‘Now I know my ABCs, next time won’t you sing with me?’ is one of the first songs most preschoolers learn. But why just sing the ABCs? Why not also sew them, paint them, cut them and paste them? The alphabet with its distinctly shaped characters ready to tie into any theme or topic – A for apple, ant or auto, B for banana, bear or bus – can be used in a variety of arts and craft projects. The possibilities for materials and colors are endless and the letters and numbers can be used to be the key motif of decorative or functional items meant for almost anyone.
From sheets of magnet stickers and an assortment of happily colored fabrics of playful patterns, you can create your very own alphabet magnets. The sizes, colors and styles of the letter magnets are up to you, lost magnet letters can be easily replaced. They can be the perfect gift for grandparents and other family members. You can even hum the little alphabet song when presenting the gift to them.:)
Creating an ABC-themed lampshade is a similarly flexible project: you can keep it really simple so that even a young preschooler can participate in the execution or you can come up with a more sophisticated design combining materials and themes. The simplest solution is to decorate a simple white shade with boldly colored, neatly drawn letters. In more elaborate designs you could use fabrics or other materials to create letter-shaped and related cut-outs to glue or affix to the shade. Remember: A for apple, B for banana?
As most children just never tire of the As, Bs and Cs at a certain age, creating something that can provide letter-based entertainment and fun for a long time is a good idea. An alphabet-based matching game is both easy to create and can be used again and again for at least as much fun as the expensive, store bought games and toys of similar nature provide. All you need is a few wooden tiles available in arts and craft stores or for an even cheaper solution a few dozen juice caps or can lids (of the largest possible size), paper, colorful markers and maybe a few images that you can print from the Internet. Then you create a series of tiles or can lids with beautifully drawn and colored big letters and another series with neat, playful images: Airplane, Bus, Car etc.
The letters and numbers can also provide great inspiration for textile projects. With smaller kids, you can select a colorful ABC fabric or number fabric with strong, bold, large characters, cut it to the desired size, glue it to a piece of cardboard and frame it for a simple wall decoration. With bigger children, you can design and sew alphanumerically patterned pillow cases, bed spreads or quilts. Quilting and arts and craft stores offer an amazingly wide selection of ABC fabrics. As alphabet fabrics come in a variety of colors, patterns, gauges and quality, they are ideal for all sorts of decorative textiles projects. Apart from bedding and curtains, you can create your very own ABC tablecloth, dish clothes, table runners, place mats, chair covers or other upholstery or even towels.
