# ABC Garden
> Toddlers paint cut-out letters A, B and C, glue colored gravel onto a Styrofoam plate, then 'plant' the letters, foam flowers and bugs on toothpicks to make a spring letter garden. Letter recognition gets reinforced while cutting, painting, taping and planting.
- URL: https://www.funlittles.com/spring-craft-abc-garden/
- Ages: 2–4 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: medium
- Time: prep 25 min, activity 30 min
- Works for: one-on-one, small group · one batch serves about 1 kids
- Skills: letter-recognition, fine-motor, sensory-exploration, colors, language
- Cautions: ingestion-risk

## Materials (one batch)
- 2 piece Styrofoam plate (household)
- 1 sheet Card stock paper
- Acrylic paint
- Kids paint
- Paintbrush
- Colored aquarium gravel
- Foam bugs and flowers
- Toothpicks (household)
- Glue
- 1 roll Tape (household)
- 1 piece Scissors (household)
- 1 piece Marker or pencil (household)

## Substitutions
- Instead of aquarium gravel: Real dirt (Suggested by the author as ground cover.)
- Instead of aquarium gravel: Tissue paper (Suggested by the author as ground cover.)
- Instead of toothpicks: Play dough attached to the ends of the letters (The author's option if you don't want sharp objects. Stand the letters up in the play dough. Many play doughs contain wheat.)

## Safety
- Toothpicks are sharp. The author used them only because she was doing the craft right alongside her child. If you don't want sharp objects, attach play dough to the ends of the letters instead.
- Aquarium gravel and foam pieces are small parts and a choking hazard. Supervise closely, especially with toddlers who still mouth things.
- Adult handles the scissors and cuts out the letters.
- Acrylic paint can stain clothes and isn't easy to wash out. Cover clothes and the table.
- If you reuse gravel from a fish tank, rinse and dry it well before play.

## Before you start
- Roughly draw the letters A, B and C on a Styrofoam plate and on card stock, in a variety of sizes (uppercase).
- Cut the letters out. A preschool-age older sibling can help cut them out for a younger one.

## Steps
1. Paint the letters, using acrylic paint for the Styrofoam letters and kids paint for the paper letters.
2. Set the letters out to dry, and come back to the activity later.
3. Explore the colored gravel with your hands for some sensory play.
4. Spread glue all over the garden plate.
5. Pour the gravel onto the glue and press it down with your fingers.
6. Set the plate out to dry.
7. Adult: tape each letter to a toothpick, leaving only half of the toothpick below the letter.
8. Tape the foam flowers and bugs to toothpicks the same way.
9. 'Plant' the letters, flowers and bugs in the plate, naming each letter as it goes in.

## Tips
- We focused on only 3 letters at a time so we didn't overwhelm the child.
- Keep only half of the toothpick below the letter so the letters stand steady in the Styrofoam plate.
- Talk about what your kid is doing with the letters: 'Oh looks like you are using red color to paint the letter A.'
- Letter recognition gets reinforced at least 4 times: while cutting out the letters (optional), painting them, taping them to the toothpicks and 'planting' them.
- Let an older preschooler help set up the younger one's activity, for example by cutting out the letters. It's great for sibling bonding. (It didn't happen with mine though!)
- With an older toddler, do the cutting together with the child.

## The original post by TurkeyMom (2013)

This spring craft doubles up as a wonderful tool for toddlers to engage in some hands-on letter recognition.

- Styrofoam Plate
- Card stock paper
- Acrylic Paint
- Aquarium gravel/dirt/tissue paper
- Foam bugs and flowers
- Tooth Picks
- Glue and Tape

We this spring craft in 2 phases. As a quick prep, I roughly drew the 3 letters A,B,C on a Styrofoam plate and on cardstock paper and cut them out. I used a variety of sizes but stuck to uppercase. If working with a older toddler, a mix of upper case and lower case matching can also be incorporated. With an older toddler, I would also do the cutting together with the child. Recently I have started to encourage my pre schooler to be involved in my activity set-up for her sister. It is a great way to develop sibling bonding while the **older one helps set up the younger one’s activities**. In this case, a preschooler can easily help cut out the letters. { It didn’t happen with mine though. I’m just saying it is definitely a possibility} Once we had the letters cut out, my toddler was more than happy to paint the letters. We used acrylic for styrofoam letters and kids paint for paper letters.

[](https://www.funlittles.com/?attachment_id=6581) We set out the letters to dry and came back to the activity at a later time.

[](https://www.funlittles.com/?attachment_id=6588) Next was to prep the garden plate. Here you can use real dirt or tissue paper as ground cover. My kid has been wanting to play with the **colored gravel from our fish tank** and I thought this was good chance for her to explore it.

[](https://www.funlittles.com/?attachment_id=6585)

After an impromptu **sensory play with colored gravel,** we geared up to prep the ground. My toddler applied glue all over the plate and stuck the colored gravel by pouring and by actually pressing down ( Fine motor play alert!) We just used the color we had (blue/green. You can go for a more appropriate color.

[](https://www.funlittles.com/?attachment_id=6582) We set out the plate to dry.Next step was to attach the letters to tooth picks. Since I’m involved in the craft with the child, I was comfortable with toothpicks for this craft. If you don’t want to use sharp objects, you can **attach play dough to the ends** and stand it up. I secured the letters to the toothpick using tape by making sure only half of the toothpick was below the letter. This way the letters can be steady on the styrofoam plate. Here are our letters for the garden.

[](https://www.funlittles.com/?attachment_id=6584) We also prepared our flowers and bugs to go into our ABC garden in the same manner. With all these little guys, my toddler had a grand time **"planting" the letters** to the plate ( fine motor alert)

[](https://www.funlittles.com/?attachment_id=6583) In this spring craft, we **reinforced letter recognition at least 4 times** 1. Optional ( while cutting out the letters) 2. While painting the letters 3. While taping the letters to the tooth picks 4. While "planting" the letters to the plate As a bonus you could focus on the color of the letter too.

[](https://www.funlittles.com/?attachment_id=6586) As with many crafts, this again was a great way to develop those fine motor skills.All through this spring craft, it is very simple to talk about what my kid was doing with the letters while saying “ Oh looks like you are using red color to paint the letter A” We focused on **only 3 letters at a time** in order to not overwhelm the child.

[](https://www.funlittles.com/?attachment_id=6587) Thanks for stopping by our little space here. We encourage you to stick around and take a look at [**couple of**](https://www.funlittles.com/paint-with-spaghetti-brooms/) our [**popular posts.**](https://www.funlittles.com/animal-resist-painting/)

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