Play Pad - Spelling My Name

Aim For This Play Pad

To support a two year old in learning to 

• spell name
• to form letters

To create an activity that is easily portable and does not have bits and pieces falling about everywhere.

Planning Stage:

Scribble out ideas for pad(s). You don't have to stick to them. I don't but at least this stage cuts out some mistakes

Materials: 

• polyester/cotton for pad
• contrasting polyester/cotton for letters
• interfacing
• velcro

Cut out the pages - 2 pieces of A4 with a quarter inch allowance for hemming all round. Easy to cut round photocopying paper. My material is cotton/polyester which was £2.50 a metre on the market. It does not fray, keeps its colour and does not crease much.

Back one page with interfacing.

Use PowerPoint to create letter outlines  for Emily.

Reverse and print the letters.

Trace the letters twice on to ........

Iron the one set of letters on back of grey material to form the letter "shadows".

Iron the second set on to the back of bright material.

Peel off the bonding and iron the grey letters on to one of the pages

Cut five rectangles of grey material and back them with interfacing. Finish the edges with overlocking or cross stitch.  Iron a bright letter on to each rectangle 

Sew Velcro strips to the tops of the grey shadows.

Sew Velcro strips to the tops of the rectangles.

Tack the backing page - right sides together. Sew all around except for approximately 10 centimetres. Clip the corners and turn to the right side. Slip stitch to close the opening. Top stitch all around.

Activities:

• Match the letters.
• Jumble the letters so that the child can rearrange them in the correct order.
• Talk to the child about the importance of the capital letter.
• Ask the child to trace their finger over each letter. It may help if you sew a green spot where the tracing should begin on a letter and a red spot where finger tracing should end.
• Use the squares out of site of the shadows so that the child can put them in the correct order without the clues.

Store the letters attached by the Velcro to the pad.