I’ve read so many books, blog posts, and magazine articles about preparing my child for kindergarten.
It’s a huge deal. And since I’m the one in charge of preschool, it’s all up to me to prepare my girls. That’s a big responsibility.
So I read every thing I could find.
There were so many things to learn, but one thing really stood out to me. It was something so simple, so simple that I took it for granted. The one thing that stood out to me was the importance of name recognition for preschoolers.
Of course! We need a fun name recognition activity so we set up this Name Recognition Sensory Bin.
My preschooler needs to learn to recognize her name. It’s going to be everywhere.
Where will she hang her coat? Underneath her name. I don’t want her to have to wait around for help. I want her to confidently recognize her name and know which coat hook to use.
So, I created a simple Name Recognition Sensory Bin. It is a great hands-on way for her to get familiar with the letters in her name and help her learn to spell it. She’s learning and she’s having fun. You can’t beat that.
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Set up your name recognition sensory bin
I started with a shoebox-sized plastic bin with a lid. That way when we’re not playing with it, we can close it up securely.
I then filled it with a variety of dried beans. I had several already-opened bags of beans in my cupboard, so I filled it with black beans, red beans, lentils, and split peas. There was a fun variety of colors and plan on using this for several other sensory bins I have planned.
Next, I added the letters.
I used our magnetic letters and added only the ones that made up my preschooler’s name.
I typed up my daughter’s name in a variety of fun fonts and colors, laminated them, and cut them out individually.
Also, I wrote the individual letters on milk caps. You could also use small wooden disks, wooden letters, alphabet blocks, foam letters, or anything else you can find to write letters on.
To complete the bin, I added a few bowls and spoons for scooping.
In order to control the mess factor, we lay out an old pillowcase and put the bin on top of it. There is only one rule: everything stays on the pillowcase.
It really was simple to put together. I don’t know why I ever hesitated in making sensory bins!
My daughter spent a long time playing with her bin. She ran her fingers through it, hid all the letters under the beans, and spent a very long time scooping and pouring. We also worked together to spell her name with all the different letters in the bin.
Some more playful learning ideas for your sensory bin:
Sort the letters into piles of like letters
Try to spell your name using different types of letters.
Close your eyes and pull out a letter. What letter did you pull?
I’m a lot lesson worried about my daughter finding the correct coat hook thanks to this Name Recognition Sensory Bin. She’ll be able to hang up her coat with confidence. And that’s important.
