Quick and Easy Learning Sticks

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What are Learning Sticks?

So I was perusing pinterest and found Letter pops or Letter sticks that teacher’s had made for their classrooms. These were  jumbo craft sticks with letters stuck on the end which I am going to call learning sticks. Simple, right? Most of us have foam or stickers just sitting around waiting to be used for an educational purpose!

How can I make Learning Sticks?

I would first think of what you have on hand. I had a bag of foam letters given to me years ago. I recently bought a box of regular craft sticks with about 60 jumbo craft sticks taped to the box for .50! Quite the bargain. I decided that double sticky tape would NOT be good to use since the letters were wider than the jumbo craft sticks. I was too impatient to wait and see if regular white glue or tacky craft glue would hold. (just being honest here!) So I grabbed my hot glue gun and just glued those foam letters right on being careful not to put glue on the parts that hung over the craft stick. It was that easy!

If you do not have the supplies to make these, then ask around and maybe someone else would have the supplies you need. Or you could see if a few other mom’s wanted to split the cost of the supplies and order a big bag of letters and box of jumbo craft sticks. Yes, you could just as easily use stickers but I like the tactile foam letters just a bit better. I think the weight of magnetic letters would be too heavy to store easily or for portability sake. I just happen to have an empty Folger’s instant coffee container that these fit into perfectly.

How should I use Learning Sticks?

You can use these sticks one at a time for the “Letter of the Week” or “Number of the Week”. You could take out 3 or 4 and ask your child to identify just one of them. You could hand one to your child to find a matching letter/number around the house just like it. You could hide a few around the room for your child to find. You could say the sound of the letter or count that many objects with your child. The learning possibilities really are endless!

I found some people stickers in a clearance bin at a dollar store and snatched them right up. They make super cute learning sticks as well. Not sure how I will use them but I know they will be handy in the future.

So what are you waiting for? Go grab your supplies and make your own Learning Sticks to use for preschool with your child. I would love to hear how you would use these. What you would use to make them or any other ideas that could help other parents of preschoolers?

 

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