Chalkboard Writing Set
Hello! It’s Randi again, from Swoon. My four year old daughter recently completed her first year of preschool and she loves to write. She’s still working on getting the formation of her letters and loves to practice. Her favorite thing to do is trace letters. She’s constantly asking me to write the alphabet so she can trace over it. While I love seeing her write, I was getting a little tired of writing letters all day long!
This led me to the idea of a chalkboard writing set that she could use over and over. It was a little time consuming to make, but very simple and worth the effort! Each wooden circle has an uppercase letter of the alphabet on one side and the corresponding lowercase letter on the other. The letters are painted with chalkboard paint, so they can be easily erased with a paper towel and used continuously.
Would you like to make a set of your own? Here’s what you need:
- 26 3″ wooden discs (mine were $0.19 each at the local craft store)
- chalkboard paint
- small paintbrush
- alphabet stencils (also found at craft stores)
- pencil
- chalk
- alphabet letter chart (to help your little one with the tracing)
- Stencil letters on to wooden discs with pencil, uppercase on one side, lowercase on the other.
- Paint! This is the part that takes a while. You will need at least two coats of chalkboard paint to get the coverage you need (I did 3). The instructions on my paint bottle said to wait an hour between coats, but my coats dried fairly quickly on the unfinished wood surface. If you don’t enjoy painting or have an unsteady hand, you could also try working with chalkboard contact paper. I haven’t tried it, but you could stencil your letters on to the paper, cut out, and stick on for a similar effect.
- Let the paint cure for 24 hours and then “season” it by rubbing white chalk lightly on the surface of the letters.
I made a small bag to keep our letters in, but a plastic bag would work great too! Make sure to include a piece of chalk, a paper towel, and a letter chart with your set, and you’re ready to trace!
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What a wonderful idea! My 4 year old is at a similar point in her letter writing and I know she would love this. Thank you for sharing this beautifully presented post!
Oh what a fantastic idea! I think this might be just what I need to get my son more interested in writing. Thank you!
This is brilliant! I’m off to add it to my Pinterest boards.
xoxo
~ joey ~
I made something similar with chalk cloth, backed by duck, that wraps up for travel and included blank space to practice as well, as the letters to trace (used a white fabric pen, worked pretty well.) It was insanely time-consuming and I soooooooo wish I had seen this tut beforehand! Lovely.
A really lovely idea, i only wish i knew where to find the disks in Australia.
I LOVE this! What a simple and clever way to work on letter formation and even early phonics. Great!
How beautiful! I must make this.
Pinning and planning on making in Spanish!
What a great idea! I am planning on doing this!!
I love this idea! Thanks so much for sharing it! I may have to try this soon!
I am hosting a linky party all about celebrating the times of fun we have with our kids! I would love to have you stop on by Taking Time Tuesday! Happy Learning!
http://www.discoverydaysandmontessorimoments.blogspot.com/2012/08/taking-time-tuesday-year-of-crafts.html
Hi Stephanie – I look forward to stopping by and checking out your Taking Time Tuesday!
Would you be willing to make and sell a set?? I love this idea!
Hi Katie – It would be lovely if we could purchase these! Hmmmm? Maybe there is an Etsy shop in someone’s future…