I am a preschool director/teacher and I work with all of the children at my school (2 years to 5 years) but I’m always looking for new stuff to try. We always have a few children who love numbers and letters so I purchased some alphabet molds that I saw on sale at the art store. The first alpha mold - the letters were not reversed so (if you’re a rubber stamper or gel plate printer, you’ll understand) the tops of the finished pieces were the part that I needed to sand. So I went to everyone’s favorite online retailer that sells everything under the sun, and found the reverse-orientation alphabet mold. The letters/numbers students just like making up words or spelling the words they know.
(Note: The B, the 5, the C and the 4 are from the first mold and I have to sand down the top so it’s not so pointy. The E, D, R and S are from the second reverse mold and much easier to finish and clean up after de-molding.)
I also bought a heart mold and each child is making their own decorated hearts. It’s tough waiting a whole day for things to cure but they are (so far) happy with the end results.
These 3 were made by me to practice adding things to the resin.
You can see that I’m still learning how much is the right amount of resin tint to add. I do like the solid black but of course the children love the glitter ones. The next batch will be motley/camoflage-y because I am using the mold to put in the dregs from each session.
How fun! The hearts would be great to add a magnet to the back and make as Mother’s Day gifts. I love the tactile aspect of the letters/numbers and the fact that the kids are involved in creating them.
THEY LOOK LIKE JELLO JIGGLERS!
The letters do. The hearts are adorable.
I totally have these molds for UV resin. Just a hint of tint?
It was so hard for me to get two part resin to work without being too sticky or having lots of bubbles, etc. UV has clicked for the most part.
The benefit is that I just stick them on a shelf and wait 2 or 3 days. The kids don’t like waiting that long but it seems to work. I need to get measuring cups so it’s more successful.
The Pre-K students are also working with clay so they are learning about the waiting and firing and glazing and firing again.
The UV resin looks fun and fast. But I don’t need another thing!
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