alphabet rocks

I've had this idea tucked in my mind for over a year now, waiting until Rosemary became just old enough to 1)play with rocks safely and 2)be interested in the alphabet.

Well, she's definitely interested.

Rosemary has three leapfrog dvds, and I can't really believe it, but she has learned the alphabet, and I think she mostly learned it from them. She can name all the letters, and tell at least one sound that each letter makes. When she started sounding out words on her own a couple weeks ago, I was floored. I'm not saying she can read; and I'm not trying to teach her, or pressuring her to do it. She seems to just be naturally absorbing the information and practicing the skills on her own.

Lately one of her favorite games has been to organize her alphabet blocks - putting matching letters together, putting "baby" letters with "mommy and daddy" letters (her words), separating them by color, etc. But our wooden alphabet blocks (Jack's childhood toys) are an incomplete set. And I remembered the rocks.

I got the rocks at the dollar store ($1 for a bag of about 30 rocks - I got two bags), white letter stickers at the dollar store ($1), and the pink basket at the dollar store (50 cents). I also did paint letters with acrylics on some of the rocks, with capitals on one side and lower case on the opposite side. She likes it.