letter formation

Visual Contrast Sensory Letter Writing

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We practiced writing letters in coffee grounds one morning after Mom cleaned out a cupboard.  Why did I buy Instant Decaf? YUCK! So, before we tossed them, we had to play with them.  Of course 😉

Visual Contrast Letter Writing

I poured the coffee grounds onto a white cutting board for maximum contrast and had Big Sister practice some lower case letters.  She loved this!  The black on white let the letters really show.  She felt so special doing this activity because she could play with coffee!

Sensory Letter Writing

We practiced the letters that are easy to reverse (b, d, p, g, d) and a few words that she knows how to spell.  She stood at the kitchen counter for a while making letters. 

Little Guy had to get in on the action and make some shapes, too. 

A great multi-sensory input way to practice letters!

Sensory Handwriting Practice Letter Formation

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Practicing handwriting doesn’t have to involve paper!   This sensory handwriting practice activity works on letter formation and line awareness with proper tool grasp and typical writing motor movements (unlike many sensory writing activities that use a writing tray or over-sized letters–while those sensory writing activities DO add to the tactile sense, they prevent the child from becoming accustomed to holding the pencil and the small motor advancements made by a writing utensil.  The child IS working on letter formation but they are not doing so in a typical motor pattern, and this can actually be quite confusing for some children.) 


This creative handwriting task, however DOES use a writing utensil-one that is appropriately sized to what the child typically grasps when writing on paper–and adds a bit of proprioceptive input.  We do love creative handwriting activities around here, and this one is one of our all time favorites!


Practicing Handwriting with shaving cream

Practice Handwriting with Sensory Input

 
This post contains affiliate links.
 

We practiced writing letters one day last week and this was a super fun way to do it!  I filled a couple of bags with shaving cream (not much, just a little worked great).  I used a permanent black marker to write a few letters that sometimes confuse Big Sister…common reversals: ‘b, d, p, q, and g’. 


Letter Formation with Sensory

 We also practiced ‘a’ and ‘c’ to begin.  When you make a “little curve” to make a ‘c’, you can continue with simple verbal cues to make the ‘c’ into other letters like a ‘d’…”little curve, big line down” makes a ‘d’.

sensory handwriting with shaving cream
Big Sister used a dry erase board marker to trace the lower case letters.  She could wipe the dry erase board marks off over and over again.  You can use a smaller sized dry erase marker or a fine tip marker to make this more similar to the  motor movements needed for writing with a pencil. 
We also practiced writing our address on the sensory bags.  This activity was a fun way to practice letter formation with verbal and visual cues with an added sensory input.  Plus, Big Sister just really loves writing with the dry erase board makers 🙂
This would be a fun way to practice shapes, numbers, and even beginning pencil stokes for the younger kids.
Looking for more creative handwriting activities?  My friend Erica has some great ideas on this post.  You’ll love to dive into some of our all-time favorite creative handwriting ideas:
http://www.sugaraunts.com/2015/10/visual-tracking-tips-and-tools-for.html 

Color Matching Water Bin with Letters

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This was our last water bin in our Water Bins for Kids series with Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails.  This was definitely the most fun water bin for us this summer!  We ended the series with a splash! 
(Yes, had to go there!!)
This is a great addition to a color by letter worksheet. Just print and go and work on so many areas of development.

Letter Water Bin

This week’s theme was Color Matching!
Two of us sisters got together one day this week and had SO much fun with the kids on a hot and sunny afternoon.
We started with a colorful plastic bin and filled it with water.  We threw in our bin of colorful magnetic letters (see another fun letter sensory bin here), and egg dying cups in lots of colors.
We started by scooping the letters into the floating cups and trying to catch the matching letter.  We asked the kiddos what letter they found, the color, and if the letter color matched the cup. 
This activity is a good one for bilateral hand coordination, eye-hand coordination, and fine motor skills.  They had to use both hands together in a coordinated manner, while visually tracking the letters as they flowed around in the water.  Then, with both hands on the cups, scoop up the letters.  How fun!
Of course, when these cousins get together, there is sure to be silliness.  The two younger ones were the instigators in the splash down.
We pulled out a metal curtain rod and stuck a magnet to one end.  It stuck to the curtain rod and was able to attract the magnets of the letters.  Little Guy LOVED this!
We pulled all of the colored cups out of the water and had the kids “fish” for the letters and put them into the matching cups.
Little Guy could have done this for an hour, I think…if it were not for his fun-loving little Sister and cousin dumping water on everyone.
 There was a LOT more of this…
…and watering of the plants!
This whole series has been so much fun!  

