Homemade Small Moveable Alphabets

I finally made a set of small moveable alphabets (SMA) about 2 weeks ago.

Making the SMA

It's pretty expensive if a complete set is bought outside. So I improvised. Took me a while to think, shop, gather & put it all together. Probably took me 1 week to get all the materials ready for "production".

I drew the outline of the lower case alphabets (same method as how I made the sandpaper letters) on a piece of plastic corrugated board. I chose that material cos it's easier for my son to handle as it has thickness as opposed to just a plastic sheet . Chose plastic instead of cardboard cos his drool wont be absorbed into the plastic. (The plastic sheet idea was from a mother who blogged about the montessori pink method, so thanks Leah!)

The plastic corrugated board is cheap, available in various colours & can be bought at larger stationery shops (e.g. in Taman Tun, it's sold at Jasema, opposite Penang Village) and at Tesco Mutiara Damansara.

I said improvised cos I dont have a sharp or strong enough cutter to cut the holes for letters like o, p, b, d. Instead, I used a permanent marker & coloured in the holes. Doesn't seem to be a problem for him. Phew.

I only made one of each alphabet. Supposed to have several of each alphabet. Also supposed to have 2 different coloured sets, so that one colour is used for vowels & the other for consonants. Eh...when i have time, I'll do that. It was quite hard to cut the material. I needed 2 sittings cos hands were hurting.

This is done on the cheap, so no specially customised wooden box to keep the letters. Instead, I bought plastic hobby boxes with many compartments. Was lucky to get them on discount at Tesco & compartments were the perfect size for my letters!

The size of my alphabets are probably "medium" if compared to the Montessori Large Moveable Alphabets (LMA) and Small Moveable Alphabets (SMA). Improvised la. So I wont be differentiating activities between LMA & SMA.

Word of advice: I started out with the aim of teaching him to read via the phonics way, without going through a Montessori course.

So there are a lot of things that you should not follow if you're truly on the Montessori method. There is a lot of research & thought gone into why things are done the way they are (e.g. SMA in 2 colours, or the way the letters are not arranged in alphabetical order in the box) in the Montessori method. Montessorians will cringe (and/or laugh) at the way I'm doing things.

But, I do not have the time or resources to undergo the course. I just do what I can...and hope for the best.