It doesn’t snow where we live here in Melbourne. In fact, I have probably seen actual, real snow only two or three times in my entire life. I do love the idea of snow though, and how pretty it looks – I am not sure I love that it’s so cold!
In this activity, you will make a fun sensory writing tray that uses coconut as it’s sensory base. The coconut sort of resembles snow, and as well as feeling great – it smells divine! Making this activity is a true sensory learning experience, and a fun way to keep writing practice interesting.
This is what you will need:
- A shallow dish or container. We used this tray from Melissa and Doug. Here is an amazon affiliate link to the product:
- Coconut
- Paintbrush
This is what you will need to do:
1. Pour a small amount of coconut into your tray or dish so that it is covered with a thin layer of coconut. I rarely use food as a crafting material – it is such a waste. But I found this in my pantry and it was close to its use by date, so we decided to use a small amount in this activity.
2. Place your tray of coconut on a flat surface. You may like to spread out an old sheet or some paper towel under your tray to catch any coconut spills and make clean up easy. Then start writing in the tray. This time, we used a paintbrush to keep things interesting. But you can use any tool that you like – or even just your finger!
We started with letters. I typed up some words and then we used our paint brush to write each letter in the coconut snow! Once you have formed your letter, simply smooth over the coconut letter and start again!
Don’t feel restricted to only writing letters. Try writing numbers and add some counters to practice counting, subitising and 1:1 correspondence skills. [Have you heard of the term subitising before? Subitising is the ability to recognize the number of objects in a small group without actually counting each item out].
And you can also practice shape formation too! To do this, I simply printed out some shapes and then placed them next to the tray for my little guys to copy.
These are the shapes that I printed. You can download your own shape file here:
Once you have finished with your writing tray, you might like to store the coconut in an air tight container to use again another day. You might even like to dye your coconut with some food coloring. It is up to you how you choose to play and learn!
Thank you so much for reading! Any thoughts or questions, please pop them in the comments section below. Jacinta Xx
Please enjoy these fun FREE winter counting printables!
cintaandco.com 