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Sensory Writing Tray with Alphabet Cards

by Angela Thayer 7 Comments

My preschooler is not quite ready to write using a paper and pencil. In fact, it frustrates him to try to write something on a piece of paper! And you know what? I’m totally fine with that. He is 4 and he is still practicing fine motor skills to prepare for handwriting. I still want him to practice letter formations, so I put together a sensory writing tray. With the tray, he draws the letters in the tray with his finger. He thinks it is actually fun to write this way!

Sensory Writing Tray - with Free Alphabet Cards

Here’s what you need for the sensory writing tray:

  • a tray (this round one is a cake pan from Hobby Lobby)
  • salt or sugar (we used about 3 cups of sugar)
  • gel food coloring (don’t use liquid food coloring!)
  • Gallon-sized Ziploc Bag
  • essential oils (This is optional, but we used Wild Orange from DoTerra)

Start by pouring the sugar into a bag. Drop in the gel food coloring. Close the bag and shake until the color is mixed. If it’s not mixing well, spread it on the tray and mix with your hands. Drop in essential oils and mix around. Spread around in the tray. You don’t need a lot in the pan. Too much of the sugar and it will be hard for the child to draw letters.

Sensory Writing Tray

I added alphabet cards to our tray. (Scroll to the bottom of the post to download them!) To make them stand up, I put them in a cut up pool noodle. I cut apart the pool noodle using a serrated knife, then I made slits in the noodle so the card could stand up. Worked perfectly!

cut pool noodle
We practiced forming lowercase alphabet letters. If you are new to teaching alphabet letters, I suggest starting with uppercase letters because they are larger letters to write. You can see more reasons why and what order to teach them in on this site.

sensory tray side angle

I made a circle in the spot where I wanted my preschooler to begin making the letter. He didn’t always start there, but it gave him a starting point.

tracing b

tracing C

letter b sensory tray

He had lots of fun creating letters in the sensory tray. The smell was wonderful and also calming. And a bonus was he could lick his fingers when he was done! I’m keeping this tray out in our classroom for a few weeks. You can also save the colored sugar in a Ziploc bag.

I hope you’ll try this activity out with your preschooler. It is such a wonderful way to practice letter formation!

To download the alphabet cards, click here —>Alphabet Cards

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Filed Under: Preschool, Writing Tagged With: sensory activities, writing

Comments

  1. Aimee says
    April 5, 2016 at 10:21 am

    What a good way to practice how to write letters. My son was very much the same as yours at that age. He just wasn’t interested in using and holding a pencil properly. He’s eight now and he has the best handwriting of all of us at home. 🙂
    Aimee recently posted…Award Winning Science Kits For KidsMy Profile

    Reply
    • Angela Thayer says
      April 11, 2016 at 2:40 am

      Awesome! Thanks for sharing.

      Reply
  2. Amanda Davies says
    April 5, 2016 at 11:14 am

    thanks for these great Alphabet cards. I also have a 4yr old

    Reply
    • Angela Thayer says
      April 11, 2016 at 2:40 am

      You’re welcome! I’m glad they will be helpful to you!

      Reply
  3. Joy says
    November 12, 2016 at 8:02 pm

    do you have another idea i can use in place of the noodles to hold up the cards? i dont have pool noodles and they are not in season right now.

    Reply
    • Angela Thayer says
      November 15, 2016 at 1:01 am

      Maybe cut a paper cup and make slits for the card to sit in? I’m sorry the pool noodles aren’t in season right now. Wish I could send some to you in the mail! 🙂

      Reply
  4. Sharon says
    February 18, 2017 at 9:06 pm

    Fabulous idea, I have a boy with ADHD and can be very difficult in getting him to do things that he likes to do

    Reply

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