Presentation
Recommended Age: 3 to 3 and ½ years and onwards
Purpose: To give the child the symbols for the phonemes of their own language by means of 3 senses (tactile, auditory and visual). The sandpaper letters directly prepare the child for writing and reading and stimulates further exploration of their own language.
Level of Parent Involvement: Medium, the adult must present the sandpaper letters to the child, 3 at a time until they have memorised all 26 letters.
Prerequisites
- The child must have had many experiences in sound games such as ‘I SPY’
Materials
- Sandpaper letters ‘a’ ‘s’ and ‘t’ (see resource pack)
Preparation
- None
Steps
- Invite the child, letting them know that you will be showing them some sandpaper letters
- Bring the sandpaper letters to the table (a, s and t from the resource pack)
- Have the child sit to your left if right is your dominant hand (vice versa if your left hand is dominant)
- Place the letters on the table in front of the child
- Trace the first letter, stating the sound for example “this is t”, trace the letter as it would be written (starting at the dot and following the direction of the arrow)
- Invite the child to trace and repeat the sound
- Repeat as above for letters ‘s’ and ‘a’
- Trace and name all letters, one at a time, inviting the child to trace and name each
- Turn into a 3-period lesson
- At the end for each letter say to the child “trace this and tell me what it is”
- The child may continue tracing and naming
Variations
- The child may write the letters on a piece of paper or on a chalkboard
