Free Printable Blends Word Building Activity

We are continuing to school through the summer for as long as we can. We will be having a hiatus soon that may last a few months, so I wanted the kids to get a head start on the material for the upcoming school year so that they won’t fall behind. I did have a big pre-requisite for continuing though. We would only do fun school. Nothing boring. Only things that we really enjoy. Because it is summer after all. This word-building activity that we did in our solar system sensory bin is just that. A lot of fun!

It was so much fun for my first grader that her little <b><i>and</i></b> big sisters were begging to get in on the action. That’s a good judgment of fun!

Sensory bins have been a weekly addition to our learning for several months now. Anytime I see that my first grader is getting bored with school (like every five minutes…) I pull out an interactive learning activity for her.

She is still very hesitant to read books, so I’m working hard to create and provide her with activities that will help her build her confidence and desire to read.

We’ve been playing with our solar system sensory bin for a couple of days now and I thought that the glitter letters would be a perfect complement to the glitter space rocks.

This activity is incredibly simple to put together. Simply print on card stock and/or laminate for durability. I laminate everything that needs to last more than 2 seconds. You may opt not to do that.

You will need two copies of the letters or you can eliminate the words that have two identical letters. In the bin above there is only one set of letters because we were not working with the double-letter words.

Cut out your picture/word cards and let the student choose a card.

Then, have them find the correct letters to build the word on the card.

While this may seem too simple because they really just need to copy the word, it is very beneficial in getting the student to look closely at the word, relate it to the sound they know, relate to the picture, and stretch the word for a clearer understanding of the phonetics involved.

It also reinforces letter recognition which all primary students need from time to time.

You can check out Jaida spelling one of her words here. She was having a blast and felt so confident!

I totally love how Shiloh jumped into the conversation while Jaida was looking for the letter “e” (which, incidentally, Shiloh had hidden under the bin, thus the break in the video!) She has absolutely no idea what the letter ‘e’ is, but it’s her favorite letter say anytime that she sees letters. It was just perfect timing!

When we are using sensory bins for school time we set clear boundaries. She can’t ‘just’ play. She needs to complete the activity all the way. And no tossing the sensory materials all over the place!

During playtime, our big rule is that if you make a mess, you clean it up.

Give this a try and tell me how you like it!

Get the FREE solar system printables that you see in this sensory bin here.