Thursday, September 22, 2011

Alphabet Rocks

We’re just getting to the point where a bowl of pretty things put on the low table in the living room isn’t immediately emptied and its contents rapidly and expertly dispersed throughout the house. It’s so refreshing to be past that point!  We’re also just getting to the point where letters are being joyfully recognized by the little man cub and the path to the infinite world of literacy is just beginning.  Also a beautiful and miraculous point to be at.  Being at these two points made the creation of a bowl of alphabet rocks more of a need than a little extra project to put before sweeping the kitchen floor!!IMG_0384

The idea isn’t original.  I would love to say that it is…but it’s not!  It is swimming around in the pool of pinterest genius images that fills my brain these days.  The original alphabet rocks (as far as I know!!!) are found here.  Admitedly hers are higher up on the cuteness scale…but then again…there was a kitchen floor desperately calling my name…!  Super cute, or just plain cute, they work just the same and have been a huge hit around here.  I picked up a few bags of decorative rocks from the Dollar Tree for, yup, a dollar(!), and painted them with acrylic paint.  I used mod-podge to seal the deal so the letters would flake off with use.  Soon to come are lower-case versions of the letters on the flip side of each rock.  Soon! 

As for right now, they are happily living on the living room table, often spread out in words (if played with by Rebecca), or neat orderly rows of commonalities…color of rock, color of letter, or the letter itself…(if played with by Spencer).  I just love having something out that can be played with and explored without invitation or permission, and happening upon it later in the day to discover the sweet evidence of independent exploration.  Love it!  IMG_0383

Comments (10)

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Awesome idea - thanks for sharing! With Mooch just getting into reading at school, this is perfect :-)
Yes, thanks for sharing! My almost two year old is all about ABC's right now. She would love this. I will add this to my endless list of craft projects.
These are so awesome! And I love that they can be used by children of any age (adults even love playing with them!) they can also be used in the garden to mark plants or in mixed media art projects!
xoxo
~ joey ~
ps. and I love the reading nook quilt, you are so talented!
I did some baskets for my elder children recently that sit in the shelves of the dining room cabinet. One is filled with scissors, paper, glue, sellotape and old newspapers/magazines. My older two make their own newspapers by cutting up the words and sticking them in, or make up pictures...one example was my 8 year old cut out a picture of a man on a bike and on another piece of paper drew a broken bridge and glued the man cycling off the edge (the guy in the pic had such a comic expression which is were the idea came from). The second basket is filled with old fashioned wooden pegs, scraps of material and bits of string and wood which they play dolls and puppets with. The third has a couple of old radios and bits of electrical junk and some small screwdrivers...they love pretending to fix them up and take them apart and put them together again. The last is filled with hand sized rocks which they use for stacking, sorting, making roads and villages out of and they sometimes draw on them with chalk. it's amazing how simple, natural materials really bring out their imaginations and their creative play :)
My daughter loves, loves, loves rocks. Every time I pick up her jacket it feels like it weighs fifteen pounds because of all the "treasures" she has put in her pockets. We have a nature table going where she can display them. :-) She would love this concept. We are working on learning to phonically spell stuff. This is a great way to make it a bit more creative. Thanks for sharing!
PS: Hannah are you on Pinterest? I'd love to follow you there if you are! Please share your URL so I can find you easily. The people search function is pretty poor. :-)

I am going to add this to my "Give a Lifetime Love of Learning" board: http://pinterest.com/zina/give-a-lifetime-love-of...
I love this idea. I did something similar years ago with my nieces, we drew stick pictures on our rocks. At the time Wizard of Oz was a big hit in their household. I still have the rocks and now I am reminded to take them out for my little girl (they have also been up on a high shelf.) Time to add to the collection I think. The letters will be perfect. Thank you for the inspiration (no pinterest needed.) ;)

We also have a large rock bed in our backyard. We often pick up a few rocks and draw faces on them and use other rocks as their bodies. We make entire families this way. When we are done, we throw them all back in the rock bed (it's really large!) to be rediscovered later by our little one, always with a smile!
What a wonderful idea. This will go great with our homeschool preschool time. My daughter loves to play w/ rocks. But then my older son did too. So I should not be surprised. Adding a trip the Dollar Tree to my list of errands. :^)

Lil' Momma
Living with a hard working husband, 1 toddler, 1 preschooler and 1 middle schooler who are Five in Training for HIM
Oh, I love these! We are still at the "dump and disperse" stage here, but some day...
It shows the sense of creativity of the things that you are having for sharing this article to read. I am also willing to make the same type of rocks to be kept in the living room to be sure about.

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