My homemade Moveable Alphabet

This is how I made my homemade Moveable Alphabet :) As mentioned here.

I bought a set of scrapbooking letters (if you are reading this in Australia - they were from Spotlight & called 'Sweets' in a range called 'Basic Grey - Undressed'). The set was only $11.95 for 160 diecut chipboard pieces. The tallest letters are 4 1/2 cm tall. 

The paint and brushes I had on hand. I just used water-based acrylic paints that the boys use. Following Montessori principles I painted all of the vowels in blue and the consonants in red.

Voila! Ready to be 'punched out' (easier said than done - that was a bit of a time consuming job- and where I got the sore fingertips I'm sure :) and now it was time to think about the box.

This is the timber puzzle frame that I used as the basis for the box (it had been living on our puzzles shelf) and some strips of 4mm chipboard that I had cut at the hardware store. The frame is 11 mm deep and the strips were cut to match.

This is the lovely man at the hardware store :) When I explained what I needed he looked around, couldn't find anything quite right & then offered to cut this huge board for me with his electric saw. Aside from being really helpful he only charged me $2 for the strips of board and the cutting and his time. I love living in a country town!

The next favour I had to call in was from Hug. He gave me access to his special wooden tool kit (the one he got for his birthday from T and I). Thanks kiddo ;)

Work in progress. I measured my frame and cut 4 long strips to cover the width of the box. You can see my accomplices and their trucks in this photo. Hug has been home from school with a bad cold so we were all hanging out on the back verandah doing our thing. 

The 22 short pieces that I needed. Eeek! Was I ever glad when I'd got these pieces cut. I sanded them off lightly with the sandpaper block. 

...and glued them into place. Sure, it's a little wonky but I'm happy with how it has turned out. I did begin to make measurements for spacing out the sections but in the end it was much easier to put all of the pieces on the board and just go by feel. I used 'Tarzan grip'.

The final touch. I made a lid with a piece of thick cardboard I had in my art cupboard (strangely I found a piece that fitted perfectly - I didn't even have to cut it!). I taped it at the top to the box frame to create a swing-top lid and then used a piece of elastic to secure it closed at the bottom.

Phew! It has been a big project today but I'm very happy (if you hadn't noticed ;) seeing that 24 hours ago I wasn't sure what to do. Now, I just have to work out how best to present it to Hug. He has used the Moveable Alphabet before (last year at his Montessori preschool) but I do feel that we should go over the letter forms first especially as he's clearer on his capitals than the lowers... so I'm thinking now that maybe I've got to get onto making some Sandpaper Letters!