Alphabet Spoon Puzzle

My daughter, Hazel, has had her uppercase letters mastered for a while now, but the lowercase ones were giving her some trouble.  We practiced writing them in a plate covered in homemade whipped cream, we drew them in sand in the yard, and she played some pre-K iPad games geared towards letter-learning...all to no avail.

And so, I started to brainstorm some other ideas.  I had seen this spoon trick used for a different memorization project on Pinterest last year and thought I'd give it a shot with letters...voila!  It appears the combination of a challenge to complete, tactile movable parts, and picking out her favorite color of spoons was the perfect storm she needed to master her lowercase letters. 

This project is inexpensive and super simple to make...and if you have older siblings in the house, this is something they'll love to get involved with.  The spoons are also easy to tuck in a bag or keep in the car to be used during an older sibling's soccer practice or dance recital.  Follow the three steps below to make your own Alphabet Spoon Puzzle (or a puzzle for anything else your child is struggling to learn):

1. Purchase 26* colored spoons and 26 clear spoons.
2. Using a Sharpie, write an uppercase letter towards the top of each spoon.
3. Lay a clear spoon over the colored one and write the corresponding lowercase letter towards the bottom of the spoon.

* - Unfortunately, there are no packs of 26 spoons to purchase.  Fortunately, the extras can be used to eat ice cream.  I highly suggest eating ice cream for dinner with your family at least once a year, maybe even two or three times annually.  Try this trick tonight and enjoy all of the extra hugs and kisses you are sure to garner.  You're welcome!