Needlepoint Alphabet Template

 Below is a template for needlepoint canvas work. Go here to find a cross stitch alphabet template. Use it to design your own Samplers for a child's room or for a child's sewing project.

This needle point has upper case and lower case letters, plus numbers.

Alphabet template for French knot needlepoint.

Needlework Samplers by Young Girls

       A(needlework) sampler is a piece of embroidery produced as a demonstration or test of skill in needlework. It often includes the alphabet, figures, motifs, decorative borders and sometimes the name of the person who embroidered it and the date. The word sampler is derived from the Latin ‘exemplum’ – an example.

Sampler by Margaret Barnholt, age six, 1831. This needlepoint may be
printed from your home computer for a doll's house. You will need to
resize it to a smaller version however, before printing it. 

      The oldest surviving samplers were constructed in the 15th and 16th centuries. As there were no pre-printed patterns available for needleworkers, a stitched model was needed. Whenever a needlewoman saw a new and interesting example of a stitching pattern, she would quickly sew a small sample of it onto a piece of cloth – her ‘sampler’. The patterns were sewn randomly onto the fabric as a reference for future use, and the woman would collect extra stitches and patterns throughout her lifetime.

      16th Century English samplers were stitched on a narrow band of fabric 6–9 in (150–230 mm) wide. As fabric was very expensive, these samplers were totally covered with stitches. These were known as band samplers and valued highly, often being mentioned in wills and passed down through the generations. These samplers were stitched using a variety of needlework styles, threads, and ornament. Many of them were exceedingly elaborate, incorporating subtly shaded colors, silk and metallic embroidery threads, and using stitches such as Hungarian, Florentine, tent, cross, long-armed cross, two-sided Italian cross, rice, running, Holbein, Algerian eye and buttonhole stitches. The samplers also incorporated small designs of flowers and animals, and geometric designs stitched using as many as 20 different colors of thread.

      The first printed pattern book was produced in 1523, but they were not easily obtainable and a sampler was the most common form of reference available to many women.

      The earliest dated surviving sampler, housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, was made by Jane Bostocke who included her name and the date 1598 in the inscription. However, the earliest documentary reference to sampler making is recorded in 1502 The household expense accounts of Elizabeth of York record that: ‘the tenth day of July to Thomas Fisshe in reward for bringing of concerve of cherys from London to Windsore … and for an elne of Iynnyn cloth for a sampler for the Quene’.

        A border was often added to samplers in the 17th century, and by the middle of the 17th century alphabets became common, with religious or moral quotations, while the entire sampler became more methodically organized. By the 18th century, samplers were a complete contrast to the scattered samples sewn earlier on. These samplers were stitched more to demonstrate knowledge than to preserve skill. The stitching of samplers was believed to be a sign of virtue, achievement and industry, and girls were taught the art from a young age.

Easy-To-Make Birthday Garland for A Doll's Party

Our doll's birthday banner using lower case lettering and scrapbook papers.

       To make this birthday banner for a doll's party you will need: decorative papers, a sticker alphabet, a string to hang the paper pennants from, white glue and a small triangular shaped pennant pattern.

1. First draw a simple pennant pattern. You will cut this out and use it to trace around on top of whatever decorative papers you choose for this version of a doll's birthday banner.
2. You will need to cut 17 paper pennants for the front parts of these two banners, and 17 additional pennant paper backings for the backsides of each pennant.
3. I cut the front sides a bit larger and wrapped these around cardboard pennant pieces so that my doll banners would be stronger and last longer. See pictures below. However, this is an extra step that is optional.
4. Use sticker letters to spell out "Happy Birthday" or you may wish to draw and color in the letters yourself.
5. Layout/arrange the pennants carefully in the order you would like them to hang and then turn these over on top of a table.
6. Cut the string to the correct length leaving enough to tie in a simple loop at each end.
7. Lay the string on the upper ends of the pennants into a bit of white glue. Press the string into the glue and let it dry.
8. Squeeze more glue onto the backs of each pennant and place the backsides of each cut pennant on top of the the reversed pennant banner pieces. In this way the string will be sandwiched between the pennant papers and cardboard. Let dry.
9. You may need to add more glue and press the edges down with your finger tips again.

Left, the pennants are turned over to have the string glued between their layers.
Right, I cut out my own letters for this banner project, but you could use letter
 stickers and have the same affect with easier application.

