Letter Boxes

Letter Boxes are my creation I came up with one day.  I thought it would really help Monkey be able to learn more about a letter in a tactile way.  I put a variety of things in the box that begin with the letter as well as the letter itself (from our big foam mat-see the link on the side bar for more information about the materials we use).  Here are some links back with pictures of letter boxes we've done:

Letter F (feelings theme)

Letter E

We've done several others but I can't find the pictures right now!

So now that you've seen what letter boxes are you're probably wondering how you can go about making them and what to put in them.

Monkey loves boxes but really liked this particular shoe box and the way it opened.  I decided it was a perfect size to put lots of little things in and each letter in our foam mat fits in easily so this is our official letter box.  I prepare the box on a specific day of the week and we start out our activities with me setting it down in front of him and I let him explore.  I explain what the things are and help him make the letter sound and identify that each thing in the box starts with that letter.  You can really use anything in the box-favorite stuffed animals, small laminated pictures (I say laminated but you can do non-laminated but expect them to be wrinkled, torn, etc with a young toddler).  I let him explore the box as long as he is interested and while he's finishing up I start reading him the Alphatales book that I put inside (you can put any book in there but I do recommend putting a book dealing with the letter or that has the letter in it a lot to tie it back in to introducing reading to your young toddler). 

The most important part of letter boxes is that you BOTH have fun!  You can easily do letter boxes with a very young toddler or baby.  I don't think it's ever too early to begin learning and sharing your love of reading and writing with a baby.  I will add in links of each letter box that we do in our 2010-2011 year so you can get an idea of what we put in ours if you want to do the same thing.  I will also link in any other pictures as we go.

A (+square and number 1)
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z