So I am trying to think of a cool name to call this little set of items I recently finished for Brynn and later for Baylen to use. Each tin has a letter of the alphabet and inside the tins are little "items" that start with each letter. This particular set is to teach letter sounds and of course, letters of the alphabet and later, maybe even simple spelling/reading. I used my Cricut to cut out each letter of the alphabet. I purchased the tins in sets of 3 at the dollar store, which I covered with ribbon b/c many of them were rusty-looking or leaving a weird stain on my fingers when I was working with them. I bought round strong hold magnets at Michael's, as well as many of the little wooden "items" I placed inside each tin. I then bought a cookie sheet at Target. I glued a magnet to each tin and that way, they stick (obviously) to the cookie sheet, hopefully preventing any from getting lost. The only downfall to this little project is that the tins are truly cheap. The top "clear" layer of the tin is a very thin, clear plastic and they can be pushed out easily with a finger tip. I will keep my eye out for stronger "tins," but for now, these will do. I also need to fill a few more of the tins with items. If I can't find any around, I'll just print some out from the internet and glue them to the back of cardstock or light cardboard (such as the back of old cereal boxes) and place those in until I can find a more durable replacement. The other thing is that I did not spend a lot of time looking for a great "metal" tray for the boxes, but I thought a cookie sheet would be good for now b/c it has those little "handles" on the sides where Brynn could carry it around and be fine with it.
