One of our recent projects at work was to make tactile letters. Our therapists used various tactile surfaces such as duct tape, felt, cardboard, bumpy paper, glitter paper, denim and any other paper/material we could find that would provide different tactile input. This allows the child to trace letters and get different tactile input while they are tracing. Besides the practice of tracing the letter it also gives their body different input to assist with their learning of how to motor plan letter writing. To provide even more input they made the tactile surface that formed the letter a distinct and different color from the border so that they could have assistance with visual distinction as well.
Some ways to use these tools other than just having the child practice tracing the letters is to play some guessing games. You can have the child close their eyes while you trace their finger over the letter and see if they can guess what it is. Or, you can put the letters under a sheet or cover and have the child reach under and see if they can figure out the letter just by feel.
What other ways can you think of to play with tactile letters?
– fun to play tactile games. Have the child close their eyes and take their finger to trace the letter and have them guess what letter it is….. Or place some cards under a blanket or sheet and see if the child can reach under and feel the letter to guess what it is before pulling it out.