Alphabet Letter Wash

Simple Early Learning Water Sensory Play

Finding unique and interactive ways for Liam to play with the alphabet and continue to learn the letters and their sounds is a challenge! All activities must be: visually exciting, hands-on, and include a sensory experience! No worksheets here!

He loves water, bubbles, and playing with water and bubbles. I picked up two white wash bins and fluffy, soft blue sponge from the dollar store for exactly this purpose. Washing, washing anything can be a fun activity. You can wash pretend play dishes, animals, dolls, you name it including THE ALPHABET! I am still working towards out goal of teaching a happy alphabet and learning through play (post here).

This is our alphabet washing adventure. Originally I set it up as part of morning time activities and I had not put the letters in the tub yet. I had figured we could get them together but although I explained the activity clearly, I don’t think he could “see” it in his mind and therefore he didn’t want to do it. I have been trying to let him have space when this happens so that he naturally comes around to it on his own and will hopefully have a better time with it. The next go around, I put the letters in the tub and he was ready to wash!

Should have had some more towels ready, that’s for sure! I had one out to put the letters on but not one for spills and there were spills. However, if we are having fun and he is not purposefully making a mess, well that’s OK with me! I have taken to letting him play with whatever activity we are working with for a few minutes before we start so that he can test out the sensory piece and connect with it. So far, this has been working well. The idea was for him to scrub the letter in the soapy water, tell me the letter, rinse it and put it out to dry. When we were all done, we put the letters in their order to finish drying.

He loved the idea. I say with a little surprise since I have a hard time coming up with good ideas (or good ideas to him). He even scrubbed, rinsed and scrubbed again on many of the letters. He enjoyed how the sponge would soak up water and he could transfer it to the other tub. Quick impromptu science lesson there! He did a nice job with the order. Often he has to repeat the whole alphabet pointing letter for letter to get what the next letter should be, but he knows to do it instead of saying he doesn’t know. He has an easier time with the first 4 and the last 4! I can definitely tell that his letter recognition is much more solid than even a few weeks ago, so hopefully these fun activities have been working for him. Need some more ideas, click here!

More fun ways to explore the alphabet!