Is anybody else obsessed with these cute little erasers that seem to be everywhere? They are a Japanese craze that is sweeping the states in a big way. I started snapping them up more than a year ago in places like dollar stores, grocery stores, pharmacies, and craft stores.
Now that I have a box full of these erasers I decided I should actually do something with them so I created a set of letter sound tubs for my literacy center.
Learning Letter Sounds with Japanese Erasers
Using my favorite storage container ever- plastic Gerber baby food containers, I sorted the erasers by beginning sounds. In answer to your question, yes I had more than 26 baby food containers on hand and yes I know admitting you have a problem is the first step.
Some of the containers have multiple items, such as the letter P pictured at the top. For the letter P I have a peanut, panda, peach, pineapple, and a slice of pizza. Others are more modest such as the letter F tub which has a fire truck and a box of French fries and the letter L which has a lemon and lettuce.
Hands-On Learning with Japanese Erasers
These little erasers are perfect for hands-on games and activities focusing on beginning sounds. I have used the Lakeshore Letter Sound Teaching Tubs for many years with great success but eventually some of the items get broken or turn up missing so these inexpensive little erasers are a great solution.
How to Use the Erasers
One idea for using these tubs is to give each child the erasers from three different letter sound tubs and a t-chart. Place the erasers in a plastic bag along with the t-chart to keep them together. Place the t-chart on a cookie tray to define the work space and contain the erasers. Have the child sort the erasers from his bag on the t-chart, such as items that start with the letter P and items that don’t start with the letter P. Obviously, each child would have a different t-chart since you only have one tub for each letter sound.
I plan on writing the letter on the end and top of each container using a permanent marker because they just peel off stickers.
Follow my Literacy board on Pinterest for more great ideas!
