Click here to read Learn Letters with DIY Sensory Bins on Hands On As We Grow
Today’s sensory bin activity from Heather is a snap to create, but gives at least a week of letter learning fun!
Living in a small house brings its challenges for sure. Especially when you have kids and all that comes with them.
Our Activity Room member of the month, Heather knows all about this.
In a small house, you don’t have a lot of room for all the toys to be out, which means that they often get forgotten about because they’re stored away in closets and chests.
Heather has a system where every morning, she gets out four toys that haven’t been out for a long time and places them on the four corners of her living room rug.
She’s found that it helps her kids play more independently and helps make cleanup easier!
What a simple solution to try if you live in a small house (or any house for that matter!)
Let’s meet Heather and learn how she teaches her children their ABCs!
How many kids do you have and how old are they?
2 kids: Sarah 4, Matthew 2.5
How long have you been in The Activity Room?
At least a year?
(In fact, Heather started back in November of 2016 and has been an active member of our Members only Facebook the entire time!)
What is your favorite activity you’ve done in The Activity Room?
What’s your favorite thing to do with your kids when you get a few moments?
Love going on nature treasure hunts.
What’s your best tip for doing activities with your kids?
Relax (this is for me primarily LOL) – these projects and activities are all about the process rather than product.
Things more than likely will NOT go the way you planned and sometimes that’s the best reward of all! Listening to these little creatures will teach you more than you ever knew!
If you were to tell a friend about The Activity Room, what would you say to them?
The Activity Room gives me a running list of “go-to” activities that I can set up quickly and easily.
Being able to share and talk about the things we experience in our own little pocket of home with others all over the world is a lot of fun and gives me a little more incentive to keep up with my end.
I love seeing the variety of ways a simple activity can be interpreted and many times evolve into a totally different activity.
Anything else you’d like to add in regards to The Activity Room?
Connecting with other caregivers who are experiencing the same struggles AND successes as you, even if they are thousands of miles away, is very comforting! The Activity Room engages us all in connecting with others to share a very unique journey of watching and encouraging these little people. LOVE IT!
Share your favorite quote:
“It is what it is….” ~Anonymous
What activity would you like to share with us that you’ve done?
I’m sharing a DIY sensory bin activity for learning letters. I plan a letter a week but usually end up taking two weeks because we always find more to do than I plan!
Build a Learn-a-Letter Sensory Bin
I start by selecting a letter my 4-year-old daughter is struggling with and start building the sensory bin.
This week was the letter “B.”
I try to use stuff around the house just like Jamie so I search through their smaller toys and my stash of Dollar Store items for things that start with the letter sound. I also dyed white beans in rainbow colors.
This time, I had some light-up butterflies, wire butterflies, candy bones, buttons, and balls.
I try to find 3-4 books that highlight the letter in either our home library or from the public library.
For each book, I find free activities on Pinterest that I can print, cut out, and add to the sensory bin each day.
I also do a shape puzzle by tracing the outline of each item in the box.
By the end, there are all sorts of things floating around in the bin that satisfy the needs of both the 2-year-old and the 4-year-old. They spend quite a bit of time each day sifting and working!
Weekly Sensory Bin Activity Plan
On the first day, we read one of the books.
Then they sift through the bin, familiarizing themselves with the goodies. They can match each new discovery to the shape puzzle I already created.
Some days, we will reread a book and add an activity. Other days, I will introduce a new book with a new activity.
For the letter B, I picked:
- Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle. I added circles with the characters to match and a number puzzle 1-5 of the brown bear.
- Whose Butt? by Stan Tekiela. I hid tops and bottoms of animals for them to find and match.
- We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. Then, I set up a new sensory bin of all outdoor items that matched the story.
The only thing we spent money on were the beans and a few Dollar Store items. Tons of learning occurred and we had so much fun!
I also keep a binder to keep their letter past activities in. I include a handprint letter, a tactile letter (glued/outlined the letter B with some of our beans), and a few other freebies we like to do with each letter.
Once you do a few letters, it becomes routine and takes very little time to set up!
Start getting daily activities sent to you. Join the Activity Room today!
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