Arabic sandpaper letters

Assalamo aleykum,

 

I FOUND MY SANDPAPER!!!! ALHAMDULILLAH!!! (I had been looking for it for a few days and had started to despair, after even my husband - who is masha'Allah an excellent finder - had said he was going to buy me another pack). Excited as I was to have been reunited with my never-used-before craft material, I put the boys down for a nap and started making Arabic sandpaper letters (I just wanted to clarify it was the children's naptime, I didn't just shift them so I could play!...).

 

This is one of the most iconic Montessori resources, and it is one that parents often have a go ad making themselves. You can find many blogs or websites that explain how to, but I really like this on a blog called  The Accidental Crafter. That was my main inspiration.

 

First thing you need some card, either coloured or you can paint it yourself. One colour for the consonants and a different one for the vowels. I chose to cut my cards size A6 but I could have gone bigger.

 

Then, you need to print out the letters in a very big font. For the Roman alphabet, you can dowload the Montessori font for free online, but here I was doing Arabic letters, so I used the large colouring alphabet available on Yemen Links, which is ideal masha'Allah not only because of the size, but also because it's in an outline font (using a font that is not hollow in that big a size means using a looooot of ink, especially given that all you need is the outline).

 

Next, turn over the papers where you printed your letters and, with a pencil, trace the letters on the back, to obtain their mirror image. Cut roughly around each letter and glue them on the back of the sandpaper, remember to put the glue on the printed side of the letters, not the one you traced, so you can have them mirror image up.

 

Then proceed to cut them out very carefully and precisely ... bismillah!...

 

 

 

Next, glue them on the cards you prepared (it helps if, after cutting out the main body of a letter, you use the sandpaper cutting to help you place the dots exactly where they were insha'Allah).

 

 

 

Finally, just spread them all out and bask in their coolness!!!!!!!!

 

...oh, yeah! the children...I forgot!... yeah, although my elder has already been able to recognise the Arabic letters (in isolation) for some time masha'Allah, and my younger is still too young (he would eat them), I will focus on how to write them, tpencil control, he movements he should do, where to start from etc. I might add it on to each card if I see that he struggles.

 

....OR, I can just keep them all for myself ... MUWAHAHAHAHA!!!