Each week, we explore the process of writing in our salt boxes or salt trays. To keep my students interested in the salt box writing process, I like to change up the tools we use to write with or the trays we write in or even change the materials from salt to sand or anything else I can come up with. Â To promote time with shape recognition and drawing, I transferred our salt into boxes that come in different shapes….
I always tend to use a rectangular tray or box for my salt box writing but after a recent exploration on circles, Â it occurred to me that we could use a round tray to extend our discussion on circles and to promote the process of drawing circles. I poured the salt from my other trays into our circular tray and then invited my students to draw up some circles…
With every salt box shape we explore, I also set out the name of the shape on the table just as a way to connect the children to the shape word as they draw in the salt tray or boxes…
I have been collecting boxes in different shapes to use for different games or collections of things we can explore with different shapes. The boxes I have collected are too big for salt box drawing but I noticed that the lids to each box would be perfect for the process…
As soon as my students walked into the classroom, they stopped by the table to draw in the salt shape boxes before heading over to take off their coats and lady bug hats…
As the children explored drawing in the different shaped boxes, I would drop by the table and invite them to draw all around the edge of their chosen shape or just talk about how the oval is long and narrow or the star has lots of corners…
The boxes naturally invited the children to notice the shape and draw the shape but some of my students preferred just choosing their favorite shape and drawing a picture of their own…
A fun and simple way to promote shape recognition, shape drawing, and conversations about the different shapes that we had spread out on our table…
Available on Amazon
Links to Grow On
Writing in Salt by Teach Preschool
Upper and Lower Case Salt Box Writing by Teach Preschool
Hidden Shapes in the Salt Tray by Learning 4 Â Kids