Last week in my post about inexpensive and DIY sandpaper letters, I said that my son absolutely loved Montessori sandpaper letters (Learning to Read Can Be Just a Fun Game). His favorite activity was matching the sandpaper letters to small objects, similar to activities using alphabet boxes.
Today, I want to share some wonderful resources for DIY alphabet boxes. An alphabet box is great for preschoolers – and was an essential activity for my son! At home, we used the simplest version possible – sandpaper letters and a basket filled with small objects starting with each letter of the alphabet (to go with the sounds for each consonant and short-vowel sound). Please use what works best for you and your child, making your “alphabet box” as simple or as elaborate as you wish.
DIY Alphabet Boxes and Variations
(Update): I have a product in the Living Montessori Now shop with alphabet box labels and movable alphabet in manuscript, D’Nealian, and cursive. You can read more about it in my DIY alphabet box multi-level printables and resources.
Alphabet Box Activity (Photo from Counting Coconuts)
Counting Coconuts has directions on how to make an alphabet box (The Alphabet Box – Part I – includes free letter template) and how to use the alphabet box (The Alphabet Box – Part II – photo).
Alphabet Box (Photo from Pink and Green Mama)
Pink and Green Mama prepared an ABC box from a post at Itty Bitty Love.
Montessori Alphabet Box (Photo from Wildflower Ramblings)
Wildflower Ramblings used a drawer storage cabinet.
DIY Mini Montessori Alphabet Box (Photo from Stir the Wonder)
Stir the Wonder used a drawer storage cabinet.
Nurturing the Tender Years also has an alphabet box with drawers.
Sound Bins (Photo from What DID We Do All Day?)
What DID We Do All Day? has a page on sound bins along with a link to a post with lots of ideas for acquiring and storing miniature objects.
The A-Priori Mommy made a phonetic ABC box using doodads from High Pie for objects.
Momtessori has an alphabet box with an I Spy game and sound sorting.
Alphabet/Sound Boxes (Photo from Kingdom of the Pink Princesses)
Kingdom of the Pink Princesses made alphabet/sound boxes using boxes from IKEA. For a similar system, you can choose the order to present letters/phonetic sounds (and label your alphabet boxes) according to one of the systems in this post: In What Order Should You Introduce Letters to Your Preschooler?
Smiling Like Sunshine puts an individual alphabet box with miniature objects and the corresponding sandpaper letter on the shelf.
Object Box SMAT (Photo from Montessori MOMents)
Montessori MOMents has Object Box – SMAT (Photo), Object Box – DNIR, and Object Box BFEG.
Sound Box Activity (Photo from To the Lesson!)
To the Lesson! has a sound box activity using sandpaper letters and objects.
Jojoebi made phonetic sound pouches.
The Idea Box used 26 baby wipe boxes to make alphabet boxes.
Shannon’s Sharings made sound bags.
ABC Letter Box from Spell Outloud
Spell Outloud has an ABC letter box that’s a mixture of an alphabet box and a sensory box. This could be used in a number of ways and with variations according to season or unit study.
Letter Box (Photo from Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds)
Even though this doesn’t use objects, I think it’s a fun way to reinforce beginning sounds. Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds has a drawer storage cabinet containing a variety of styles of letters.
Places to buy small objects
Craft stores typically have lots of small objects that work well. Miniature toys, such as Barbie accessories, are also good sources.
Although often more expensive, you can buy objects specifically for sound sorting. Check out the language objects from Montessori Services.
For ideas using Montessori Services objects, see my post “Activities Using Montessori Services Language Objects.”
Montessori Monday Link-Up
If you have some Montessori activity trays/lessons to share, please link up below. It’s fine to link up a post from your archives – and you may link up anytime during the week!
Thanks for participating! (Note: If you have a giveaway on your blog, please add it to my Family-Friendly Giveaway Linky Page!)
Linked to AfterSchool Linky Party, Living Life Intentionally Linky Party, Pinterest Tuesday, The Mommy Club Resources and Solutions at Milk and Cuddles and Crystal & Co. , Thrifty Thursday, Preschool Corner, Show-and-Share Saturday, Link & Learn, and The Sunday Showcase at Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas and Classified: Mom.
Hi Deb, I have sent a message through your shop but have yet to receive a response. I am trying to confirm that your labels are printable on Avery labels and trying to confirm their size so I can be sure they fit my bins. Please advise.
Hi Jayme! I’ll have to check the messaging from the shop. It doesn’t seem to be working because I haven’t received anything other than here. Sorry about that. You should be able to adjust the size a bit on your printer, although I don’t know that they’ll work with Avery labels. I made them the size needed to fit on the drawers I linked to in this post: https://livingmontessorinow.com/diy-alphabet-box-multi-level-printables-resources/. I just printed mine on photo paper, cut the pieces apart, and stuck them to the drawers with doubled-sided tape. It was actually very easy and still looks like new. I hope that helps. Deb
Hi Deb, I am working on my alphabet box, but also my plans to teach cursive first. What font did you use for your cursive letters? What type of cursive does Montessori teach? I have cursive sandpaper letters but he manufacturer was unable to tell me what type of cursive it was. I want to keep the look as consistent as possible.
Hi Jayme! I used a teacher font that’s just called AbcCursive. So I don’t know if it’s different at all from the one you have.Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a universal font for Montessori cursive. The differences shouldn’t really be a problem, though, as long as the basic style is the same and it’s a continuous cursive. Deb
I really need to make one of these. Thank you for sharing a collection of various ways and ideas.