Share it Saturday #29

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Fun Ways to Practice Writing and Learning Letters

Another week has gone by and now we are already over halfway through July.  Before we know it the end of summer will be here and the beginning of the school year (gulp).


My little girl will be heading to kindergarten in the fall and this mommy is already tearing up thinking about it.  Just the thought of sending her off on the big school bus is putting me into an arrhythmia.  I know I am not the only one thinking this…how did this happen?  how did my baby get so big already??
With kindergarten on my mind lately, we have been getting some writing and letter activities into our daily schedule.  She can write her first and last name and the entire alphabet with some help with that darn letter “Q”.
This week we are featuring some of the posts that were linked up relating to letters and writing…
Writing and Letter Activities
Schooltime Snippets- this adorable activity is great for the toddlers and preschoolers.  I love how she cut out strips of paper for her daughter to match up the letters.  This post is full of great ideas.

Domesticated Breakdown shared a lovely framed artwork she made for her sons room.  I have been wanting to try something like this, it looks like such great craft that the kids can help with.
Highhill Education- shared a wonderful activity to encourage writing- postcard exchange!  This is such a great idea, I love that it involves interacting with others.

And Next Comes L shared an alphabet hands obstacle course and scavenger hunt.  This activity is something kids of all ages would enjoy and I could see these hands being used over and over again in other activities. 

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Multi-age Letter Learning Bin

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This was an easy little activity that worked for all of the ages. 
My Pre-K kiddo copied the words,
My Pre-Schooler liked telling me all of the things that started with “D” and exploring the bin,
and my Toddler loved checking out all of the fun things in the bin.
(Especially the ducks…Baby Girl looooooves ducks!)

I’ve seen the letter sensory bin idea over at Life With Moore Babies.  
She’s linked up at our Share It Saturday link up party and I knew my kids would love to do something like that!

We went on a scavenger hunt to search for toys that started with D and everyone had so much fun!
We found Dog puppets, ducks, a doll, and a Dad (ok, this was another doll and a small stretch to get a “D” word, but they got it :).   We also had dinosaurs, a D magnet, a few foam letter “D”‘s, a plastic “Diamond” bracelet, a plastic dime, and Dora.
I wrote all of the words on the writing sheet for Big Sister.  She’s so into copying words right now.  And learning lower case letters.  She loved pulling the object out of the box, asking me which word matched up, and then copying.

 My silly Baby Girl. I have 6 shots of this.  She was hil-arious.
 And she knew it!
Colleen

Letter Bin

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This was a great bin to pull out on a cold wintery day.
This bin of letters has been at our house since Big Sister was around 18 months.  I found the letter sets on sale and got 3 or 4 of them for a really inexpensive learning toy.
Big Sister would play with this bin constantly.
I pulled it out again since Baby Girl is almost that age.

Baby Girl and my niece and nephew swarmed right in on this as soon as I put it down on the table.  They played with this off and on allll day!  They would come over, scoop around in the bin, pull letters out, dump it out, put them back in (sort of)…and do it all over again.

They loved the colors, the feel of the letters, the little sound when you swish all the letters together…

Toddler Sensory Bin!

Little Guy is at that stage where he is just beginning to identify letters.  He knows the ones in his name and some others…so this was a perfect learning toy for him, too.  He found the letters in his name and traced them.
Big Sister sorted out some letters and spelled a few words she knows.
We have used these letters so often over the last few years…If you see them on sale, scoop up a few sets.  It’s fun for all ages 🙂