Texture Flashcards

I made these texture cards to entertain J on plane trips starting around 10 months old.  I reserved them for those special trips so that they would keep their novelty.  J loved them.  The cards are made of cardstock.  They have survived fairly well, though there have been a few that have found their home in the trash. Still they have served their purpose well.  You could also use thick cardboard to make them stronger. 

In choosing textures, I basically went through the house in search of interesting textures that would be fairly easy to attach to the cardstock (I was is a rush!).  I really didn’t get very creative with my textures, but J was still entertained. You’ll notice quiet a few cards with puffy stickers and foam stickers which were especially easy to make, buttons, sponge, styrofoam, post it tabs, duct tape flaps (I created windows and placed a sticker behind the window), fabric, clear plastic, net, velcro …  The only one I can remember that isn’t pictured is the velcro card.  J still really likes this card since it is interactive (he can remove and replace the velcro pieces).  It’s somewhere around the house, I just can’t find it for the picture!

The back side of the texture cards honestly don’t look so pretty.  I covered a lot of the back sides with packing tape or duct tape.  In hind site, I could’ve created duct tape flaps on the back of all the cards so that they would be double sided.

To create prettier cards you could cut larger pieces of the cardstock and attach the texture on half of the card.  You would then old the card in half, cut a window to see and feel the texture and finally glue the card shut.

For good teachable moments, discuss the similarities and differences about each texture, have your little one come up with adjectives to describe the texture (smooth, shiny, bumpy, squishy, crinkly, …), or sort the textures.