Montessori Sandpaper letters are a traditional language material used to introduce a child to letters and their sounds, but with a twist: besides visual stimulation of perceiving the symbol (seeing the shape commonly agreed upon to represent a particular sound), a child is also able to sensorily feel the shape of the letter as he/she enunciates the name of the letter and the sound it makes.
Although you can purchase sandpaper letters (buy the upper case here or a bundle here or here), they are very easy to make at home. According to Montessori language curriculum guidelines, pink color represents a consonant, while blue – a vowel.
What you will need to make this tactile sandpaper letter:
- pink cardstock since we are making a consonant letter (you would use blue cardstock for a vowel);
- sand (you can also use salt, sugar, polenta, Amaranth, or any other tiny grain);
- and glue.
First, offer a child to squeeze glue following the letter's template.
Next, pour sand over the glue and let it dry. 
Since we could control how much glue and sand to apply to the template, our tactile sandpaper letter "S" came out even thicker than a traditional one you would purchase, offering a child a more intense sensory experience.
See here a ✂️DIY 📽 video on how we made sandpaper 🔢 numbers. Also, see here "Letter "S" (🔠 Letter Series)" post.
For more on our Language curriculum and the Phonetical order sets, read here the introductory post: "Montessori Phonetical Order of presenting ABCs Alphabet letters." For individual letters, read here our 🔠 Letter Series (Montessori Language) post.
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