Tutorial: Make some ABC playing cards

Maybe I mentioned it, but I've been WAY into YouTube lately!

Videos…some are just fun or interesting, while others are actually educational and inspirational.

This blog has been inspired by this Sweet and Simple Home video on her favorite activities for kids.



We have been working on the ABC's with O. She kinda hates it…she just would rather do anything other then “tell us what this letter is.” On the flip side, she has discovered games-Candyland and Chutes and Ladders. Let's meld games and working on that alphabet.

So, here's my take on the SSH's Sight words Bust card game…an ABC Bust card game.

Let's chat about paper… I didn't want to do a lot of cutting or have to use a ton of ink by printing the backs of playing cards. But I still wanted them to look pretty.

So, I started with pre-printed scrapbooking paper.

I also decided I wanted to use 6x6 paper so I wouldn't have to do more then one cut—3x6 cards seem like a good size for little hands.

I picked up this tablet of paper at Tuesday Morning for $2.99. It has 36 pieces of paper and I only needed 28 so this gave me room to…how do I put it nicely…F-up a couple sheets!

Let's get to printing

You'll need this ABC cards template and if your printer wont print on 6x6 paper, you'll need this template as well.
 

If your printer wont print on 6x6 paper-like mine, you'll need to tape your 6x6 paper to an 8.5x11 piece of paper to get it printed. Using a template like this is fairly common…people use the same process to print on Post-It notes.

To tape the 6x6 paper to the 8.5x11 paper, I used Scotch brand tape—it comes off easily but sticks well. I had blue lying around so…blue it is!
Make sure you tape the 6x6 paper, plain side up right into the block on the 8.5x11 paper.

Time to start printing the cards.

I sent ALL the pages to the printer at once, I also printed two of the 8.5x11 templates…
that just helped make the whole process go faster.
Have one printing while you are getting the other ready to print.

 Make sure you load your 8.5x11 paper into the printer TAPE SIDE DOWN!

Look…it printed!

 

Gently remove the tape and load the next set of paper for printing.

All printed…don't they look pretty!

Now it's time to cut! One cut, straight down the middle.

Done!

Time to play.

You can find directions here. I am opting for no coffee container and to use a timer to encourage some small bursts of focus. :)

Stay tuned: Next week I'll post a tutorial on how to make a box to hold your cards.

Thanks for stopping by!
xoxo