Word Wall for Preschoolers

1. Select a space for your Word Wall. I chose a wall in our playroom. Also consider how you will hang them. My husband built 4 wood panels for us - you can find the instructions on the DIY page. Remember, some of these squares are heavier than an average piece of paper.

2. Now, cut 26 squares of cardboard. I used a couple old Huggies boxes from Costco for this. (You could probably also use cardstock, but I prefer cardboard.

3. Decide how you to integrate the alphabet into your child's learning. I created letter trays the evening before, and we worked on the letter the next morning during "school time." Below is an example of one o our letter trays. I included a sand tray, playdoh, beginning sound objects, a book, and upper and lowercase letter magnets.

4. I only focused on one letter a day. (For reference, my child was 3 1/2 when we began this). Faintly draw with pencil the letter on cardboard.

5. Have your child trace with glue, then add loos parts. I opted to use items we had around the house, so use what you have. We collected the acorns, grass, and leaves from a nature walk. I've highlighted in yellow the items I bought from my local Dollar Store.

There is another lesson here - the importance of reusing items, or using items in new ways.

Loose Parts

A: acorns

B: beads

C: cardboard

D: dot markers

E: egg carton

F: feathers

G: grass

H: hammered holes

I: eyes

J: jingle bells

K: Kleenex

L: leaves

M: money

N: nuts O: oatmeal

P: pipe cleaner

Q: Q-tips

R: rocks

S: sea glass

T: tape

U: underwear

V: Velcro dots

W: wooden dowels

X: X-ray

Y: yarn

Z: zipper