Sensory Sound Sticks and the Letter S

St. Patrick’s Day (or anyday!) Sensory Sound Sticks

Materials needed:  crafts sticks, scissors, ribbon or yarn, assorted items from home or the classroom that make different sounds (the children will need tape or liquid glue to adhere SOME items to the ribbons.)

Have the children search around the house for small items that make different sounds. In the picture above, we used large jingle bells, medium jingle bells, small jingle bells, seashells, and binder rings.   The children can attach the items to pieces of ribbon or yarn (they may need tape or glue to adhere some items.)  After attaching the items, the children can tie the ribbon/yarn to the craft stick.

Let the children explore the sound sticks one at a time.  Do the sound sticks make a LOUD or a SOFT sound?   What other words can the children think of to describe the SOUND they are hearing?  Have the children close their eyes and see if they can identify the item on the stick by SOUND alone.

Make several matching sound sticks.  Have the children put their heads down on a table. Play 2 or more sound sticks and see if the children can tell you if the sticks made the SAME or a DIFFERENT sound.

 

Letter S Shamrock Collage – Shamrock Template

Print the Shamrock Template (linked above) to heavy paper for each child or cut shamrocks from green construction paper.  Have the children brainstorm items at home or in the classroom that BEGIN with the Letter S.  Let the children find some Letter S items in the classroom or at home that they might use to make the Letter S Shamrock Collage (some suggestions: sprinkles (cookie), sand, salt, shamrocks (plastic or paper), scrap paper, seeds, etc.)

 

St. Patrick’s Day Crossover Activity (literacy and math)

Print the Shamrock Template (linked above).  Label the Shamrock with the Letter S (s) and a number (younger children can work on 1 to 1 correspondence; older children can work on larger numbers or add/subtract the numbers on two of the Shamrock mats.) Have the children find items that begin with the Letter S and place that number of items on the Shamrock mat.  Some suggestions of things the children might find:  socks, seashells, shoes, scissors, sugar cubes, straws, sponges, stickers, small soap, string, spoons, or screws.

Wishing you ALL a great St. Patrick’s Day Celebration!