HOW TO TEACH KIDS TO WRITE WITH SENSORY PLAY
We all love to give our kids a head start in essential skills like math, reading, and writing! However, when you jump into teaching your kids to write at a young age, you quickly realize it’s much more than just putting a pen to paper. Learning how to write involves things like fine motor skills, language, memory, and coordination.
Using sensory play to teach kids how to write is a fantastic way to make the process fun and effective. It allows little ones to engage with writing in a multi-sensory way, helping any information they’re learning stick in their impressionable minds! So, that’s what I’m going to discuss today!
Ultimately, my goal in this post is to make learning how to write as easy and fun as possible, both for you and your little ones! Here’s guide on how to use sensory experiences to teach kids how to write:
How To Teach Kids To Write With Sensory Play
Step One: Research what they should be learning.
Like everything, writing is taught in stages! Each age group will have various expected milestones in writing, and it’s important you know these when you create your activities. This way, what you’re asking your kiddo to do is appropriate for their motor skills, academic level, and overall comprehension. Basically, just do some research on writing expectations for each age!
Step Two: Consider your child’s current motor skills.
Children learn to write at all different paces and ages, so it’s important to avoid playing the comparison game with development! It is, however, important to know where your little one is currently at with their motor skills so you can find suitable activities.
For example, your first grader may be able to hold a pencil to trace letters, whereas your 2-year old may not be there quite yet which is why there are sensory activities catered to kiddos of every age!
Step Three: Decide what sensory bases will work best.
There are SO many sensory bases out there! List out ones that you have available and figure out what makes the most sense for your child. Consider what will be the most useful for the writing phase they’re on, but also think about your little one’s age and level of engagement. You may need something taste-safe, colorful, or mess-free depending on your situation!
Step Four: Get creative to make the skill engaging.
Engaging kids is much easier to accomplish when you incorporate different colors, scents, and textures. By providing a multi-sensory experience, you’re creating an entirely different learning environment for your kids! It will feel less like homework for them, and more like a super fun activity.
But, it’s not just about the senses! Setting small goals also gives kids an incentive to keep going! Fostering a sense of accomplishment goes a long way.
Step Five: Prepare a sensory table with your supplies.
Creating a sensory table, especially if you’re unsure of where to even start, can sound intimidating. However, my sensory table DIY is an extremely easy, effective, and cheap way to get started!
Once you have your sensory table or sensory containers, fill it with the necessary supplies for your writing activity. Make sure you have enough of that sensory base to make everything super exciting!
Step Six: Choose a sensory activity that brings it all together.
Now that you have your base, your engaging elements, and your age-appropriate writing objective, it’s time to put it all together into a goal-oriented activity! Not sure how? Don’t worry, I have tons of sensory-play writing activities:
Color Mixing and Writing Bags
This activity is all about letter formation! It’s one of the best places to start an earlier learner when teaching them to write.
All you need is a ziplock bag, some hair gel, and food coloring. Mix the hair gel and the food coloring together in the ziplock bag (or you can even have your kids mix for an added sensory experiment), and then let your toddler will use their fingers to practice writing letters!
You can use letter cards to make the activity easier, but you can also give your kids simple prompts to get in on the fun. Just ask, “Can you write the letter C?” and see how it goes!
Name Recognition
Even if you have kids that are too young to start reading, it’s never too early to start with letter recognition. For younger kids, you can begin practicing with their name. For older kids, you can use the entire alphabet to make it more challenging.
Grab some window crayons/washable window paint, foam letters, and water. Write the letters of your choice on one side of the window, and have them match the foam letters to the written letters on the other side of the window! Your kids will learn name and letter recognition and get some much-needed vitamin D.
Word Family Day
This is a great activity for learning and writing words in the same word family, which helps with things like reading, writing, and spelling. You’ll like this one, because you’ll probably have everything you need at home (or you can get it from Amazon with the click of a button).
Using recycled paper rolls, markers, a knife, and craft sticks, write “at”, “is”, “and “ad” on the paper roll. Create a square window, cut right above the square for the craft sticks, and write letters going down the sticks. Ta-da! It’s that easy.
Salt Dye Letter Tray
This taste-safe activity can be fun for any age! By using a recycled shoe box, food coloring, salt, a ziplock bag, and plastic letters (or make your own!), you have a colorful and engaging alphabet activity.
Just call out a letter of the alphabet, and have your kids trace the letter with their finger in the salt. Not only is the texture of the salt engaging, but so is the vibrant color from the food coloring!
Letter Posting Box DIY
When you teach your kids to write, you usually teach upper case letters first, but this activity will help them learn both! Once they’re ready to start identifying and writing both upper and lowercase letters, this is the perfect activity to refine that skinn!
First, hot glue a disposable wipes lid to the top of a small plastic box. Then, grab your plastic letters or DIY letters. Write with dry erase marker a lowercase letter, and let your child hunt for the corresponding uppercase letter and slide it into the box!
This is mess-free, super fun, intellectually beneficial, and engaging on multiple levels!
Letter Sensory Bag
This is another activity that’s great for distinguishing the difference between uppercase and lowercase letters or just learning the alphabet not to mention it’s extremely easy to make.
Taking a plain plastic bag and some craft sticks, write all the uppercase letters all over the top/front of the bag bag. Then, on each craft stick put a matching uppercase letter or challenge your little ones with lowercase letters.
Now ask your toddler to match the letter on the bag and the popsicle stick by inserting it into the plastic bag and moving the letter around! This fun matching game is such a great learning experience!
Sensory Writing Bag
If your little ones aren’t showing interest in writing yet, they will after this activity! It got Nicky writing her own name at 4 years old It’s that good.
This activity is JUST like the first activity in this list, you just add glitter to the hair gel and food coloring! Because the glitter is so sparkly and mesmerizing, your kiddos can’t help but be engaged! Have them practice writing letters or even whole words in the goo.
Printable Writing Pages
For a quick, easy, and even on-the-go activity, you can always print off a worksheet with the letters of the alphabet! Using colored pens, pencils, or markers, you can have your child trace each letter until they’re able to do it without your help. Even traditional worksheets can be exciting with lots of color and material options!
If you haven’t purchased the Mothercould In Your Pocket resource yet, now is a fantastic time to do so! I have a ready-to-use printable alphabet and writing practice activity pack, full of helpful and engaging activities that will have your little one excited to learn! And that’s not all! I have tons more printables and sensory recipes on the resource!
Teaching your kids how to write with sensory activities can be endlessly fun and beneficial!
Writing skills don’t just happen overnight it takes a lot of time, patience, and practice! That’s why on Mothercould blog, you’ll find endless sensory activities for every stage of development your little one will experience.
If you want more tips, tricks, tutorials, and printable activities, download Mothercould in your Pocket!