Aside from the fact that sensory experiences are just fun, they really help kids retain what they learn when they use their senses. I am always working on new ways to engage and encourage learning through play. This Sensory Learning Tray for Kids is a fun way to bring in a theme while your child practices pre or early writing skills and letter recognition.

We enjoy this activity so much that we have made trays in several different colors. We change out small props to fit in with whatever theme we are learning about that week. A few silk or plastic flowers made this one go right along with our garden theme. Swap in a couple plastic mermaids and you have a new theme altogether. Change up the color, add a few shells, and it gives your child yet another option for play!

Sensory Learning Tray for Kids

Materials:

salt
food coloring
spoon
glitter
shallow plastic container with a lid

This is ridiculously simple for a project that the kids get so much mileage out of. I grabbed this plastic tub at my local dollar store. You can find all kinds of shapes and sizes.

Directions:

Pour salt right into your container.
Add several drops of your chosen food coloring and stir well with your spoon, continue to add until desired shade is reached.
Stir in a contrasting or complementary glitter color.

Here are some other ways to use your Sensory Learning Tray:

Place a flash card in front of the tray and let your child practice tracing letters, numbers, or simple sight words into the center.
Early learners can begin with the tray by copying patterns you make or drawing simple shapes with their fingers.
Stamp 2 letters of simple consonant/vowel/consonant words for your child in the colored salt. Provide several options for the missing letter and encourage them to stamp the correct letter to complete the word.
Let your child just free play and discover letters and numbers by stamping alpha magnets or shaped puzzle pieces in the salt.
Call out letters or numbers and have your child trace them in the sand.
Call out simple words and have your child trace out the beginning letter sound.