The Writing Sensory Box

There are a lot of different methods to help kids learn how to spell. One common way is the have kids write in sand or other powder material like coffee grounds, salt, sugar, or even dirt.  Put different types of paper underneath like foil, waxed paper, saran wrap or sticky paper to add more sensory enjoyment.

Mrs. ricca kingergarten creates sight word seashells and lets kids practice writing with their finger in the sand box.  Fist she hides the seashells in the sand and as the kids find them they get to write them out.

Get the instructions here:
http://mrsriccaskindergarten.blogspot.com/2013/05/down-by-sea-math-literacy-centers.html 

Learning for kids places colorful construction paper under salt to make colorful surprises as the kids write words and numbers.

Get the instructions here:
http://www.learning4kids.net/2012/06/05/rainbow-salt-tray/

Ice Skating Boats

One fun task for a hot summer day is to make ice boats.  Using a cupcake liner, ice cube, tooth pick and plastic paper.  Freeze water in ice cube trays to make the boat but place a tooth pick in the center so that you'll have a mast for the plastic sails, then place them in cupcake wrappers and slide across a sensory box of frozen ice.  Kids will have fun as the boats float upon the ice.  Take it outside and as it melts they can see if the boats start to sink or float.

Alpha mom uses a cup to free the water to make her boat and uses a bendy straw for the mast.  She adds a paper sail.  For her version she floats them in a big bowl of water.

Learning 4 kids colors her ice and uses huge containers to make super big boats.

Cut Up Poetry

One fun way to have kids just learning how to read is to take magazines and cut up some of the more simple sight words and then turn them into poems.  Have the kids go through old magazines and cut out the words they can read.  Then have them work on their skills further by putting the words together to make poems that are either non-sense or fun-sense.

Sound Guessing Sensory Box

One great way to use left over plastic eggs is placing small noisy items within them matching 2 sounds for each egg and placing them all in a bin for an auditory sensory box.  Kids will need to guess which sounds match and will have fun finding out if they're right.  Items to try include:

- Coins
- Beans
- Water
- Rice
- Beads

Shaving Cream Bath Paint

Simply add food coloring to shaving cream and let the kids paint in the bath.  They'll have fun squishing the foam and combining the colors to learn about primary and secondary combinations. 

Have kids will craft makes them in a muffin tin.

Get the instructions here:
http://www.havekidswillcraft.com/homemade-bath-paints/

Jello Numbers Sensory Box

One way to get kids to start thinking about numbers is to add them to fun and edible sensory play, by mixing them into fun jello colors.  You can mix them all into one big bowl or add them into individual blocks and have kids investigate what numbers they uncover. 

Tin Can Robots

Tin cans have a great second life as an upcycled craft making robots.  They're so shiny and metallic they make the best base for your kids to create a pretend artificial life form.  Just add some additional objects such as stickers, paper, pipe cleaners, pom poms and tape.  Make sure to tape the sharp edge before playing.

A fancier version that doubles as a table centerpiece storing yummy cookies and plastic utensils.