In the Montessori method, children learn sounds first with lower-case letters. Save the letter names and capital letters for later, once the child is reading three letter (consonant-vowel-consonant) words. This is very important.
Thanks for your comment, Della! That’s what I always did in my teaching, although obviously not everyone follows that and many children do fine with a more flexible approach. The traditional Montessori approach is definitely the easiest for helping children learn phonetic sounds and pre-reading skills. 🙂
I share some free printable montessori materials on my blog >> http://zlesa.blogspot.com
(puzzles, matching cards etc.)
Thanks so much for sharing your printables, Jana! I’ve been linking to them in various posts! 🙂
Thanks for linking to my post! Love your site and all the ideas you share and come up with!
I just found your kind comment … thanks so much, AP Mommy! 🙂
I presently take a class of 3 years old kifs who are having problems remembering their sounds, i take them using a number of activities such as a picture game etc. Can you offer suggestions on what i can introduce to make the class more captivating and the concept accepted.
Thanks for your comment, Folake! one of my favorite ways to add interest is with music. There are links to some great songs (which I often combine with sandpaper letters or some other letter prop) at https://livingmontessorinow.com/2011/10/27/free-educational-songs-for-circle-time/. I also enjoy introducing activities such as sound scavenger hunts and I Spy to help increase interest. I hope that helps! 🙂
Thank you for all your work! Language has been very popular at our home school lately.
I found some great miniature sets at Montessori n’ Such. http://montessori-n-such.com/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=145
My favorite by far is the Alphabet Tubs from Lakeshore Learning. The items are sized well, good quality and come with labeled tubs (and optional storage rack). They are a bit pricey but they offer coupons quite frequently. They have been worth every penny. http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/seo/ca|searchResults~~p|2534374302111902~~.jsp
Thanks so much, Bess! I appreciate you sharing the links and your experience with their objects! It’s always great to hear how people like the products they’ve ordered. 🙂
Better late than never! Right? 🙂 Thanks for hosting.
I love sandpaper letters, we just got cursive for Christmas!
Thanks, Jessie! I’m so glad you link up with Montessori Monday … I always love reading your posts! And I love the idea of Montessori materials for Christmas presents! 🙂
Wow, Deb! So many great ideas. We adopted Alphabet Boxes from JR’s Montessori pre-school he attended. The directress called them Object Boxes in the classroom so that’s what we call them too. She also taught me how to use a mat with the letters in glitter glue so they have a texture for the child to trace. I love how easily the mat rolls away for easy storage.
Plus, I like how she taught us to use a “pretend pencil” to practice writing along with the Object Box and she also included worksheets (although I understand this concept isn’t entirely Montessori based) Here are the links in case anyone is interested:
http://mymontessorimoments.com/2010/08/30/object-box-smat/
http://mymontessorimoments.com/2010/09/20/object-box-dnir/
http://mymontessorimoments.com/2011/01/27/object-box-b-f-e-g/
Thanks for sharing all the great links and for hosting Montessori Monday. Best part of the week is linking up! 🙂
Thanks so much for your kind words, Lori! And thanks for sharing your links. I added your links and SMAT object box photo to the post. 🙂
Oh, language work get me excited! I just love object boxes, and I’m so grateful for the links to online shops that sell objects. I was just thinking about that today!
Thanks, Melissa! I love object boxes, too, and I always had fun searching for objects – especially when my son was so obsessed with them! 🙂
Yeah!! I was wanting to make these for my 3 year old for the new year. He is really grasping beginning sounds in words and I think he would love this and it would strengthen his knowledge! thanks for the links to buying the objects. I think that will be easier than running all over trying to find the objects for each letter.
Thanks, Jackie! It sounds like the perfect time to make an alphabet box for your son! It definitely makes things easier to be able to buy most or all of the objects from one place. Of course, it’s often surprising to see how many miniature objects there are just around the house! 🙂
We haven’t started an Alphabet box yet, but it is on my to-do for the beginning of the year. Thank you for this article that simply spells everything out in an easy-to-follow guide! My son and I are going to sit down and look at all the different examples so he can help me choose which one we will make.
Thanks so much, Moriah! I love that you plan to get your son involved in choosing what type of alphabet box to prepare! It can make such a difference when kids are involved in choosing and preparing an activity. 🙂
Love this post, My Alphabet box is a work in progress…but it’s just about done! 😀
Thanks, Jennifer! You’ll have to write about your alphabet box … I’ll look forward to seeing your alphabet box when it’s finished! 🙂
You know I will 😉 I’m also working on continent boxes 😀
That’s great, Jennifer! I’m also planning to publish a new post on continent boxes in 2012 … I’ll look forward to adding your post link to it! 🙂
Wonderful exxamples, it helps to have a variety of ways to keep materials interesting when they become abandoned:) I am so glad you are still hosting this linky this week, it is my favorite time to read blogs. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks, Discovering Montessori! It’s so true that it helps to have a variety of ways to keep materials interesting! I’m so glad to see you here today … I always love reading the blogs that are linked up to Montessori Monday, too! 🙂
These ideas are made especially easy with Counting Coconuts letter template you mentioned here!
Thanks, Heather! I love that there are so many ways to create an alphabet box. And Counting Coconuts’ template definitely makes things easier! 🙂