Back in January

We indulged in days of sensory play

While Esther and William were only at school part time

One of our best activities

Was based on a phonics teaching and learning strategy

From Letters and Sounds

Called Sound Buttons

Our sensory play was

Sleigh Bell Soup

We used a stunning rainbow kitchenware nest from Joseph Joseph

The plan was to use it afterwards to test our new Whirlpool Dishwasher

On its very special Power Dry setting

But first the soup!

I filled one of our fabulous giant messy play bowls with water

To the water I added a sprinkle of magnetic letters

And seasoned with sleigh bells

Rainbow colour of course!

We then gave the soup a stir

And let it simmer gently

I gave Esther and William spoons

And magnetic wands

So that they could fish for letters

And scoop out bells

The idea was that they would collect letters

Then try to use their letters to make words

Each letter they found they told me the sound

And then put the letters together

Blending them to make CVC words

And some CCVC and CVCC

I was very impressed with their phonic knowledge

And ability to read and write simple words

At only just four and a half

They could also build and write their names

The water was warm so lovely to play in

The bells made a lovely jingle and tinkle as we played

Adding an extra special sensory element to our game

We all had a wonderful time

Learning through play

Whilst building words

Esther started to use the sleigh bells as sound buttons

Placing one bell under each letter or sound

This was something she remembered from school

And brought into our learning at home

Breaking words into their sounds

Helps with reading and spelling

We also like to clap out sounds and syllables for the same reason

And to help with this we love to read the book Tanka Tanka Skunk

Which was one of my favourite read alouds when teaching

This was a great activity for encouraging William to write

He is a very reluctant writer

His spelling is excellent

And he can type chunks of text

But because he find the physical act of holding a pen so difficult

He is not very keen to try

But he did enjoy this activity

And using a chunky marker pen on a whiteboard

I think we will be revisiting this again

Learning to read and write through water play

Will be great fun as the weather warms up

I am imagining giant plastic letters in the paddling pool?

After the activity Esther and William helped to load all the utensils into the dishwasher

It certainly is a valuable machine to have when you do a lot of messy play

A dishwasher

That washes your dishes and dries them too!

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