Even though we are using Letter of the Week themes in our homeschool preschool, we are still exploring the alphabet as a whole. One fun way we’re doing that is with this fantastically fun alphabet pom pom sensory bin.
This activity was extremely quick to put together since I already had most of the materials.
I used pom poms in a variety of colors and sizes, foam letters, black posterboard, and white crayon.
*Please note: Pom poms can be a choking hazard. Please supervise young children carefully.
I laid out the foam letters alphabetially on the black posterboard and traced them with the white crayon. Then I tossed the pom poms and foam letters together into a plastic storage container.
Knowing that pom poms are a big temptation for little hands, I give some time for free play when first presenting this alphabet sensory bin to my daughter.
Pom poms just have to be tossed in the air! (This makes a big mess, but they’re pretty fast and easy to pick up.)
Then we get busy finding letters and matching them to the alphabet posterboard.
This provides a lot of opportunity to practice a variety of skills.
Pooky had to:
- name individual letters
- match the foam letter to its outline
- orient the letter correctly on the posterboard
Once all the letters are placed in their spot on the posterboard, I ask Pooky to use them to say the alphabet.
Pooky has played with this alphabet sensory bin several times. I’ve also used it repeatedly with our group of homeschool preschoolers. (They’re not pictured since I didn’t get parent permission for all of them.) But it was no problem to get five kiddos between the ages of 2-4 around this sensory bin since I used a large container. (Luckily, we have a pom pom hoarding habit.)
Take it Further!
Use this as an opportunity to really talk about the individual letters. As the child is placing a letter on the posterboard, ask him/her questions such as the following.
- What sound does that letter make?
- Is it in the beginning, middle, or end part of the alphabet?
- What letter does it come after?
- What letter does it come before?
- Is that one of the letters in your name?
When it’s time to clean up, we race against our visual timer to try and get the pom poms all back into the bin before the timer goes off.
I love this alphabet sensory bin because it is a ton of fun for the kids and it’s an instant alphabet activity! Pooky seems to really enjoy it too!
For more great ways for young kids to work with the alphabet, check out my Letter Study board on Pinterest.
aww 🙂 Toss those pom pom in the air! Toss them like you just don’t care! Lol! My kids do the same thing, but mixing pom pom with educational ideas like learning learning the alphabet is a lot of fun also.
Thanks for linking up with the FrugalMommas team. Hope to see you again soon
I love how the kids have to ‘hunt’ for the letters in the sensory bin filled with pompoms. I’m sure that gets them all excited in finding letters. Thanks for sharing on Toddler Fun Friday!
I LOVE THIS! I want to do just what your daughter did. Slide my hands in the bin and scoop up pom poms and let them fall like confetti. It is so colorful!! And relatively inexpensive. Great activity!
Thank you so much for sharing with Everything Kids! We can’t wait to see what you have to share with us next week!! I’m pinning this to the EK board as well as my own! So much fun!
I know! Pom-poms are so fun! Thanks for sharing.
Pingback: Indoor Activities for Toddlers - My Bored Toddler
Pingback: Why we use Sensory Bins - Spark and Pook
Pingback: ABC Sensory Bins - Fantastic Fun & Learning