Every spring, my kids at home are so excited about planting a garden of vegetables, and every spring, we buy a bunch of seed packets to grow all of our favorites. We have yet to have much success (I think our climate is really too hot sometimes!), but my kids wouldn’t pass up the experience of at least trying to grow a garden. Getting messy in dirt isn’t for everyone, so I have put together a simple way to bring the gardening fun inside while practicing letter recognition with a Peas and Carrots Alphabet Sensory Bin. Children have the best time with hands-on learning when using sensory bins!
*Pair this with our CVC Words Centers and Activities
Peas and Carrots Alphabet Sensory Bin
The alphabet printable includes 26 easy to cut apart carrots. Each carrot has a letter of the alphabet on it.
To set up the carrot garden sensory bin, find a plastic bin to use for this activity. In my preschool classroom, I use 2 sizes of bins and trays depending on how many of my preschoolers I would like to play at one time. For this activity, I set it up to be played individually, so the plastic bin I used was small enough for one child to play in.
Add dried split peas to the plastic container. You need enough to cover the bottom and to be deep enough to “plant” the carrots.
Print the alphabet carrots from the link below on white cardstock paper. Laminate the set of alphabet carrots for added durability, especially if you have multiple children playing at once.
Cut the carrots apart, and add them to the garden of split peas.
Now it’s time to play!
Different Ways to Play
There is nothing better than playing in a sensory bin! My preschoolers in my classroom love dry sensory bins filled with rice, beans, and split peas. There is something so soothing about running your hands through the filler.
The object of adding the carrots to the sensory bin is to encourage alphabet knowledge through exposure to the uppercase letters during play.
Adding a fine motor aspect to this carrot alphabet garden sensory bin is easy to do! You can add tongs, tweezers, chopsticks, or clothespins to pull the carrots out of the garden.
RELATED RESOURCE: April Sight Word Games and Centers – Editable
Practice spelling names!
A fun way to introduce the letters that make up your little one’s name is to fill the sensory bin with only the letters in her name. To do this, you may need to print multiple sets of alphabet carrots.
It may be fun to add more than one set of letters that make up your child’s name. This will help your child practice naming the letters and build confidence each time another letter that she has seen before is pulled!
Make words!
My preschooler has started to read, and is ready to spell simple words with the sounds she hears. To add a little challenge to the sensory bin, I used simple CVC words to make a game for her.
I would put the first and last letter in a CVC words on the table. In the photo below, the words H-A-T is shown. I had put the H and the T on the table and she had to fill in the correct vowel to make a real word. She searched through the carrots in the garden with her clothespin until she came across the A.
We played this over and over! She was a huge fan of searching and coming up with the vowel in the word on her own.
There are so many ways to play with the peas and carrots alphabet sensory bin, and the great thing about these kind of activities is that there is no wrong way!
Grab your Copy
Ready to make an alphabet sensory bin of your own? Click the large blue button below and enjoy some inside gardening — and learning!
Then, hop on over and get our Crunching Carrots CVC Match
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This is brilliant! Your website is an amazing resource. Thank you so much for sharing!!!
This is a fabulous idea! My 2-year old loves looking for her name in the peas! Thank you!
Such a great idea for sensory play!
As a children’s nutritionist working with fussy eaters, these sort of ideas help them get a nice gentle exposure to foods, develop motor and planning skills that they need for eating and are pressure free!
I will definitely be sharing on my FB page.
Thanks!
Hi Simone, What a great perspective! Thanks for sharing!