The Dog Breed ABC Cards I Designed Around How My Daughter Actually Learns
I didn't set out to build a card game. I was just watching my daughter play.
Nicolet Barclay
What I Noticed Watching Her Learn
She's always been drawn to anything ABC related. Magnetic letters on the fridge, foam letters in the bath, any set of cards with big, bright images. I started paying attention to what actually worked. Cards with large images, clear patterns, and bright colors held her attention. The alphabet song didn't seem to teach her much beyond reciting it front to back.
What did work was letting the letters be out of order. When she pulled a random magnet off the fridge or found a foam letter floating in the bath, she'd stop and actually work out what it was, on its own, without the rest of the alphabet to lean on. That's real letter recognition, not memorization.
She also has a strong instinct for matching. She notices right away when colors, images, or letters go together, and it's honestly one of the things I'm most proud of watching her figure out. Low pressure, game-like, hands-on. That's when she learns best.
Where the Dogs Came In
We've got three dogs at home, two of them mixed breed, and our daughter loves them. Dogs are already part of her daily vocabulary, one of the first things she points at and names. Once I had the sorting and matching pattern figured out, the theme was obvious. A matching and memory game, built around something she already loved.
Designing the Set
The Dog Breed ABC Cards ended up as 55 cards total: a matching pair for every letter, A to Z, each one a different illustrated dog breed, plus a matching pair for counting 1 to 10 featuring mixed breed dogs, so mutts like mine get included too. Every dog is hand illustrated, not clip art, and the set is sized for small hands to shuffle, sort, and carry around on their own.
Where Things Stand Now
I'm getting samples made and comparing supplier quotes for the first production run right now. I've been sharing the illustration process one breed letter at a time on Instagram and Pinterest, and building a waitlist of people who want first access when the set launches. This is also just the start, a toddler book and kids' room art are next on the list this year.
Updates from the blog
The Dog Breed ABC Cards I Designed Around How My Daughter Actually Learns
The story behind my new dog breed abc matching game project.
The Dog Breed ABC Cards I Designed Around How My Daughter Actually Learns
The Dog Breed ABC Cards I Designed Around How My Daughter Actually Learns
|Nicolet Barclay
