Learning letters and numbers

N. has been interested in learning her letters and numbers for a while now. She likes the notion of sitting at the table and doing to "work" - how often during the day do I hear "I want to work Mummy!".

She now has a set of three working boxes:

 I found some material online on French pre-school websites. The first and smallest of the boxes contains the alphabet printed on paper and plastified:

I like that the letters are written in different ways, that there is a corresponding word as an example along with a small image.

The second box is for counting:

I have always been terrible with numbers and maths, and I am hoping to help my children love this particular subject (my husband being a scientist, he probably will be helpful too :-p ). I like the visual: the number, how it shows on a hand and the dots.

And finally the third box, the biggest, contains hours of work on my part! I made N. a felt colourful alphabet that she can manipulate at will. Most letters are at least double, some are even quadruple! Only the Q and X are single. I based myself on how often I think letters come up in French words (language I use with N.).

 N. and her little brother are big fans of the felt letters. She can identify the A, P, and O quite well, but the other letters are still a blur. I guess it is normal at her age. She finds it fascinating though when I use the letters to form words and tell her what is spelt.

I would be interested in other ways of making learning fun for children. So do not hesitate to share your knowledge with me with a comment please! :)