Fishing for Letters Alphabet Sensory Bin Activity
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Summer is here, and we’re thinking about the ocean! This free Fishing for Letters Alphabet Sensory Bin Activity provides practice with letter recognition, matching uppercase and lowercase letters, letter writing skills, and more. Sensory bins are a favorite among both teachers and students so this activity is sure to be a hit in your classroom!
*Pair with our Ocean Centers and Activities for Pre-K & Kindergarten!
Fishing for Letters Alphabet Sensory Bin Activities
One of my favorite things to do is spend time near the ocean. Put me within earshot of gently crashing waves and I’m in my happy place.
Maybe it’s just my own interests rubbing off, but my kids have always been interested in the ocean too. When I said I wanted to color rice blue for an ocean alphabet sensory bin, my girls were all in.
Making the Sensory Bin
Following these simple, taste-safe directions we took turns adding food coloring to our bag of rice. The girls loved shaking it and watching the color spread. One of them suggested we add some green too, and so we did. If you look closely you can see a little bit of green “water” mixed in with the different shades of blue.
The colored rice was ready for play in just a few minutes. We added the cute fish with uppercase and lowercase letters (download below) plus a few plastic ocean animals.
I stepped into another room to print the recording sheet. While I worked I could hear the sound of gently clinking rice as the girls enthusiastically raked through the bin. The sensory element is such a strong draw!
3 Ways to Play!
To play, print the fish letter cards, laminate them for durability if you like, and then cut out each fish. You can present this alphabet sensory bin activity in three ways, depending on the learning objective!
Pick out the uppercase and lowercase letters you want to reinforce and hide them in the sensory bin. The child sifts through the bin to find matching letters. Then they write the letters on the recording sheet.
RELATED RESOURCE: Alphabet Centers and Activities for Pre-K & Kindergarten
Another option is to hide small, familiar plastic ocean animals in the bin along with letter cards for the initial sound of each animal name (i.e. d – dolphin, n – narwhal, f – fish, etc.). The child then finds the matching animals and letter cards.
The download also includes a little bonus: four pairs of pre-primer sight words that you can hide in the bin. As the child finds each match, invite him or her to say it in a sentence related to the ocean theme.
As the kids work, they can write down their matches on the recording sheet. They also can color the fish to match the colors on the cards they found!
Playing with “ocean rice” isn’t quite the same as spending time near the real thing, but it’s still an engaging way to add some almost-summer (or already summer) interest to your classroom.
Grab Your FREE Copy
Ready to go fishing for some letters? Get your free copy of this fun Alphabet Sensory Bin Activity by clicking the large, yellow download button at the end of the post!
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