Salt in the Sensory Table

In December I introduced the sand tray....the next day I removed it from the shelf. Sand on a shallow tray with 10 toddlers? What was I thinking?

In January I introduced the corn meal tray...hoping for better results....this new work became more about getting to use the super cool carpet-sweeper than the corn meal tray itself, and when the corn meal was gone, so too was the tray.

I decided perhaps this work could wait until Spring.

Any-who, I reintroduced the concept today by putting just a little bit of salt in our sensory table. Just enough to practice letter formation. We've been using our sand paper letters all year; I began today's lesson by passing the letter "O" around our circle, then demonstrating how to make the letter in salt (using a small red tray with salt) I then lead the children to the sensory table, and dramatically removed the cover for the big reveal: Salt in the sensory table! "oo"s and "ah"s followed and many little hands began making circles in the salt.



I will share that, also within moments, the plug had been removed and salt poured onto the floor beneath. After MUCH sweeping, more salt writing took place. Moments later salt was being sprinkled into other people's hair by one over excited fellow and one child (yes, my child) even ATE the salt.

Good times.

But, all in all, I think the majority enjoyed the idea and I will present it again tomorrow also. I love when I can find a way to link toddlers to traditional Montessori materials.

As always, thanks for reading.
PS: I the photos you may have noticed that there are Q-tips in the salt table. This is because sometimes children prefer to 'make their mark' without using their hands, so the Q-tips work like a writing utensil. *If you have a sensory sensitive child in your home or classroom giving them a tool to avoid touching the undesirable material; can often be helpful.
PEACE
Jennifer