- 1). Brainstorm ideas for each letter of the alphabet and write them down on a piece of paper. Consider items that match your toddlers interests. Think outside of the box rather than using traditional items found in store-bought ABC books. For example, the letters can represent people in his family, such as mommy for "M" and sister for "S." Other ideas include something the toddler is fascinated with like hugs for "H," quarters for "Q" and a remote control for "R."
- 2). Find pictures for every item you have chosen to represent the letters which include pictures cut out of magazines or appliques. Another idea is to take the pictures yourself and include the toddler, her family, friends and pets in the pictures. Take a picture of her eating an apple, standing in front of the lion's cage at the zoo or kissing her big brother.
- 3). Print a different letter, both the lower and upper case version, of the alphabet on 26 sheets of paper. Use a plain, large, block font if printing from a computer program or use a stencil to trace letters onto a sheet of construction paper.
- 4). Glue pictures onto the corresponding letter page. Each letter can have as many pictures as you desire. Another option is to use two pages for each letter to allow additional words or pictures on the right side. For example, you could write a caption, "Willie loves to play on the slide," with a picture of him sliding down a slide.
- 5). Create the front cover with words and graphics. For example, put a picture of the toddler on the cover with the title "Jenna's ABC Book."
- 6). Stack the alphabet sheets in order from A to Z with the cover page on top.
- 7). Put pages inside of a plastic protector or laminate them. Each plastic protector or laminate sheet should contain two pages from the ABC book. For example the cover page and A would be placed back to back and laminated together. Double-check the direction of the pages before laminating them.
- 8). Punch holes into the laminated sheets or plastic protectors. Place the sheets inside a three ring binder or tie a decorative ribbon through the holes to connect the pages. Alternatively, take the pages to an office supply store and have them professionally bound.
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