Overview: Wonder of Nature Collection

July 26, 2023 Treehouse Schoolhouse

Print Alphabet Letter Cards Toddlers

As a homeschool mom, I knew early on that I wanted to wait to start formal academics around ages 5-6, using the preschool years to focus on developing a love for literature, creative unstructured play, and more.

But what do we do when our children ask about letters and they want to learn to read or write? That’s why I designed the Wonder of Nature Collection—tools that offer young children an invitation to recognizing, forming, and writing letters. Delaying formal academics doesn’t mean delaying learning, it just means we follow our child's lead and allow them to learn in ways that are respectful to their development. This collection gives children a natural way to interact with the world of letters and sounds.

What you get with the Wonder of Nature Collection

The Wonder of Nature Collection includes:

All products showcase each letter of the alphabet with coordinating watercolor illustrations, allowing you to emphasize nature elements while teaching early phonetic awareness. I created this collection as a way to incorporate early letter recognition, forming, and writing with images that are consistent with what we learn and experience in nature and outside play. All products can be purchased separately and are available in digital download or hard copy.

Wonder of Nature Alphabet Sheets

The Wonder of Nature Alphabet sheets are interactive, reusable pages designed to offer young children a multi-sensory invitation to recognizing, forming, and writing letters.

This 106-page set features worksheets for each letter of the alphabet with two coordinating hand-painted watercolor illustrations for every letter. Each letter contains four steps to teach proper letter recognition and formation. They are:

Shape It
Form It
Trace It
Find It (Letter Formation)

Each set also includes a Letter Formation Chart to display in your school area. Featuring Zaner-Bloser manuscript printing letter formation, you will use these gentle and multi-sensory steps with each letter to help your child grow and learn.

The hand-painted watercolor illustrations that coordinate with every alphabet letter teach early phonetic awareness by introducing children to beginning letter sounds.

Slide these sheets into a restaurant menu cover or dry-erase pouches so that your child can practice them again and again. Use dry-erase markers and wipe clean after each use.

The digital download includes 106 printable 8.5" x 11" pages. The hard copy includes 106 professionally printed double-sided pages and a clear-protective menu cover to use with the pages.

Wonder of Nature Alphabet Print Cards

The Wonder of Nature Alphabet Print Cards offer young children a multi-sensory invitation to recognizing letters. These interactive, reusable cards feature two hand-painted watercolor illustrations for each letter of the alphabet–one uppercase and one lowercase. The watercolor illustrations that coordinate with each letter of the alphabet teach early phonetic awareness by introducing children to beginning letter sounds. These beautiful cards can be displayed in your school room or used for hands-on learning activities like matching, sorting, and reading.

Each set includes 52 4” x 6” cards.

Wonder of Nature Alphabet Cursive Cards

The Wonder of Nature Alphabet Cursive Cards offer young children a multi-sensory invitation to recognizing and forming cursive letters. These interactive, reusable cards feature two hand-painted watercolor illustrations for each letter of the cursive alphabet–one uppercase and one lowercase. The watercolor illustrations that coordinate with each letter of the alphabet teach early phonetic awareness by introducing them to beginning letter sounds. These beautiful cards can be displayed in your school room or used for hands-on learning activities like matching, sorting, and reading.

Each set includes 52 4” x 6” cards.

Wonder of Nature Number Bundle

pre-k and kindergarden numbers activities

The Wonder of Nature Number Bundle is designed to offer young children a multi-sensory invitation to recognizing, forming, and writing numbers and developing basic number sense. The watercolor illustrations that coordinate with each number demonstrate the quantity that each number represents. Slide these sheets into a restaurant menu cover or dry-erase pouch so your child can practice them again and again. Use dry-erase markers and wipe clean after each use.

The Wonder of Nature Number Bundle also includes Number Cards. These cards are designed to aid in developing number sense and a foundation leading to a strong understanding of math skills. These cards are a tool to gently invite your children into hands-on mathematical learning. The watercolor illustrations that coordinate with each number can provide a representation of mathematical ideas, displaying a corresponding number of illustrations with each number.

The Wonder of Nature Number Bundle is available in digital download only.

Wonder of Nature Cursive Copywork

Wonder of Nature Cursive Copywork is designed to offer children a beautiful invitation to learn and practice cursive letter formation with engaging copywork activities. The watercolor nature illustrations, beautiful language, and thought-provoking facts bring beauty and delight as they work through the collection.

Copywork is a long-standing practice in education. It is the practice of copying words, phrases, and passages to help children improve grammar, punctuation, letter formation, and spelling. This collection offers nature-themed vocabulary, literary quotes, poetry excerpts, facts, and even a few jokes as the source for copywork. The illustrations coordinate with the copywork selections.

Wonder of Nature Cursive Copywork is available in digital download only.

Using the Wonder of Nature Collection to introduce children to letters

If children are curious about letters and eager to learn to read and write, the Wonder of Nature Collection is a great way to invite them into learning in a gentle way. We can begin pointing out letters, playing with a moveable alphabet, and talking about them in an organic way as young as 1-2 years old. The goal is exposure, following their lead, and making learning fun!

If a child is eager to read, you can help them along by teaching them the sounds the letters make with the Wonder of Nature Alphabet Print Cards. If they are eager to write, you can use the Wonder of Nature Alphabet Sheets to teach proper letter formation with multi-sensory steps. The Wonder of Nature Alphabet Print Cards and the Wonder of Nature Alphabet Cursive Cards can be displayed in your school room or used for hands-on learning activities like matching, sorting, and reading.

Related: How to Teach a Child to Read