More Banners for Dolls:

• Fun Mini DIY Banner for Your Doll

Learning Their Letters

Learning Their Letters

Now, little kitty, come to me,

And learn to say your letters.

"Mew-ew-ew! --meow --yeow, meeow!"

And so she mews her letters.

A, B, C, E, F, G --

Why don't you speak each letter?

H, I, J --there, that's the way!

Says kitty, "I know better!"

Now, little doggy, come to me,

And learn to say your letters.

"Bow-wow-wow! Wow-wow-ow-ow!"

And so he barks his letters.

Now, little rooster, come to me,

And learn to say your letters.

"Kickery-kee! Co-doodle-doo!"

And so he crows his letters.

Now, big lion, come to me,

And learn to say your letters.

"Ro-wo-oh! Oh! wo-o-oh!"

And so he roars his letters.

Now, little laddie, climb my knee,

And learn to say your letters.

"A, B, C, E, F, G!"

And so he names his letters.

"A, B, C, E, F, G !"

The dear old lesson learning. 

"H, I, J," sweet lips will say,

Till the big round earth stops turning!

More Excellent Animal Teaching On The Web:

Cats learning how to draw flowers in school...
Cats learns ABC song
Teach your dog to read!
Kermit and Joey Sing The Alphabet

Doll Sized Spelling Printables - 1841

"Do you see these two fine girls? They can 
read,and spell, and sew."

       Spelling is the rendering of speech sound into writing. For many generations of American children, spelling was a ordinary subject taught in public school.

       I received a spelling workbook every year that I attended public elementary school as a child. Our workbook was used in combination with a simple reader or primer that remained in the classroom for daily study.

        At the end of each week, students then took a spelling test based upon our exercises in the workbook and reading assignments from the spelling textbook.

       This is how students learned to read and spell for over one hundred years in this country. 

       If you would like to teach spelling to your dolls, you may print the alphabet and primer, spelling clip art below for their old-fashioned classroom. You can cut out the pictures to make flash cards or include them inside a small doll sized spelling book for your dolls to study from.

       This particular set of spelling printables comes from The Pictorial Spelling Book of 1841. It is a Pre-Civil War Era text. 

       Because, most public schools in America could not afford to replace primers or spelling books often, it would not have been unusual to find a speller written with similar content from 1841 to 1865, or perhaps even later, inside a primary classroom. It was not until after the second world war that American public schools began to replace and update textbooks aggressively from year to year. Historical American Girl Dolls like: Addy, Kirsten or Samantha or even Laura and Mary Ingalls dolls from alternative collections might use this set of printables for their historic schoolrooms.

"The Alphabet rendered familiar by Pictures. It is generally believed that children will commit
 the alphabet to memory when it is illustrated combined with pictures." Cut this alphabet 
into pages of identical size and then staple them together to make a small spelling book 
for your dolls or, print them out on heavy card stock and cut them apart to make doll 
sized flashcards.

Doll Gingerbread Horn Book Craft

Finished gingerbread horn books for Felicity and Elizabeth Dolls. I used white puff paints to act as the icing.

Children would be rewarded with
gingerbread when learning the
alphabet in the Colonial Era.

       Although we don't know exactly what gingerbread molds were used in the American Colonies, we do know that giving gingerbread versions of horn books for special occasions and achievements was quite an ordinary practice among the English. 
 
       "In the fourteenth century gingerbread was made of rye dough spiced with ginger, cloves, or cinnamon, and sweetened with honey or sugar. Shakespear has, "An I had but one penny in the world, thou should'st have it to buy gingerbread."

       We know that gingerbread with raised devices was sold on stalls in the open market in the fourteenth century, and for anything that can be proved to the contrary, slabs of it, impregnated with spice and impressed with letters of the alphabet, were eaten by little people before ever the horn-book disturbed their peace of mind. Gingerbread Fairs, which survived until recent years, were at one time common and always popular. The fair maids of Tauton--Taunton was one of the early homes of gingerbread making- bought alphabetical slabs of gingerbread which were offered as bribes to little people clever enough to master their A B C, the letters being devoured as they were correctly named." from History of the horn-book, 1897
 
Matthew Prior has:--

I mention'd diff'rent Ways of Breeding;

Begin We in our Children's Reading,

To Master John the English Maid

A Horn-book gives of Ginger-bread;

And that the Child may learn the better,

As he can name, he eats the Letter;

Proceeding thus with vast Delight,

He spells, and gnaws from Left to Right.

