Kinetic Sand Dot to Dot Fine Motor Activity

Looking for kinetic sand activities for kids? This kinetic sand dot to dot fine motor activity is tons of fun for toddlers and preschoolers.

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Kinetic sand is a go-to sensory item in our house. 

While it's fascinating to play with by itself, by adding one or two items from around the house, you can sneak in some extra learning. 

This activity is one such example, encouraging fine motor and prewriting skills.

An honestly, this kinetic sand fine motor activity gives me some serious nostalgic vibes, reminding me of that classic childhood pen and paper game called dots and boxes.

What You'll Need for this Fine Motor Kinetic Sand Activity

This activity is pretty low prep. You just need to grab these materials:

• Kinetic sand

• Clear geoboard

• Bamboo skewer

Your Kids Will Love this Dot to Dot Fine Motor Activity Using Kinetic Sand!

First, we stamped the geoboard onto the kinetic sand so that when the geoboard was lifted, there was a 10 x 10 grid. And yes, we are full swing back into temporary tattoo mode at our house (note the Super Mario themed tattoos!).

When you pull off the geoboard, you're left with this amazing impression in the kinetic sand.

Now that we have the grid for the dot to dot, the boys started connecting the dots in different ways. K is still mastering straight lines, but he loved using the dots to build his letter writing and shape drawing.

Five year old J was more precise. He drew boxes and wrote teeny tiny numbers in the boxes (hello, hypernumeracy!) as he went along. It was like he was playing that classic dots and boxes game that I remember from my childhood.

Other Activities You'll Love

Kinetic Sand Rainbow Building Activity

Shaving Cream Dot to Dot Light Table Activity

More Kinetic Sand Activities for Kids

Valentine's Sensory Writing Tray & Light Table Activity

Valentine's Day themed salt tray writing activity for the light table.

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Both of my boys like to write. So we used this Valentine's writing tray as a way to practice writing Valentine's themed words and shapes. Salt trays like this one are great for toddlers and preschoolers to practice mark making and writing skills.

This activity is quick and simple to set up.

And you can add additional sensory dimensions by placing it on a light table and turning it into a Valentine's Day light table activity.

Valentine Sensory Writing Tray: What You'll Need

Here's what you'll need for this salt tray writing activity:

• Epsom salt

• Red craft feathers

• Plastic heart jewelry links - I found ours at Target and the Dollar Tree.

• Glass dish

• Light table (optional)

Valentine's Day Light Table Activity

I put this Valentine writing tray on the light table just to add another sensory dimension. Plus, my boys loves light table play so I knew it would be even more appealing to them.

The feathers were perfect for practicing writing and helped to encourage good fine motor skills. J practiced writing words like heart and love in the salt. He also drew some hearts freehand and traced some of the plastic hearts.

The boys also liked to press the plastic hearts into the salt to make little heart impressions. They continued to do these impressions for a few minutes before declaring they were all done. So it wasn't major success in their books, but it did keep them busy for like 10 minutes.

Other Ideas You'll Love

Valentine's Day Activities for Kids

15 Valentine's Day Themed Light Table Activities

Free Printable Valentine's Day I Spy Game

This post is part of the Show Me the Love series and includes these other fun ideas:

We Love Nouns Kid Writing with Free Printable from Still Playing School

Bubble Wrap Heart Prints from House of Burke

Pokeball Salt Tray

You may have noticed that we're a bit Pokemon crazy here and have done quite a few Pokemon activities and crafts lately. I recently put together this Pokeball salt tray activity for kids that encourages mark-making and writing practice. It's great for prewriters, but also for little Pokemon fans that may be resistant to writing or practicing spelling words. It's an appealing invitation to write!

This post contains affiliate links.

Pokemon Activity for Kids: Make a Pokeball Inspired Salt Tray for Writing Practice!

To make this salt tray, I used:

• Epsom salt - Regular table salt works well too!
• Red liquid watercolor
• Black liquid watercolor
• Small zipper seal bags
• Round tray or cake pan
• Chopsticks (optional)

In a small zipper seal bag, add some epsom salt (how much you use will depend on how large your tray or pan is) and a few squirts of red liquid watercolor. Repeat the process with a smaller amount of epsom salt and black liquid watercolor. Vigorously shake both bags until the color is evenly distributed. The kids love helping with the shaking part!

Arrange the epsom salt in the tray like a Pokeball using the red dyed salt, black dyed salt, and plain epsom salt. Offer chopsticks as a drawing utensil or let the kids draw using their fingers.

The Pokeball won't last long. Before long, the colors will all become swirled together. However, the original salt tray might just be inviting enough for kids to practice spelling sight words, especially if they are resistant to writing and spelling. Regardless, it's a great way to work on fine motor skills with kids.

