The Sandpaper Letters guide the hand of the child for writing as he/she traces the letter shapes in the style and direction that they are written. Each box of Sandpaper Letters comes with 26 letters. Each sandpaper letter is mounted on boards painted in pink for consonants and blue for vowels.
Prior to approaching formal writing, Montessori learners go through a series of sound games. They do so to gain sound awareness, which will lead them to work with the symbols (letters) that represent these sounds. These symbols are explored through tactile means; this material is called the Sandpaper Letters. Children use two light fingers to follow the letters while saying the sounds. In Montessori education, children first learn the lowercase letters because they are found in abundance in literature.
There’s a variety of ways to utilize the Sandpaper Letters. They can be introduced as early as age 2! This work appeals to very young children and is important to be introduced early. You will notice that the letters are located on the right side of the surface to allow children to hold the material with their left hand while tracing. As children start to retain the phonetic sounds and are able to trace the letter properly with their fingers, they are then ready for the next step in learning. Small objects or picture cards can be added to help the student associate the phonetic sound to the object or picture. A child-size chalkboard will be introduced with the Sandpaper Letters. Students will be instructed to trace the letter with their fingers and then draw the letter on the chalkboard. They can also do this using a sand tray. Once all of the Sandpaper letters and phonetic sounds have been introduced, an extension would be to introduce the Moveable Alphabet and match the Sandpaper Letter tablets to the Moveable Alphabet letters and objects/picture cards.