But shew a Hebrew's hopeful Son,

Where We suppose the Book begun;

The Child would thank you for your kindness,

And read quite backward from our Finis;

Devour the Learning ne'er so fast;

Great A would be reserv'd the last. 

   Hone was humorously inclined when he wrote; - "Among my recollections of childish 
pleasures I have vivid remembrance of an alphabet called the Horn-Book, price one
 farthing, published by the Gingerbread Bakers and sold by all dealers in gingerbread in
 town and country... It was rather larger than the common horn-book, and 
made of dark brown gingerbread."

       We crafted our own doll sized versions of gingerbread horn books for Felicity and Elizabeth, using an alphabet mold intended for oven bake clay. Both Felicity and Elizabeth would most certainly have been taught to read, write and do simple sums by their mothers or governess at home. Girls did not usually attend school outside of the home in 1775, however they were expected to read from the Bible and keep a household ledger.

Left, Sculpey clay molded into letters. Right, I cut the horn book shape from cardboard.

Left, mask the horn books for strength. Right glue the baked Sculpey letters onto the cardboard
 using white school glue before painting these with brown acrylic paints and white puff paints.

• You can still purchase gingerbread horn book molds here
• Read more about Horn Books
• Learn about the history of gingerbread

The Horn Book in America

Sister and baby play with a horn book in their nursery. Horn books were some of the earliest educational
artifacts in the American colonies. The article below is from 1897 and it shares with our readers just
how 'rare' it was for horn books to survive Colonial childhood use.

       The horn-book in America thought to be extinct - Its extreme scarcity - References in literature to the American horn-book - An American horn-book is discovered by a lady.

English made horn books.

       Until quite recently the most diligent search failed to bring to light a single horn-book in America. The honor of discovering the first - the only one known when these sheets went to press  - belongs to a distinguished American authoress. Long before Mrs. Earle's work was published every learned society, the principal libraries, and the best-known collectors, had been persistently badgered without result. The Pilgrim Fathers knew their horn-book, and when they left these shores in the Mayflower and settled in New England, they must certainly have taken it with them. There can be no doubt whatever that the horn-book has been extensively used in America.

       Funk and Wagnalls's Standard Dictionary (London and Toronto: Funk and Wagnalls Co.) gives  "Horn-Book, a child's primer, as formerly made, consisting of a thin board of oak and a slip of paper with the nine digits, the alphabet and Lord's Prayer printed on it, covered with a thin layer of  transparent horn and framed; hence any primer or handbook; also rudimentary knowledge." In Mackellar's American Printer is a cut of a horn-book borrowed from Chambers's Book of Days. Underneath is printed, "Horn-Book of the Seventeenth Century," but not another word in all his three hundred and eighty odd pages has Mr. Mackellar to say about it. We find in Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. V., fifth series (Boston : published by the Society, 1878), on p. 344 an entry (under date 27th April 1691) from the Diary of Samuel Sewall (1674-1729, vol. i. 1674-1700): "This afternoon had Joseph to school to Capt. Townsend's Mother's, his cousin Jane accompanying him, carried his Horn-book." Joseph was Sewall's eighth child (out of fourteen which his wife bore him), and was born 15th August 1688. His cousin Jane Tappan or Toppan was born 28th September 1674.

       One would think that Benjamin Franklin must certainly have printed horn-books, but in the ten-volume edition of his works by Sparks they are not even mentioned. In J. R. Lowell's Biglow Papers (Works, 1879, p. 179) we find, "Thrift was the first lesson in their horn-book and in an article on  "Poetry in America," in Scribner's Monthly for August 1881, is: "The poor books of one generation are often the horn-books for the people, the promise and cause of better work in the next."

