• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Courses
    • Teaching Every Reader
    • Teaching Every Writer
  • Subscriber Freebies
  • About
  • Contact
  • Shop
  • Member Login

The Measured Mom

Education resources for parents and teachers

  • Alphabet
  • Reading
    • Structured literacy
    • Printable Books
    • Pre-Reading
    • Phonics
    • Sight Words
    • Comprehension
    • Fluency
    • Vocabulary
  • Writing
    • Grammar
    • Handwriting
    • Spelling
    • Writing in Pre-K
    • Writing Workshop in K-3
  • Math
    • Counting
    • Number Recognition
    • Addition & Subtraction
    • Colors, Shapes & Patterns
    • Visual Discrimination
    • Time, Money & Measurement
    • Place Value
    • Graphs
    • Multiplication & Division
    • Fractions
    • Problem Solving
  • Book Lists
    • Letter of the Week
    • Early Childhood Themes
    • Pre-Reading Skills
    • Math Concepts
    • Writing Mentor Texts
    • Versions of Familiar Tales
    • Holidays and Seasonal
    • History
    • Leveled Book Lists
  • Join Membership
Home
  • Shop
  • Blog
    • Alphabet
    • Reading
    • Writing
    • Math
    • Book Lists
  • Podcast
  • Courses
    • Teaching Every Reader
    • Teaching Every Writer
  • Subscriber Freebies
  • About
  • Membership
  • Contact

PSPKK123February 20, 2014 •  11 Comments

Teach short a with sensory play!

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Sharing is caring!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Have you been following along in our letter exploration?  We’re on Letter A — and we’re more than halfway through.  (That’s because we’re taking the alphabet out of order, starting with the letters easiest to write.)

Teaching short vowel sounds can be tricky — which is why I decided to teach short a with sensory play.  My toddler could join in the fun, and both my Three and Five were challenged.  A win-win-win!

teach short a with sensory play - the measured mom

(This post contains affiliate links.)

 teach short a with sensory play (1) - the measured mom

First, we got out our materials.

  • Dry oats.  I bought these at a low price from our discount grocery store.  (And since I pack them up after we’re done for future sensory play, we get a lot of use out of them.)  If you have just one or two kids playing, you won’t need three giant canisters. But I have three busy boys.
  • Funnels and scoops for pouring.  As it turned out the oatmeal got stuck in the funnels.  But the scoops were perfect.  As they played, my Five got out a hand-held sieve and my Three found some measuring spoons.
  • Letter A’s on blocks and magnets.  These were for repeated exposure to the letter — since my Three and Five have a good handle on their alphabet, this was for the sake of my One. I admit I didn’t call attention to it, because he’s not interested in the alphabet yet.  But if he were ready, I’d ask him to find the A’s.
  • Printed picture cards, apple numbers, and words.  I designed these cards to be used with siblings of different ages and levels – after reading an awesome post about multi-age sensory bins from The Educators’ Spin on It.  The numbered apple cards were an idea I got from Teaching Mama’s Preschool Journey e-book.

a picture cards snip

I created a set of 10 picture cards: each has a picture of something that begins with the short a sound — starting with one item and going all the way up to ten.

a apple cards snip

I also made a set of ten numbered apple cards.

a word cards

Finally, I printed a set of word cards to go with each picture card.

teach short a with sensory play (3) - the measured mom

After we removed our scoops and funnels, the boys each got to dump a canister of oats onto the letters and cards.

teach short a with sensory play (4) - the measured mom

Then they dug right in!

teach short a with sensory play (5) - the measured mom

The boys didn’t even look at the printed cards for the first forty-five minutes.  That’s what I love about a good sensory bin: it may lead to a mess, but it keeps kids happy and busy for a long time.  I was able to put my feet up (a luxury as I was 7 1/2 months pregnant when we did this activity).

And I did something I almost never do since I began blogging… I read a good book!  (It was The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon — the latest in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series.  You haven’t read them?!  Ack! Reserve the first book at your library right now!  They’re my absolute favorites!)

teach short a with sensory play (7) - the measured mom

It was so fun to see my toddler (22 months) get into this.  He transferred oats with his hands, poured, dumped, and dug.  After about 45 minutes he also started throwing handfuls of oats across the floor — at which time I scooped him up and declared it snack time.

teach short a with sensory play (8) - the measured mom

My Five, who always finds something interesting to do, grabbed a sieve from the drawer and crushed oats with his hands to make oat flour.  After quite a lot of work he was pleased to have made about three tablespoons of fine flour. 🙂

teach short a with sensory play (9) - the measured mom

When my toddler started snacking – and the big boys were starting to lose interest – I said it was time to start digging for all the picture, number, and word cards.  I helped them see how each picture started with the short a sound.