Other Ideas You'll Love

Pokeball Suncatcher Craft

Free Printable Pokemon Action Cards

Free Printable DIY Pokemon Cards Template

Calming Lavender Prewriting Tray

My youngest will be heading off to Kindergarten in September and although he is already reading and writing early, much like his older brother, I still like to encourage prewriting skills through play. This calming lavender prewriting sensory tray was a perfect way to spend the morning after a rough start. And it was just the kind of activity that he needed to reset his day.

This post contains affiliate links.

For this prewriting tray, I used:

• Epsom salts
• Purple liquid watercolor
• Lavender essential oil
• Large zipper seal bag
• Chopstick
• Cookie cutters - Simple shapes work best.
• Glass dish

To make the lavender scented epsom salt, pour some salt into a large zipper seal bag. Then add about 7-8 squirts of liquid watercolor (how much you use depends on how much salt you use and how dark of a color you want the salt to be) and 5 drops of lavender essential oil. Seal the bag and have your child shake the bag vigorously until all materials are evenly mixed.

Pour the epsom salt into a large glass dish. Add various cookie cutters and a chopstick to the dish as well. Then it's ready for playtime!

My four year old first tried to arrange all the cookie cutters in the tray, trying his best to make them all fit. Stamping the cookie cutters will leave great imprints in the epsom salt, which they could then trace.

Or they can trace the cookie cutters in the salt like below. My son really loved to trace the cookie cutter shapes over and over.

Then, randomly, he declared, "I need a car!" So I grabbed the closest car that I could find...Zuma from Paw Patrol (his favorite)! So K took Zuma for a spin through the salt.

Here's a video of my four year old playing with this sensory prewriting tray:

Looking for other calming sensory activities for kids? Try these:

Lavender Scented Beans

Rainbow Scented Matching Game with Essential Oils

Alphabet Soap Foam Painting Activity for Kids

This alphabet soap foam painting activity is a lot of fun for toddlers and preschoolers.

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Soap foam is a favorite go-to sensory activity around here. We have tried scented soap foam and tie dye soap foam in the past (as well as many other variations) and my kids just love it. Even I enjoy playing with it!

Recently, the boys have been playing with our giant box of cookie cutters. It's one of their favorite "toys." So I decided it might be fun to pair the cookie cutters with some soap foam and do a little writing and fine motor practice. 

The result is this alphabet soap foam painting activity, which my boys loved! I knew it would be a hit given that simply adding letters or numbers to anything will always grab my hyperlexic son's interest.

Soap Foam Painting Activity: What You'll Need

This activity is part sensory play, part process art activity, and part prewriting practice. It combines fine motor and sensory all into one fun activity. Here's what you'll need to recreate this activity at home:

• Liquid soap and water - To make the soap foam that will be the base of our sensory and soap foam painting activity. Instructions below if you've never made it before. You can use dish soap, castile soap, or similar.

• Blender, electric hand mixer, whisk, or stand mixer - To whip up the sensory soap foam. Although I do mention an alternative way to make soap foam using soap pumps.

• Liquid watercolor paints - It is a painting activity after all...

• Small cups or a muffin tin for the paints - We personally reuse little plastic applesauce or fruit cups for activities like this.

• Alphabet cookie cutters - We used the ones that are included in this Wilton 101 Cookie Cutters set. The alphabet cookie cutters will be the stencils for painting/writing letters in the soap foam.

• Paint brushes - Again, it's a painting activity so you kind of need these.

• Large plastic container - To contain all that soap foam we're about to make...

To prep this activity, you'll first have to make soap foam (details below) and add it to a large plastic container. 

Next, you'll have to dilute some liquid watercolors with water in some small cups or a muffin tin. We personally like to reuse plastic applesauce cups for this purpose, but a muffin tin or small bowls work great too. We made rainbow colors because life is better with rainbows, but feel free to make whatever colors you want.

Finally, put the alphabet cookie cutters, paint brushes, and the containers of paint next to the container of soap foam. Then it's time to play!

Soap Foam Recipe: How to Make Sensory Soap Foam

To make soap foam, you'll need to mix some liquid soap with a splash or two of water. How much you'll need will depend on the size of the container, but a little goes a long way. We personally like to use castile soap for our soap foam and happened to use almond scented castile soap for this activity, which smells incredible. So our finished batch of soap foam happens to be scented.

Anyway, you're going to have to whip the soap and water until it's bubbly and foamy. You can mix it up using a blender, electric mixer, or even a stand mixer. Or you can simply whip it up using a whisk and some good old fashioned muscle power. It just takes a bit longer by hand. But any of these methods will produce the fluffy soap foam you need for this activity.

Another way to make soap foam is to use a foam soap dispenser. Fill an empty foaming soap bottle with approximately 2 tablespoons of castile soap, top it up with water, and then let the kids pump the soap into a large container. Most kids love to pump those soap pump containers! This method works best if you're only making a small amount.