       In American literature mention of the horn-book is not uncommon, and instances need hardly be multiplied. But I will add a passage from Mrs. Alice Morse Earle's Customs and Fashions of Old New England (David Nutt, I 893): -

       "Their horn-books, those framed and behandled sheets of semi-transparent horn, which were worn hanging at the side and were studied as late certainly as the year 1715 by children of the Pilgrims, also managed to instill with the alphabet some religious words or principles. Usually the Lord's Prayer formed part of the printed text. Though horn-books are referred to in the letters of Wait Still Winthrop, and appear on stationers' and booksellers' lists at the beginning of the eighteenth century, I do not know of the preservation of a single specimen to our own day. I often fancy I should have enjoyed living in the good old times, but I am glad I never was a child in colonial New England -- to have been baptized in ice water, fed on brown bread and warm beer, to have had to learn the Assembly's Catechism and 'explain all the Questions with conferring Texts,' to have been constantly threatened with fear of death and terror of God, to have been forced to commit Wigglesworth's 'Day of Doom' to memory, and after all to have been whipped with a tattling stick."

       As to what a tattling stick is, Mrs. Earle confesses ignorance, but children, then as now, were given to tattling, or idle talk, and the meaning seems sufficiently evident.

       A special inquiry addressed to Mrs. Earle, in which I pointed out that a careful search would probably lead to the discovery of horn-books in America, bore fruit. But Mrs. Earle's letter is so full of interest that it may well be printed in full.

                                                                                             242 Henry St., Brooklyn, N.Y.,

                                                                                             17th June 1894.

Dear Sir, 
       I have received from you a letter dated February 13, with enclosures and newspaper, all relating to horn-books. I wrote in answer a short note saying I would make every effort to discover a horn-book in America for you. This note you cannot have received, for in a letter to Messrs. Scribner's you so state. I think in my haste I must have misdirected it. I now enclose to you a print of a horn-book which I have unearthed. And I have had my account of it type-written, as there are stupid or perverse editors who persist that they cannot decipher my handwriting. This of course I indignantly resent, believing that my writing is as clear as print. But I have just had a hard blow to my pride in a letter from the editor of the Journal of American Folk Lore. He wrote to me requesting a paper. I answered him that I had none suitable for his magazine except one on Lord's Day Tokens. He wrote back that he could not imagine how a paper on Long Stockings could relate to Folk Lore, but was willing to believe that I would make it all right, and to please send it. Thus did he interpret my writing. And by the way, these same Communion tokens would form a very interesting subject for your pen and press. I had already planned a magazine article on Horn-books and Primers. I hope the delay in answering you will not make my information too late to be of service to you. -- I am, very sincerely yours,

Alice Morse Earle.

Horn book salvaged from a New
England Farm House.

       "In my book entitled Customs and Fashions in Old New England I state that I do not know of the preservation in America of a horn-book until our own day. The publication of that statement has brought to me a large amount of correspondence on the subject of horn-books, which I have supplemented by careful inquiries of my own in many directions. There certainly is not a single horn-book in any of our large public libraries or historical collections in America, nor in any of our large private libraries or collections of antiques and curios; but I have found one horn-book‚-- salvage from a New England farmhouse‚-- and I take pleasure in sending to you its counterfeit presentment. It is rather dilapidated, both horn and paper being torn. On the back is a picture of Charles II., which might reasonably be said to afford a probable date of manufacture. The absolute annihilation of horn-books in America is most surprising. They were certainly in constant use in early colonial days. I find in the Winthrop letters, as late as 1716, the Winthrops of Boston town sending gifts of horn-books to their country nephews and nieces in outlying settlements. In 1708, in the account book of the Old South Church of Boston, one item of expense was £1: l0s. for 'Hornes for Catechizing.' In old stationers' lists I see gilt horn-books and plain horn-books frequently advertised. As late as December 4, 1760, in the Pennsylvania Gazette with Bibles and primers appear  'gilt horns and plain horns - which were certainly horn-books. This sole and lonely little horn-book survivor is now owned by Mrs. Elizabeth Robinson Minturn.

       She was a Robinson of old Narragansett stock, and her ancestors owned, and used this horn-book. The Narragansett planters were among our most opulent colonists, and were the only Church of England settlers in New England. Many curious and interesting relics are now owned by

their descendants. Each summer I go to Homogansett Farm, the country home of my husband's ancestors, and still owned in the family. It has about a mile and a half of water-front on Narragansett Bay, and is a most romantic and historic spot. I shall make careful search throughout the

summer, and may find some stranded wreck to add to your list."

