With Jack being three, we’ve begun to take on a little bit of homeschool preschool. We’re not using a strict curriculum or even a set schedule, it’s mostly just following his interests and his lead and getting him comfortable with school-like activities, pre-literacy skills, shapes, numbers, etc.
Today’s activity was a real hit! We had purchased a jar of alphabet stamps from the fun in a jar collection by Recollection (available at Michaels) earlier this summer. I’m unsure if this item is still available, but I found this gorgeous option on Amazon for only $7.96 with free shipping for Prime members! I’m tempted to get one of these for the boys since it has both upper AND lower case options, as well as numbers and some punctuation as well.
Jack enjoyed spelling out his name and Aidan’s with the stamps, as well as copying words from his Melissa and Doug See & Spell puzzle set by stamping each letter on his paper. It was great to see how comfortable he was getting with the idea of sounding out letters phonetically into words without the frustration of needing to write each individual letter.
Some quick and easy ideas for incorporating alphabet stamps into your own homeschool routine or letter play:
* Practice spelling your child’s name. This is always a great go to as they LOVE the added attention, and the more ways you find to repeat the letters in your child’s name the sooner they will commit it to memory. Jack’s name is far and away his favorite word to spell, and was the first word he could spell with any sort of consistency.
* Play the sound game: “What letter makes the buh-buh-buh sound?” Let your child scan all the available letters to search for the right choice, then let them stamp their paper with the correct sound.
* Use sight word flashcards or write out small words for your child to copy with the stamps. Make sure to say each letter out loud when stamping it to the paper.
* Practice stamping the alphabet in order. Mix up all your letter stamps and have your child find each letter in the correct order for their paper.
* If you purchase the set above, or have a different set that has both upper and lower case letters, take a few minutes to stamp a few random letters around the paper. Direct your child to find the corresponding upper or lower case letter to make a matching pair for each, and stamp it next to each one.
* Draw a few small pictures on your paper then use your stamps to label your drawings with their corresponding names.
Here’s some photos from our stamping time today. Jack had a blast, and we’ll definitely be incorporating letter stamps into our homeschool routine.