Your Kids Will Love Painting Letters in Soap Foam

For this activity, you'll simply place an alphabet cookie cutter on the soap foam and paint the inside of it with some of the diluted liquid watercolor paint. That's it.

The kids can paint individual letters or even spell words and paint those. My boys opted to paint random letters versus full words into the bubble foam, as you can see below.

The painted cookie cutter letters look so pretty. I especially love the rainbow painted W that five year old J did.

When the cookie cutters are removed, you can sort of see the painted letters floating on the soap foam.

After painting for quite some time, my boys decided they were done painting letters. So they dumped the remaining liquid watercolor paints in, used their hands to mix up some really colorful soap foam, and turned it into a full fledged sensory activity. 

Overall, this soap foam painting activity was a hit! It was great for working on fine motor skills, a little sensory play, and some alphabet learning.

Other Preschool Painting Activities You'll Love

Painting to Music Process Art & Bumblebee Craft for Kids

Fun Summer Art Activity: Painting with Dandelions

Rainbow Chickpeas & Alphabet Cookie Cutters Sensory Activity

Looking for literacy sensory activities? Try this fun rainbow chickpeas and alphabet cookie cutters sensory play for kids.

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It has been awhile since we've played with our rainbow dyed chickpeas, which is hard to believe because they're my absolute favorite sensory bin filler ever.

So, the other day I paired the rainbow chickpeas with some alphabet cookie cutters to encourage some alphabet and literacy learning for my three year old. The end result is this gorgeous sensory activity!

Zero preparation is involved (unless you don't have rainbow chickpeas already on hand, but they only take 3-5 minutes to make), which makes this a quick and simple activity to pull out when the kids are bored.

Ready to try this rainbow chickpeas and alphabet cookie cutters sensory activity? Well, then let's dig in!

What You'll Need for this Rainbow Chickpea Sensory Activity

For this activity, you only need two items, which you can probably guess what they are based off the title of the post. You'll need:

• Rainbow dyed chickpeas - They are the easiest sensory bin filler to make ever and we've been playing with this same bag of chickpeas for almost a year already.

• Alphabet cookie cutters - Ours are from this 101 cookie cutter set, which, at this point, we've used for everything but making cookies.

Simply add the rainbow dyed chickpeas to a large sensory bin container. Then add the alphabet cookie cutters. You could set up the letters in a specific way or spell a word if you'd like, but it's not necessary.

Time to Play with Rainbow Chickpeas & Alphabet Cookie Cutters!

When you push the cookie cutter down, it will fill with chickpeas, like below:

But three year old K found other ways to play, including scooping up a handful of chickpeas and cookie cutters at once.

Then he wanted to spell words. He started with "E-X" and asked me how to finish spelling EXIT, which you can see in action below.

Then he spelled the words IN and OUT all by himself. I really do think he could be hyperlexic himself, but certainly not to the same extent as his older brother. I love how he initially spelled the word IN in the chickpeas and then OUT outside the chickpeas. PS: How gorgeous is that last photo?! I am in love with it!

All in all, my son had a lot of fun with this rainbow chickpeas and alphabet cookie cutters sensory activity. It was a colorful way to explore letters and words. Will you be giving it a try?

Invitation to Play: Magna-Tiles & a Magna-Doodle

If you are familiar with my blog at all, then you already know that we are huge fans of Magna-Tiles. Well, my oldest J also loves playing with his Magna-Doodle, which he got for Christmas. He has used it so much that I already had to tape the string back to the pen. One day I noticed him combining the two toys. It was a brilliant way to explore shapes, math, letters, and, of course his favorite topic lately, fractions. Simple math learning at its finest as created by my hypernumerate five year old.

This no-prep activity for kids using Magna-Tiles is a great way to explore mathematical concepts, fine motor skills, prewriting, and more!

This post contains affiliate links. A big thank you to Valtech for providing us with the Magna-Tiles 100 piece solid colors set.

Simple Math & Prewriting Boredom Buster for Kids

For this math and prewriting invitation to play, we used:

• Magna-Tiles 100 piece set of solid colors
• Magna-Doodle

First, the boys created shapes by "stamping" the different shapes of Magna-Tiles on the Magna-Doodle. Then the boys would trace the shape's outline using the Magna-Doodle's pen.

The boys also stamped the side of the Magna-Tiles to create numbers and letters to trace.

Then J started doing fractions. He started by stamping four of the small squares, but quickly realized that he could stamp a large square Magna-Tile and fit four small squares inside.

Then he moved to stamping triangles inside the large square's outline. He, of course, wrote the numbers for each fraction as he went along.

Other Ideas You'll Love

Cars & a Magna-Doodle

Learning Multiplication with Magna-Tiles

7 Reasons Why Magna-Tiles are a Must Own Toy!

Gift Ideas for Kids who Love to Doodle, Write, & Draw