       The American horn-book (cut 52) discovered by Mrs. Earle accords with others pictured in these pages and was probably imported from the mother country. Whether horn-books were made in America there is at present no evidence to determine. Now that one has turned up, which wherever made, has lived its life in America, others will probably be found. The quest is worth pursuing, and the collector whom luck favors will be envied by his fellows. by Andrew White Tuer - from History of the horn-book, 1897

• The Hornbook and its use in America by George A. Plimpton (pdf.) 
• The Humble Hornbook
• Doll Gingerbread Hornbook Craft  

This free article with illustrations may be printed and used in a classroom environment. It is reproduced here for extended reading and research into the life stories of American Girls, Felicity Merriman and Elizabeth Cole. Students may also use the material above in the development of lapbooks/notebooks for home school, private school or public school assignments. 

•  Back to learning history with Felicity Merriman and Elizabeth Cole

DIY Christmas Tree Letter Art

       Make a joyful sign from cardboard text, scrapbook paper, and magazine clippings for your doll's Christmas decor this coming holiday season. You can copy my contemporary version below using similar supplies or use this same idea to craft the words of your own favorite Christmas hymn.

Above you can see that I used pre-cut cardboard letters for my "joy"
On the right is the finished letter art for a dollhouse wall.

Supply List:

• Christmas scrapbook paper
• pre-cut cardboard letters (optional)
• recyclable magazines 
• cardboard
• white school glue
• hot glue and hot glue gun (optional)
• wire or ribbon for hanging
• Christmas tree cookie cutter (optional)
• tracing paper (optional)
• Mod Podge

       For this craft you will need to cut the word "joy" from cardboard and then paste a decorative paper onto the word to make it 3 dimensional. (use Mod Podge in layers) I've included some Roman alphabet letters below for those of you who would like to draw or trace your own letter versions on cardboard and then cut them out.

       Print and cut out the tree template from below and cover it with Christmas scrapbook paper. Mount the word joy onto the tree with hot glue. Or, if you have a tree cookie cutter at home, you could trace around it's shape onto cardboard alternatively.

       Layer words and letters, "to the world the LORD has come" cut from recycled magazine text with Mod Podge below the "joy" letters.

       Bend and attach a wire or hook for hanging on the backside of the tree with glue or tape.

       Hang this contemporary letter art on the wall of your American Girl Doll house for Christmas.

Christmas tree template by kathy grimm for the "Joy to the world" text art.

lower case Roman letters: a - m, for tracing

lower case Roman letters: n - z, for tracing

Bethal Music Kids for a Christmas Party - 

fun for young teens and kids too!

Classic Alphabet Blocks

 One of the first references to Alphabet Nursery Blocks was made by English philosopher John
Locke, in 1693, made the statement that "dice and playthings, with letters on them to teach
children the alphabet by playing" would make learning to read a more enjoyable experience.

       Toy blocks (also building bricks, building blocks, or simply blocks) are wooden, plastic, or foam pieces of various shapes (square, cylinder, arch, triangle, etc.) and colors that are used as construction toys. Sometimes toy blocks depict letters of the alphabet like the standardized from our family collections shown above and below.

• Alphabet Blocks Inducted in 2003

Witold Rybczynski has found that the earliest mention of building bricks for children appears in Maria
and R.L. Edgeworth's Practical Education (1798). Called "rational toys", blocks were intended to
teach children about gravity and physics, as well as spatial relationships that allow them to see
how many different parts become a whole.

The first large-scale production of blocks was in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn by S. L. Hill,
who patented "ornamenting wood" a patent related to painting or coloring a block surface prior to the
 embossing process and then adding another color after the embossing to have multi-colored blocks.

What can children learn while playing with blocks:

• Motor skills: toy blocks build strength in a child's fingers and hands, and improve eye-hand coordination. They also help educate children in different shapes.
• Socialization: block play encourages children to make friends and cooperate, and is often one of the first experiences a child has playing with others. Blocks are a benefit for the children because they encourage interaction and imagination. Creativity can be a combined action that is important for social play.
• Academic training: children can potentially develop their vocabularies as they learn to describe sizes, shapes, and positions.
• Math concepts: are developed through the process of grouping, adding, and subtracting, particularly with standardized blocks, such as unit blocks. 
• Interaction and play: with gravity, balance, and geometry learned from stacking toy blocks also develops basic survival skills.
• Creative thinking: children receive creative stimulation by making their own designs with blocks.

       In 1837 Friedrich Fröbel invented a preschool educational institution Kindergarten. For that, he designed ten of the 20 Froebel Gifts on building blocks principles.

• The Means And Ways of Occupation In The Kindergarten