3 What you’ll need:


102893 – World Kitchen - Sensory Play Stones


820890 – Fruit - Sensory Play Stones


Sensory activities that involve stirring and pouring can encourage conversation by engaging the sensory pathways linked to language development.


4. Feel, trace, write


Children develop fine motor skills, hand strength and the movement control needed for early writing when tracing textured patterns. Hide stones in sand and encourage children to:


• Trace each pattern with a finger. • Draw it in sand or foam with their hand or a mark-making tool. • Describe the movements: curve, zigzag, wave. • Find matching patterns.


Progression from large to smaller, more controlled movements helps strengthen neural pathways that support handwriting development.


What you’ll need:


876820 – Alphabet Pebbles – Lowercase Set


876821 – Phonics Pebbles


876819 – Alphabet Pebbles – Uppercase Set


878162 – Alphabet Pebbles - Word-building Set


820891 – Vegetables - Sensory Play Stones


3. Dinner is served!


A mud kitchen is the perfect way to boost language development. As children interact, they will describe what they are doing and share ideas. Design a mud restaurant and encourage children to choose roles. Enhance the activity by:


• Including aprons, chef hats, herbs, play food and menus.


• Encouraging conversations as children explain creations, take orders and solve problems.


• Modelling descriptive language, using words such as squelch, plop, sprinkle, drizzle and splash.


4


What you’ll need: 802068 – Feels-Write Pre-Writing Stones 800944 – Feels-Write Lowercase Letter Stones 309474 – Sensory Calming Trails


5. Alphabet soup


Create a sensory alphabet soup experience with herbs, vegetables, alphabet stones and coloured water or oobleck to support early reading and writing skills. Ask children to:


• Look at the letter shape. • Trace it with a finger. • Say and listen to the sound. • Match it to an object beginning with that sound.


5


Try adding chamomile tea to your soup for a golden mixture, plus pea pods, carrot slices, and fresh herbs for texture, smell, and visual impact. Seeing, feeling, and hearing the letters helps children build stronger, more memorable connections.


Inspired by the resources in this article? Visit ypo.co.uk/yellowdoor to discover the complete Yellow Door collection at YPO.


Shop Little Learners products and more at ypo.co.uk/earlyyears 9


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32