DIY Alphabet Book

I made this alphabet book for Landon and love it so so much. It was really simple to do if you are even a little tech-savvy. I took old photos from my phone and uploaded them to the very easy to use "Color Cap" app (free) to insert the text into them. Then I uploaded all my photos to my computer & mpix, where I made the hardcover 5x5" photo book. *Note, you can add text to them on mpix directly when making the book (or any other photobook publishing site you use).

What's especially great about this book is that it is so easy for a child to read themselves (& kids love reading books they made or that are about themselves), and It's also a great tool to help Landon work on his speech at night before we go to bed. Not only does it help teach new vocabulary words and the letters they begin with, but also helps your child vocalize progressive verbs paired with pronouns, and helps them with how to answer "who/what/where" questions. For example, on the "J" page, I'll say, "What are you doing here?" And he'll exclaim "I'm jumping!" So he's doing a great job answering the "Wh-" question, verbalizing the action verb and using the pronoun "I." You can still do this even on pages with nouns. For example, on the "K" page, which is for kisses, I'll say, "Who are you giving kisses to?" And he'll say, "I'm giving kisses to mama" Or on the "E" page he'll say, "I'm playing the electric guitar with papa."

And on top of it all it's an adorable "night stand" book (instead of a coffee table book, like that?) to have on display in his room.

A few tips & tricks when making your book:

- In order to find the perfect photo for a particular letter you might have to go beyond your current camera roll. I scrolled down my old Instagram posts and saved (or took a screen shot) of old images on my phone that I wanted to work with.

- Keep text away from the left/right edge of your image or else you might lose some of it in the binding when they go to make your book.

- On a similar note, I used the "SquareReady" app to give each of my photos a white border to safeguard against any images or text getting lost in the bind.