This activity was completely initiated by my oldest son J. And it all started with a single roll of tape...
While I was upstairs, the boys managed to find some green painter's tape and were playing with it. They had managed to rip a long piece off and it was stuck to K's belly. Of course, both boys thought it was hilarious! I mean you should have heard their giggles and seen their faces when I discovered what they were up to.
Shortly after I came downstairs, J started pulling the tape off K's belly and sticking it to the mirrored doors in our dining room. Then he started forming the letter A using another piece of tape that they had ripped off. Next thing I know, we are taping the entire alphabet on our mirror.
And that's how this tape letters fine motor alphabet activity was born!
Masking Tape Letters: What You'll Need
For this fine motor alphabet activity, we used:
- Green painter's tape - You could use masking tape if you prefer. Washi tape could be another fun option! Regardless of what you use, make sure that it won't damage whatever surface you will be taping to.
- Large surface such as a wall, floor, mirror, or windows - We used the large mirror doors in our dining room and worked vertically. We have also done it on the floor on carpet before (see here).
- Scissors (optional) - Depending on your child and their abilities, you might want to use scissors, especially if your child finds it difficult to rip tape on their own.
In terms of set up, you could create a letter yourself as an example or you can simply set the materials out and see what they create. It might not even be letters! As I mentioned above, this activity was all initiated by my oldest son J. Given that I now know he's hyperlexic, it's really not surprising that he would turn tape into letters (he would often turn anything into letters!).
Learning Letters with Tape!
My kids decided to work through the alphabet in order from A to Z. Don't feel like you have to make the whole alphabet or anything. Instead, you could just focus on spelling a few letters or maybe spelling your child's name together. There are no rules here. So anything goes!
Here are some photos of the start of our masking tape alphabet:
Then fast forward a bit to the letter S...
Twenty minutes later we had the whole alphabet taped out on the mirrored doors, which we ended up leaving up for a good week and a half. After all, J worked so hard making these letters and made them entirely by himself, except for when he needed the occasional help ripping the tape.
As for my toddler K? He was happy to "help" by identifying the letters as J made them or play alongside J as he taped out the alphabet.
Now, if you are familiar with my blog at all, you might have noticed that my son J loves letters and numbers and will often turn anything into letters and numbers. Turns out, he's hyperlexic - who knew! So, unsurprisingly, J had a blast making tape letters.
