Sparkly Alphabet Craft – Alphabet For Starters

Sometimes I plan out crafts and they rock and I share every step with you all saying ” Do it just like this!” today’s sparkly alphabet craft will not be ones of those times. I did almost all of this the hardest way possible but since my daughter was engaged and having fun with the letters I didn’t bother to scrap it all and start again when I had the right tools. This is another post in our Alphabet For Starters series that is all about playing and being exposed to letters in a fun and pressure free way. My daughter may only be 2 but sometime in the last few weeks she has become obsessed with princesses, fairies, pink and purple. When I asked her what kind of letter activity she wanted to do she said “Princess sparkle!” well it sounded like ” Pinpess spakles” but I knew what she meant. So we made this , a huge mess and had lots of fun.

1. Gather your materials. You will need a canvas, some vinyl letters ( we used small and large but I’d skip the small if I were you), paint brushes , paint and sparkles. So as you will see we ended up scraping the paint and going for glue instead. If I were you I’d find some great glitter paint that is dark enough to create the relief . Or you can do it the hard way like I did, results are great but it wasn’t the easiest.
2. Start by choosing letters and placing them on. We did it in alphabetical order because we’ve been learning the alphabet song and I’d since and stop before the right letter ” A B C D E …” and she’d say F and then I’d hand her the F to stick on. Her fine motor skills are not developed enough to peel the stickers off the pages ( they are stiff) but placing them on is still a great skill builder.
3. Take a photo of all the letters and where they are with your camera or phone, you’ll see why.
4. So our plan was to add glitter to the paint – but the paint was too think and the glitter was too fine and our plan was a flop. You could easily just used paint.
5. We grabbed glue instead.
6. I sat her on my lap to paint the glue on, it’s washable but I still wanted to wipe down anything she got it on right away.
7. Make sure everything is covered in glue , I evened it out after she was done.
8. Add glitter, lots and lots of it. Make sure your dust buster is charged up , ours wasn’t and I had to make the playroom off limits for 12 hours while it charged.
9. Let it dry but not for too long. Using your pinky finger nail, and a photo of where the letters are on the canvas find the edge of the stickers and carefully peel off. See this is tricky but without a toddler helping and a picture of the the letters I did it without too much trouble. The important part is to find a corner only disturb a small amount of glitter and carefully peel.
10. Let dry for a few days, shake over a garbage can or drop cloth before displaying.

 Books with a little sparkle

The Very Fairy Princess by Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton is a cute book about a little girl who loves all things princess related. What I like about this book is that its message isn’t heavy handed and  it celebrates princesses while sneaking in some very positive messages too. In a world where many parents ( me included) have issues with this whole princess thing and struggle to find that balance this book has it. It tells you it’s ok to want to be a princess and to “let your sparkle out!” and talks about confidence in the process. I must admit though I am a total Julie Andrews fan and I am not sure I’d ever dislike anything Maria , I mean Mary Poppins I mean Julie Andrews wrote.

The Sissy Duckling by Harvey Fierstein is a lovely book. As a mom to a son I worry about him getting teased when he is older if he isn’t into sports, or likes to bake cookies more than play video games. This book address that, in a cute but frank way. I especially love how the dad isn’t super happy that his son is into more traditionally girly things. I think that even though we hope that all parents would be immediately supportive the reality is, that parents are human too and acceptance can take time even when there is lots of love.