paint rocks with a true purpose!
ReplyDeleteI love these! I just got some rocks for the same purpose after seeing an etsy shop selling them. I'll use mine as fridge magnets I think :) I didn't think to use Sharpie to outline..great tip!
ReplyDeletefun fun fun! i have some rocks laying around that woudl be just right. thanks for a practical idea. :)
ReplyDeleteHow amazing! Love this!
ReplyDeleteThese are the best! Can't wait to make them, my kids will swoon.
ReplyDeleteMy 3-year-old will love these. I tried to do the nail polish and left it to dry overnight and they are still not dry! Stick to paints...now I have to nail polish remover 32 rocks (a-z + extra vowels and r for his name).
ReplyDeletehow do you keep him from throwing them?? my boys would love something like this...not only for the educational factor, but for the physical fitness part too!
ReplyDeleteI'm new to your blog and I can already tell, I really like you. Great blog. Thanks for taking breaks and being a real person too!
These are so great! What a fun idea!
ReplyDeleteI would LOVE for you to share these at my For the Kids link party! Come join the fun!!
http://sunscholars.blogspot.com/2011/05/for-kids-friday-12.html
oh thank you this is a great project my son lovesssss (cant emphasizes that enough) to collect rocks and we are working on our letters this is perfect.
ReplyDeleteThanks
Michelle
Love this! Can't wait til my boy is old enough for me to do this!
ReplyDeleteLove it and copied it!!
ReplyDeletehttp://structuredplay.blogspot.com/2011/06/abc-rocks.html
Thanks so much, you are amazing!
What a fantastic idea, my three year old is crazy about letters at the moment so I may just have to add this project to the to do list.
ReplyDeleteLove these! Such a great idea - thanks for sharing. Look forward to making these with my 3yr old :)
ReplyDeleteHi Cheri! I posted about this idea on my blog. I loved, loved, loved your idea as I have been using rocks a lot for other ideas as well. As a kindergarten teacher my time is limited so I adapted your idea. Thanks so much! Your set is so beautiful!!
ReplyDeleteSally
Fairy Dust Teaching
Really cool idea!
ReplyDeleteStinkin cute! I want to paint rocks RIGHT NOW!
ReplyDeleteThese are so brilliant!!!! I love them!
ReplyDeleteLove htese! They look fabulous! Will definitely add this to my to do list!
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