Learning to write is on the top 5 list of what a preschooler needs to know. I have been working with my preschooler J on learning to write with preschool letter worksheets that I made for her. We focus on one letter a week and use different activities to work on this skill. Today I will be sharing with you one of our preschool sensory activities: using a salt tray.
J has somewhat mastered how to write a few letters by now since we have started and one of the activities that we use is a salt tray. Since we are in the middle of winter, I decided to do a twist on the regular salt tray!
What You Need
– container or plate to put your salt in
– ziplock bag
– blue food colouring
– 1 cup of salt
– silver glitter (optional)
First take your ziplock bag and place the 1 cup of salt in it.
Place 5 (or more) drops of the blue food colouring to the bag and shake vigorously. Allow the mixture to dry completely in the bag (this may take an hour or 2).
Once your blue salt is dry, add 1 teaspoon of silver glitter to the bag and shake again.
Pour in your plate or container and your tray is finished.
How to Use the Salt Tray
If you know what letter you want to work on, simply write it large on a piece of paper or simply print this free sand writing alphabet set.
The next step is to show your preschooler what is expected and say out loud the steps you are taking to write your letter. For example to write the letter “I”, I say the following:
Pull down straight. Lift. Touch the top; slide right. Lift. Touch the bottom; slide right
It may take a few tries for your preschooler to get the gist of what is expected, just remember to make the experience fun and enjoyable. Whatever you do, don’t turn your back on the salt tray or you end up with salt everywhere, thanks to your fun loving preschooler!
Have you ever used a salt tray in your preschool learning fun?