DIY Mini Word Boxes

Shared materials are a thing of the past this school year so we've been getting creative with ways to make individual learning resources with our products. In this blog we share how to use our StoryBricks® and Peel 'n Stick Baseplates to turn a small $1 container into a multi-purpose learning box which fits conveniently inside a student's desk.

Materials Needed:

- small containers (we found these ones at Walmart for $1 each, but if you are shopping online, The Container Store has a great selection, these small or medium ones would work well)

- StoryBricks - each pack could be used to make four Mini Word Boxes

- Peel 'n Stick Baseplates - we chose to use black and each baseplate comfortably made eight containers

- sharp craft or utility knife

- cutting board

- building bricks (to cut against to get a straight cut line)

How to Make the Boxes:

You can head to our Instagram 'Tutorials' Highlights to see a step by step guide for this DIY project. To get started simply measure out the size of baseplate you need for the box lid. Mark it out with the building bricks and then cut against the line of the bricks. Make 4-5 cuts, remove the bricks and gently apply pressure to the cut line by folding the baseplate. It will eventually snap and then you can just cut through the red backing and adhesive. Measure out the size for the second cut and repeat the process of cutting along the brick line and snapping the baseplate.

Once you have the correct size piece of baseplate, just peel off the red backing and stick it to the box lid. Apply even pressure to make sure the adhesive fully contacts the lid. That's it, the baseplate will permanently stay on the lid now!

Adding the StoryBricks:

Granted this process does take a little patience! Each pack of StoryBricks makes four Mini Word Boxes (this way each child has every letter, some of which there are two or three, as well as every number and the all-important heart emoji!). Spread out your bricks and sort them into letters and numbers. Use the guide on the packaging to figure out how many of each letter you can give each box- some is only one, others are two or three. Go through the alphabet and distribute the StoryBricks. Then repeat the process for the numbers. We also added in a few border pieces for fun too.

Once all the bricks have been evenly distributed you can choose a fun message or perhaps the heart emoji to leave on top of each box. These are the perfect little size to pull out of a desk to make literacy and numeracy learning more hands on.

We also included one of our easy-to-use removal tools with each box. Each pack of StoryBricks comes with two of these and they are so satisfying to use! Kids love clearing their boards with them.

Ways to Play:

There are many different ways these can be used. They are great for letter recognition and making spelling tests more hands on.

You could also ask students to write their response to a question using the bricks. For example, it could be a yes or no answer, or an agree / disagree answer when debating.

With numbers also being part of the StoryBricks collection, you could even have some fun with mental arithmetic, voting, multiple choice answers and so much more!

We'd love to hear your ideas for how the StoryBricks can be used for hands on learning. Don't forget to comment, or tag us, @creativeqt, on social media.