My Three needs work at counting objects, so the math part of this was great review for him.  My Five, who is a beginning reader, was able to identify most of the words.  Even though he couldn’t have read some of them in isolation, the picture cues were  a big help.

teach short a with sensory play (10) - the measured mom

And there you have it!  A fun way to learn the sound of short a – with some sensory play and math practice thrown in.  It was a hit!

And for many more learning ideas for teaching letter A – including math connections, a book list, and free printables, click on the image below! 

Letter A Activities - the measured mom

Get your free sensory printables!

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Love Freebies?

Subscribing to our email newsletter is completely free. And when you do, you'll get access to our library of subscriber freebies! Sign up below to get access to a wonderful variety of math and literacy resources.

Sharing is caring!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: General Tagged With: counting, preschool, first grade, kindergarten, sensory play, Pre-K

You May Also Enjoy These Posts:

Free book of rhymes and songs for letter Q New! Our All About Me preschool theme! Letter P Crafts
Books for Letter I
Books for Letter H

Primary Sidebar

Grade Level Key

  • PS Preschool (ages 2-3 years)
  • PK Pre-K (ages 4-5 years)
  • K Kindergarten
  • 1 1st grade
  • 2 2nd grade
  • 3 3rd grade

Teach your child a foreign language in just 5 minutes a day!

CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED

Hello, I’m Anna!

Welcome to The Measured Mom. I’m so glad you’re here!

Meet Our Team

Love Freebies?

Subscribing to our email newsletter is completely free. And when you do, you'll get access to our library of subscriber freebies! Sign up below to get access to a wonderful variety of math and literacy resources.

Shop Our Newest Resources

At The Measured Mom®, our mission is to share high quality educational resources that are engaging for students and easy for educators.

Decodable Books & Lessons for CVC Words & Common Digraphs

$18.00

Ultimate Collection of Phonics Word Lists

$15.00

Sound Wall Printables

$18.00

Shop All Resources

Members get more!

The Measured Mom Plus is the perfect online membership for Pre-K to third grade educators.

Learn More

Love Freebies?

Subscribing to our email newsletter is completely free. And when you do, you'll get access to our library of subscriber freebies! Sign up below to get access to a wonderful variety of math and literacy resources.

Join our online courses and get the tools you need to teach every learner in K-2!

Confidently teach every reader in your classroom. Still have time to live your life.

Learn More

Get everything you need to teach writing well, including over 200 ready-to-use lessons.

Learn More

Listen and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher

Check out these recent podcast episodes:

  • From balanced to structured literacy: A conversation with Lindsay Kemeny
  • From balanced to structured literacy: A conversation with Heidi Jane
  • From balanced to structured literacy: A conversation with Christina Winter
More Episodes

Check out these FREE email courses...

Get strategies and tools to teach a particular topic with a free 5-day email series! Just click an image to sign up. We recommend signing up for just one at a time.

For Pre-K Educators

How to teach letters and sounds to preschoolers

How to teach letters and sounds to preschoolers

Learn my must-follow tips for teaching the alphabet in this free 5-day email series!

How to teach phonological & phonemic awareness

How to teach phonological & phonemic awareness

Learn how to develop this important pre-reading skill with a free 5-day email series!

How to teach preschool math

How to teach preschool math

Learn exactly what to teach your preschoolers in this free 5-day series!

For Kinder & 1st Grade Educators

How to teach kids to sound out words

How to teach kids to sound out words

Learn my top strategies for teaching kids to "sound it out"

How to teach sight words

How to teach sight words

Get strategies and tools for teaching sight words to young learners!

Tips for teaching phonics

Tips for teaching phonics

Sign up for our free 5-day email series to learn what phonics skills to teach and how to structure your phonics lessons!

For 2nd & 3rd Grade Educators

How to build reading fluency

How to build reading fluency

Learn smart strategies for helping your learners become fluent readers with this free 5-day series!

How to teach writing in 2nd & 3rd grade

How to teach writing in 2nd & 3rd grade

Learn the most important writing skills to teach to 2nd & 3rd graders in this free 5-day series!

How to build reading comprehension

How to build reading comprehension

Discover the essential reading comprehension strategies for 2nd & 3rd grade and how to teach them!

“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” –Matthew 6:33

Copyright © 2022 The Measured Mom •  All rights reserved  •  Privacy & Disclosure Statement  •  Site Design by Emily White Designs