Alphabet Rocks

Yesterday, I took Noah to the eye doctor for another routine follow-up from the surgery he had when he was 9 months old.  He was born with an alternating strabismus {aka alternating lazy eyes}, and since the eyes took turns being affected, a patch wasn’t an option.
Fortunately a simple {although it didn’t seem simple to us!} surgical procedure fixed the problem completely.
Here’s the funny part: this is the conversation we had yesterday when the doctor wanted to check Noah’s vision:
Dr. P: {flipping away from the standard eye chart} “He’s 2, right?  Ok, let’s find some pictures for you to identify, little guy.”
Me: “Actually, he knows his letters.”
Dr. P: “Really, are you sure?  You think he can do it?”
Me: “I know he can do it.”
Dr. P: {flipping to the letters} “Oooook, I guess we can give it a try….Noah, can you tell me what that letter is?”
Noah: “E.”
Dr. P: “Ok, how about that one?”
Noah: “K.”
Dr. P: {shocked} “Yes!  That’s right!  Can you read this row?”
Noah: “C, P, O, K, G, F, N.”
Dr. P: “He really does know his letters!  You’ve got a smart little guy there!  Wow!”
Noah’s obsession with the alphabet started back in February.  To beat the winter blues, we declared it Alphabet Month in the Artsy House and each day we studied a different letter.  We did activities about it, made a collage for it, ate foods that started with it, and just about anything else you can think of.  For a full list of ideas and pictures from alphabet month, click here.
Anyway, the end result was that Noah not only knows his ABC’s, he loves them.  Just the other day, my hubby had the monitor on while Noah was supposed to be napping and he overheard Noah saying, “Thank you Jesus for the letter ‘A’, Thank you Jesus for the letter ‘B,’ Thank you Jesus for the letter ‘C,’….”
Needless to say, when I came across the idea to make painted rocks with alphabet letters on them, I knew I had to make the Little Crafter some.
Here’s how you can make your own:
ALPHABET ROCKS
Materials: 26 decorative stones, acrylic paint {the kind for on glass works best}, brushes, Mod Podge
All you have to do is paint a letter on each rock, outline it with black paint, and Mod Podge over the top of the rock when the paint is dry.  Some of the rocks kind of lend themselves to certain letters {see my “T,” “V,” and “P” for example}.
I’m planning on using these in several different ways.  First, I’m going to have Noah put them in order, which I’m sure won’t take him long, but he’ll enjoy it.  Then, we’re going to work on spelling simple words.  He can already spell a few important things, like “Noah,” “Mama,” “Daddy,” and of course, “Elmo.”  But I think these would be great for things like “cat,” “dog,” “hat,” “boy,” and other basic words.
There are some limitations, like words with double letters and phrases where you need to use a letter twice, which I learned when I tried to spell out my blog name:
Just imagine the “Mama.” 🙂
I’m thinking that in addition to working with the letters, I can also have him sort the letters by color and count them, which develops his other skills.
Anyway, these were super easy and I think he’s just going to love them.  It almost makes me want to wake him up early from his nap so we can play with them.  Almost.

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10 Comments

  1. So cute, I love the idea of the rocks. I need to work with Asher and Abbie more n recognizing visually. I think it is precious that he was praying for each letter:)

  2. So proud of your little cutie! And I love this idea…my little boy loves letters and rocks so…it guess I can say this project rocks! 🙂 and we will be giving it a try for sure!

  3. This is just super-cute! Noah is ADORABLE and that’s so awesome that even the doc was impressed by his knowledge of the ABCs! I just discovered your blog and I seriously love it – can’t wait to explore more… and I’m your newest follower! : )

  4. I love those rocks. So cute. My first knew her alphabet super early too. My last may never know it. Ha ha. Good job! what a cutie and his eyes are all better. How wonderful. thanks for sharing at my art party.

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