You don't need expensive things...

My little girl is 3 years old and wants SO bad to be big like her 5 year old brother. He starts school this year and loves everything about learning! He knows how to write his ABC's and Morgan tries so hard to do it too but hasn't quite mastered the shapes of the letters. So the other day while Wyatt was up in his room playing, Morgan asked me to help her "make letters" like Bubba. She knows her ABC's but hasn't learned to recognize all of the letters yet, but she insisted I help her write them. I tried showing her but she got frustrated not getting the results she thought she should have and cried that she was just too small and couldn't "make letters". 

I thought to myself, there must be something I can do to help her. Maybe some flash cards or one of those books that you trace the letters with. Then I remembered "tracing" shapes with dry beans in kindergarten when I was a little girl. But there is NO WAY I'm giving that child dry beans for ME to have to clean up out of my floor, under (or in for that matter) my couches, or for the cat (demon) to find and play with in the middle of the night sounding like a wild cougar. NO WAY! I almost gave up the idea. But wait a minute...don't you have a box of old pompoms stashed away in the back...far back...in the 'I know I'll need them for something one day even if I have no idea for what right now' section of your craft closet? Why yes, yes I do! And the clouds broke back and I heard cathedral music!

So this is what I came up with...

 

*terribly sorry for the typo ^ there...that is to be 'yields' not 'yeilds'...but I was not going to redo that whole photo for one horrible, shameful, elementary, no good, rotten  mistake ;)  *

Supplies:
13 sheets of paper (or cardstock if you want it to last longer)
Scissors or paper trimmer
Marker
PomPoms or cotton balls (at least 20)

Cut sheets in half and write one letter on each one...

(preferably in purple marker on lavender paper ;)

Give pompoms and papers to child...

and show her how to do it...

...then sit back and watch her swell with pride and burst

with excitement when she finally gets to "make letters" on her own!!

She played with this for over an hour!!! So I'd say it was a complete success! (And Mommy got a little coffee break in the meantime too)...

So here's my lesson for the day...I was completely prepared to head out to the dreaded Walmart to purchase flash cards or books or something in the "learning" section to help my little girl feel bigger. But with a little imagination (and thankfulness for my craft supply hoarding tendencies) I spent no money and became an Insta-Hero! My alter ego Super Save-The-Day Mom resurfaces once again...hold on a second...I need to tuck my cape back in...and we all are once again (in the words of Phil Robertson) "Happy Happy Happy!!!"