Click here to see other ways we add literacy to our classroom! Reading to toddlers and preschoolers often and providing a print-rich environment are both important for raising readers. While we don’t formally teach our 2 and 3 year olds how to read, we do provide activities that include the alphabet. These activities are all over the classroom, not just in the reading and writing area. Adding letters to our sensory bin is one of my favorites, and I’ve done it often. (Scroll down to find my other literacy sensory bins.) It’s exposing our young children to the letters of the alphabet in a playful way, along with other materials. And even with our 2 year olds, there will be at least 1 child who will recognize a letter or many letters. Playful learning! As with most of our sensory bins, I like to pay attention to texture, adding quite a few variations.
Small baskets Rice that was dyed brown (see how we dye rice in this post) Pom poms Flower baking cups (the ones we used in this post aren’t available anymore, but if I were to do this again, I would use these flower cups as they are more durable) Pretend flowers Letter stones Scoops
I love how they blend in with the colors used in this bin! Note: If you’d rather purchase them, we also use and love these alphabet pebbles. CLICK HERE to see more of our sensory bins! Our 2 year olds were mostly interested in using the scoops to fill the flowers and baskets with the rice and the letter stones. However, they were still being exposed to the same letters they see on our alphabet chart, in the names on their placemats and cubbies, and in the books that we read. Most worked on spelling their own names, or at least recognizing a few letters in their names. For all of the children, this was simply a fun way to explore different colors, textures, sizes, and shapes, while also strengthening fine motor skills. Alphabet Construction Sensory Bin Alphabet Soup Sensory Play Too Many Carrots Sensory Bin Easy Apple Sensory Bin Here is my Privacy Policy
