COLORFUL RICE LETTER FIND SENSORY BIN

There are so many uses for dry sensory bases, or sensory bin fillers, beyond just a tactile experience. That is why I love the versatility of these colored rainbow rice DIY for sensory bins. Nicky and Emma have both been playing with sensory bins since they were month old babies. And the sensory bins continue to evolve with them as they have gotten older. You must be warned though, the most fun will always be getting a little (or a lot!) messy with the sensory bases. This hide and seek letter find activity is just one example.

In this sensory play activity for kids, I wanted to focus on letter sequence and placement. One thing is to learn letters and another is to place them in their proper order to form words. In the end, a word is a sequence of letters and this is exactly what this exercise works on.

My favorite part is that they don’t even know they are learning! It is the perfect play based learning activity to introduce them to spelling.

MATERIALS:

1. Bin

2. Food Coloring Dye Rice (You can check my DIY or use any dry sensory base)

3. Letters

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Fill the bin with a dry sensory base, in this case we used colored dyed rice.

2. Hide the letters at random inside the bin covered by the rice.

3. Ask your little ones to fish for the letters and to place them in order.

Tip: You do not need dyed rice specifically to make this sensory activity, any dry sensory base will do. Feel free to come up with your own alphabet puzzle or alphabet sensory bin activity. You can also do this with your younger little ones, just hide some animals, shapes or anything really in the rice sensory bin for them to find.

There are countless sensory bin ideas to choose from, whether you’re working on fine motor skills or teaching your child practical life skills. Getting children to learn at home isn’t always as easy as getting children to play. But when you can combine the two, everybody wins!