Create Pictures

• 1). Round up your children and their friends, contact grandchildren or if you are a teacher, get permission from parents to photograph your students.
  
  
• 2). Show the children pictures of the Hotch Potch cards. They can be found online, or in books on Colonial toys. "Hands-On America," one volume of the "Hands-On" art idea set, includes lesson plan ideas for teaching the alphabet using Hotch Potch. Poster and cards, with annotations, can be purchased from Hantsweb for five pounds British currency. An online matching game is available from the Williamsburg museum site, as well as Hotch Potch dolls, cards, books and tea towels.
  
  
• 3). Ask the children to work alone or in teams seeing what shapes they would need to contort themselves into to create letters. After they have had fun trying them out, let them show you how the various letters are shaped. Use a digital camera to take lots of photos.
  
  

Create the Cards

• 1). Transfer the photographs from the camera to your computer. One of the easiest ways to do this is to plug a USB SD card reader into your computer. (Some newer computers have a reader built in.) Pop the SD card out of your camera, and place it into the reader. Click on "My Computer," and look for an external drive setting. Open it, copy the pictures and paste them into a folder in the "My Pictures" section of your computer. Name a second folder differently, and paste them into that one, too; that way you will have your originals no matter what you do to the copies.
  
  
• 2). Select the best pictures for each letter. Most printers will let you select the size for the pictures. Pick a size that will fit on your blank cards. Print them out on photo quality paper at a high resolution setting. Make one set in the beginning, but be sure to save your settings so you will know what to change or keep for the next run.
  
  
• 3). Using acid-free adhesive, attach the pictures to the blank cards. Add your own captions because the original captions are copyrighted. Create a colorful back for the cards if the blank cards do not already have a back. Print it out, and attach to the back of the cards.
  
  
• 4). Laminate the cards if you have access to a laminator. Use the directions that come with the machine. Alternatively, use clear shelf paper to cover the cards. Peel back a section of clear paper. Lay it face down on a hard surface. Carefully place the cards face down on the sticky surface. Cut off the excess just below the last cards. Peel back one edge of the remaining shelf paper, exposing about one half inch of sticky surface. Carefully place it on the top edge of the sticky part of the shelf paper that is laying on the table with the cards stuck to it. Smooth down the plastic so the two pieces stick together without any bubbles or creases. Slowly and carefully unroll and expose a little bit of the top sheet at a time, smoothing it as you go. An extra pair of hands from another adult or an older child are a great help with this process. This creates a plastic sandwich with the cards covered on both sides with clear plastic. If it is too hard to do them all at once, cut pieces that are slightly bigger than each card, and apply them to both sides.
  
  
• 5). Trim away the excess laminate or plastic from the cards, leaving about one eighth of an inch of plastic all the way around. This creates a good moisture seal bond that will help keep the cards together and protect them from spills.