Sight Word Game: Reading Farm

I love mixing sensory play and learning opportunities!  This week  I created a simple farm-themed sensory bin that included a variety of the CVC words we’ve been practicing.

For our “dirt” I used the edible cloud dough we made a couple weeks ago.  (It’s been in a sealed container and is still in great shape!)

I used green construction paper to act as our crops.  On each strip I wrote a CVC word.  (Think words like hop, hat, bed, sit…) 

Because our sensory bin still had plenty of room, I added a few other farm items to explore.  The Playmobil Farm Tractor actually belonged to my husband long ago.  It was a fun surprise for the kids, along with the farm animals.

I tossed in a handful of oats for good measure.  After all, those animals have to eat!

I set it up so they could take turns exploring the bin.

My son had fun using the little boy farmer to pull each “crop.”  Before he could load it on the tractor’s scoop he had to sound out the word.

Of course there was plenty of squishing the cloud dough and playing along the way!

He was proud to get through all those words, and I was proud of him, too!

Once he finished exploring the bin, I set it back up for big sister.

She flew through those words!

And then she had fun mixing those oats with the cloud dough for a whole new texture to explore!

So why a sensory bin?

The bin allowed each of them an opportunity to explore different textures while practicing early reading skills.    It also gave them that bit of time to “play” independently, which always helps them have smoother play time together afterwards.  (And my favorite reason:  giving them different textures to explore in a sensory bin seems to keep my oldest out of my lotions, soaps, and whatever else she just wants to “explore.”)