Homemade Alphabet Matching Activity & Flashcards with Cricut
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cricut. All opinions are 100% mine. Links included throughout are affiliate links.
While you probably see teachers most often use their Cricut cutting machines for classroom decor & organization, you can also use your to make educational activities! Learn how to make an alphabet matching activity & flashcard set using your Cricut below:
You will need:
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Cricut Joy or other Cricut machine. The following instructions are for using the Cricut Joy, but you could definitely modify them to use another Cricut machine!
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12” x 12” Medium Cardstock in the following colors: black, white, teal green, yellow, gray, leaf green, rose, navy, red. You can use any colors you like, but these are the colors I used, and this is how you’ll see the shapes organized in the project on DesignSpace.
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Gluestick or other adhesive
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Paper cutter or scissors
Cricut Instructions:
1. Trim your cardstock into 4” x 12” sections. While the Cricut Joy mat is 4.5” wide, you can make the best use of your cardstock by cutting each sheet into three 4” x 12” sections. A paper cutter makes this quick and easy!
2. Open up the project in Design Space. You’ll see 26 letters, 26 images, and 26 card outlines. This project includes images and fonts available through Cricut Access— if you’re not already a subscriber, sign up here!
3. Click “Customize” if you want to make any changes, or click “Make It” if you’re ready to cut.
4. Design Space will ask, “How will you load all of your materials for this project?” Click “On Mat.”
5. Before clicking continue, be sure to change the material size for every mat color to 4.5” x 12”, which is the closest size available to your 4” x 12” sections. You may need to move a few objects (particularly the letters) around on the mats in Design Space to make sure none of them cross the 4 inch line on the mat. You can do this just by dragging the shapes. If you need to move the object to a different mat, click the three dots, click move object, and then select the mat you want to move it to. If you want to avoid this step, trim your cardstock to 4.5” x 12” instead of 4” x 12”.
6. Follow the prompts in Design Space to place the different colors of cardstock on your mat and load them into your machine. Set your material to Medium Cardstock and follow the prompts to cut each sheet. After each sheet is cut, remove the shapes carefully before placing the next sheet of cardstock on the mat. Feel free to skip the white mats if you prefer to use large, precut index cards instead of cutting your own.
Activity Instructions
Now that you have your 26 letters, 26 shapes, and 26 cards, you’re ready to invite your child or students to join you! Have them match each shape with the letter it starts with. You can make this activity easier by only offering a few choices at a time. For example, you could show the bear, umbrella, and lion, and ask, “Which one starts with L?” For a more challenging activity, simply give your child or students all the letters and shapes mixed together, and let them match them on their own.
After matching the shapes and letters, have them glue each letter on one side of a white card, and the corresponding shape on the other. For example, they would glue the A on one side of a card, and the apple shape on the other. When they’re done, you have 26 alphabet flashcards to practice with! For easy storage and use, you can use a hole punch to punch a hole in the corner of each flashcard and place all the cards on a book ring.
If you try this project, let me know in a comment or tag me in a picture on Instagram @thedesignerteacher-- I'd love to see!
