Word Activity: Stick Cut-Out Letters on a Styrofoam Block

This tactile activity is a creative way to familiarize your child with the letters of the alphabet.

Ages

3-5

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Practice your child's letter and word recognition skills with this fun craft project. When the letter-covered Styrofoam block is complete, your child can use it to play simple word games. 

What You Need

  • large letters cut from magazines or letters drawn on paper 
  • tray or box 
  • scissors 
  • golf tees 
  • Styrofoam block (saved from an appliance or electronics box) 
  • child-size hammer 

What to Do 

  1. With your child, find different size and shaped letters in a magazine or catalog, or draw and color big letters on paper. Cut around them freely and place them in a tray or box.
  2. Help your child place a letter on the Styrofoam block. 
  3. Hold the point of a golf tee on the letter, and invite her to use the hammer to pound the golf tee through the paper and into the block. She can hammer and pound until the block is covered with letters. 
  4. When the letters are placed randomly, your child can play a find-a-word game, looking up, down, and diagonally for small words such as in and to. He can also move the letters around to spell out words.
  5. Encourage your child to color in some of the letters. Ask him to think about the colors he is choosing — the G might be green, and maybe the T is colored yellow and black like a tiger. He will be associating letter sounds with words.
Reading Activities
Fine Motor Skills
Alphabet Recognition
Age 5
Age 4
Age 3
Alphabet Recognition
Word Recognition
Arts and Crafts