DIY Laminated Alphabet Flashcards

My 2.5 year old daughter, Savannah, is really into her alphabet lately.  She loves to sing the ABC song and can identify most of her letters (I'll take credit for the song, but I really think Sesame Street has helped her along her way with the letters).  I thought I would take advantage of this little ABC phase she is going through and make her some fun little flashcards.

Jill from Homemade by Jill posted these adorable Alphabet cards on her blog as a free printable.  When I saw this post pop up in my reader, I knew I must do something for Savannah with these cutie little cards. 

So I decided to print the alphabet cards, laminate them, cut them into flashcard size and put them all on a big binder ring.  Did you know that you can laminate things yourself at home?  Well, you can and it is SO easy and fun!!

This is the product I bought from my local Office Max store.  These are self-laminating sheets for laminating things at home.  You just peal off the back of the laminating sheet, then you place your sheet of paper or whatever you are trying to laminate on top.  Then peal off the back of another sheet and place it on the opposite side of whatever you are laminating.  It was ridiculously easy and a fraction of the cost of what it would have cost me to have these all laminated at Kinko's or some other store.  Plus I have a bunch leftover for other projects!

After I laminated each sheet of paper, I used my handy paper cuter to cut each card to size.  If you don't have a paper cutter, I would highly recommend you get one.  You can use it for so many different things, it also makes perfect cuts, and definitely makes your projects move much quicker than using traditional scissors.  Look for a 40% off coupon to Joann's or Michael's and they end up being very reasonably priced.

After I cut each card, I punched a hole in the left-hand corner and slid them all onto a binder ring.

Now we have a lovely set of alphabet flash cards ready to use!  I'm hoping the laminating will make them last longer.  Also, I think keeping them on a binder ring will save my sanity.  We have some other sets of flashcards and they end up all over the house which drives me crazy - hopefully this will keep them all together in one place!!

Thanks, Jill, for putting together this wonderful printable!

Cottage Mama's Note:  These would be great for an infant learning their first words too.  Then, when they get a little older, they can focus on learning their letters.  I think I will be making a set for numbers and a bunch of other learning topics.  So fun and easy!