DIY Magnetic Match Blocks

Since the SNAP BLOCKS are such a hit with my son, and he enjoys manipulating things with his hands, I wanted to combine the two and create a new, fun way to encourage letter recognition - something he is currently very interested.  If you read my SCOOTER BOARD LETTER FIND post, you know that he's pretty much mastered letter recognition within the last month.  He is interested in upper/lower case, but the possibilities are endless and by using stickers, you can change out your "theme".  

After searching all around town for the correct snaps, and coming up empty time after time, I was beginning to get discouraged.  RL suggested using magnets....uh, duh.....perfect!

THINGS YOU NEED:

wooden blocks

magnets

stickers 

glue

(AN ALTERNATIVE TO MAGNETS IS VELCRO.  WITH VELCRO YOU WONT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE POLARITY OF THE MAGNETS)

You can get any size you want, but just make sure the stickers you choose fit on the blocks you choose.  You can see my choices in the pics below....

I chose these stickers because they have a sandpaper-like texture.  They are from Michaels.

These are the blocks I chose - from Michaels

The process is simple....just glue on the magnets FIRST,  find blocks (magnets) that are attracted to each other, then add the stickers.

Magnets - from Michaels

matching

matching

Add caption

My son really enjoyed this.  There are so many other fun ways to utilize these blocks.  

1. Match textures

2. Match colors

3. Match beginning sounds to pictures

4. Match amounts

5. Addition/Subtraction number sentences (would require magnets on both sides of the block)
6. spelling (I recommend using velcro instead of magnets if you plan to spell with the blocks)

Here is a beginning sounds example

Here is a counting example

ENJOY!

AK (MESE, MECD)