Kinetic Sand and Stamps

Monkey was really lucky to get a big tub of "Sands Alive" kinetic sand for Christmas this year. If you haven't heard of kinetic sand, it's really cool - it's dry sand but it can molded and shaped as if it's wet. Even better, it only sticks to itself, so clean up is really easy. But, it's pretty pricey. If Monkey didn't receive the kinetic sand as a present, I would have tried to make our own. I've never done it, but the ingredients are pretty basic and it doesn't look too hard. 

Usually, Monkey just plays with the set of sand toys that he got with his kinetic sand, which are great. But today I wanted to try something different, an idea I found here: http://picklebums.com/2014/06/17/kinetic-sand-stamping/

Using sensory activities to teach literacy and numeracy skills is an excellent strategy because often the kids don't even realize that they're learning.

Supplies: kinetic sand, bucket, flattening device, alphabet stamps 

There was essentially no set up for this activity. We flattened down the sand a little to have a nice surface to stamp on. Monkey used the trowel and I just used my hands. Today was a time when I really wish we had a toy rolling pin, but I can't seem to find one at any store!

At this point Monkey knows all his letter names and sounds so I want to start to practice spelling his name. I used the stamps to write his name in the sand and then had him copy it below. Then we did it with "Mommy", too. 

While doing our names I would sound them out slowly and really emphasize the letter sounds while he was stamping them, as well as repeat the spelling over and over. 

After he finished up our names I told Monkey he could do whatever he wanted with the stamps. He wanted to take turns stamping the alphabet in order, so that's what we did. 

Once the alphabet was done, Monkey was about done with the stamps. I don't ever want to over do it with any learning activities because I don't want him to become frustrated or disinterested. So we pulled out his sand toys and he played with those. 

Mar