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Gift of Curiosity

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Salt box discoveries

Toddler, Preschool, Kindergarten

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I have seen salt boxes in several other places around the blogosphere, and I have been wanting to put one together for my children.

I finally got around to creating our own salt box one recent evening and we have been using it as a tool for learning shapes, colors, letters, and numbers.

Our salt box was so simple to create, and I’ve really enjoyed watching my kids engage with all the discoveries inside.

Salt box discoveries: Stimulate early learning by hiding objects (e.g., numbers, letters, colors, shapes) in a salt box for your children to find || Gift of Curiosity

I started by creating several pages designed to target skills such as shapes and colors for my daughter and numbers for my son.

Salt box discoveries: Stimulate early learning by hiding objects (e.g., numbers, letters, colors, shapes) in a salt box for your children to find || Gift of Curiosity

Then I placed one page at the bottom of the salt box, and covered it with enough salt so that the images were no longer visible.

Salt box discoveries: Stimulate early learning by hiding objects (e.g., numbers, letters, colors, shapes) in a salt box for your children to find || Gift of Curiosity

When it was time to play, I handed my daughter a paintbrush and encouraged her to sweep the salt to see what she could find. As she came across a shape, she and I talked about each one.

When we adopted my daughter a few months before her third birthday, she was so far behind in so many skills.

In the months she has been with our family, she has learned so much, although she still has more catching up to do.

Nonetheless, when she was able to successfully identify the triangle, circle, star, and heart, I was one proud mama jumping with joy!

Salt box discoveries: Stimulate early learning by hiding objects (e.g., numbers, letters, colors, shapes) in a salt box for your children to find || Gift of Curiosity

My son looked on as his sister worked with the salt box, anxious to get his turn.

Salt box discoveries: Stimulate early learning by hiding objects (e.g., numbers, letters, colors, shapes) in a salt box for your children to find || Gift of Curiosity

So after my daughter had found all the shapes on her turn, I switched out the page at the bottom to have my son work on identifying the numbers 1 through 5.

Salt box discoveries: Stimulate early learning by hiding objects (e.g., numbers, letters, colors, shapes) in a salt box for your children to find || Gift of Curiosity

It turned out to be a breeze for him, so next time we play with the salt box I’ll be using the page with numbers 1-10 on it instead. 🙂

Salt box discoveries: Stimulate early learning by hiding objects (e.g., numbers, letters, colors, shapes) in a salt box for your children to find || Gift of Curiosity

Do you have other creative ideas for using a salt box for learning? If so, leave a note in the comments!

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Reader Interactions

26 Comments

  1. Julie Cox

    Katie, what Idea! You are so creative! I would like to do it with my preschoolers, can we print the pages? I could not find the download on the web page. Thank you!

    • Katie

      Julie, I didn’t share the pages because I figured everyone’s salt box would be a different shape, and thus the pages we used wouldn’t necessarily work for others. But it would be easy enough to draw something up by hand if you want to try this out!

  5. Ruth

    Can I just say that this is absolutely brilliant and I will be using this in my Montessori program! I will be investigating your page a lot more if this is what you come up with! Well done! Ruth, Montessori 1:1.

  6. Julie

    That is really creative. I’m impressed each week with they ways you find to put a very fun and creative element into teaching preschool skills.

  11. jaime@FSPDT

    this looks like my kids kind of fun. featuring this on moms library this week, jaime@FSPDT

  13. Phoebe

    You could also have them trace the letters and numbers with the paintbrush through the sand.

    • Katie

      Yes, that’s a good idea. QBoy has used his finger to write letters in a salt tray, but I’ll have to have him try it with a paint brush as well!

  14. Dollie @ Teachers of Good Things

    Thanks for linking up with Tender Moments with Toddlers & Preschoolers! We love seeing great ideas, like yours, linking up with us!

  15. Renae

    Great idea. We have one kiddo in particular who can’t get enough of the salt tray, so he would absolutely love this activity!. Thanks for sharing.

    Renae

  16. Angela

    This is such a wonderful idea! Also, I am loving your new site design!! I am glad Mindy was able to design you a beautiful site!

  18. Amahle

    I am a second year student and i found this really helpful because the child i am doing therapy with really struggles with colours. This is a enjoyable way to learn, Thanks