The children in this class spent time putting a little sand on their letter S today.
First they brushed on a little glue…
Then sprinkled on some sand…
At first the children were using a bottle to sprinkle on the sand but we quickly changed the process by putting  the sand into little cups so they could use their fingers to sprinkle the sand on the letter S.
As they sprinkled and smoothed out the sand on their letter S, I asked the children if they could tell me what sound the letter S made. The children easily told me that the letter S sounded like sand and snake and salt.
One of the nice aspects of adding a sensory experience to discovering the name or sound of a letter is that it offers children the opportunity to learn and remember concepts through their sense of touch.
We also discovered that when we picked up the sandy letter S to put it away, it slithered around our hands like a snake!