Have you been contemplating how to help your child with letter recognition and spelling in a fun hands-on way, but dreaded having the entire alphabet loose all over your house? Me too. I’m all for keeping materials and toys in a way that makes it easy to put away and even better if it can be a part of the decor of my child’s room. I loved the idea of having the alphabet on the wall but didn’t want it to be permanent and unusable for play. I saw my toddlers alphabet foam letters and created a way to make usable for spelling and phonics games or hide and seek the letter “C”, and also accomplished my other goal of less mess.
This simple ABC’s banner is made from everything you can get at a local hobby store, Walmart, or Target.
Materials:
3ft by 3ft piece of sturdy fabric (I used canvas on sale)
3ft thin dowel rod
foam ABCs (I got mine at Target)
long strip of velcro
needle and thread
string
hot glue gun
Directions:
Start with laying the letters out on the canvas in the pattern you want them. Then, pin and iron the canvas edges in place, and sew to get a nice clean border. Wrap the very top of the banner around the dowel, pin, and sew.
Next, lay out the letters again exactly where you want them on the banner. I used a long ruler to get the straight and evenly spaced. Cut small squares of velcro and place one side on each letter and the other side in the canvas you want the letter to stick to. I used a hot glue gun to glue the velcro onto the backs of all letters. This way the hot glue melted with the letter. Be liberal with the amount of glue to make it most secure. To best adhere the velcro to the fabric and sewed each piece onto the fabric. This way it will withstand the tiny hands ripping the letters away from the banner over and over again.
Last, tie the string to the dowel on each side of the banner and you’re finished and your banner is ready to hang.
I hope you and your littles enjoy using this as much as we do.
Note: this photo of our banner is a bit unfinished but you get the idea. 😉
A Well Dunn Life 