A salt box is a great tot tool that helps with beginning penmanship. It is a wonderful way to help develop and/or reinforce fine motor patterns needed for writing. Plus it is helpful for kinesthetic learners who may need a more tactile experience. Being able to keep the salt “contained” in a box makes for easy storage, which is an added bonus!
All of my children enjoy using our salt box, but it has become a favorite for my toddlers! While they are not ready to write letters, they ARE building the fine motor skills which are a prerequisite for writing and penmanship!
To make your own salt box, you will need:
- photo storage box
- salt
- pencil
- scissors
Next, remove the lid and cut the box along the line you traced. Now, your box will be about 1.5 inches or so deep and the lid will fit on it perfectly. (see photo below)
Finally, remove the lid, add some salt, and let your little scribe get to work practicing!
5 comments:
Great idea! Never would have thought of it!
I really need to do this for my kids. I'm going to start them in salt tomorrow. My 4 year old is strugglig with her penmanship more than I expected. I need to back up & do the salt.
Do you have any issues with them eating the salt? My son would probably spend more time licking his fingers before tracing to get salt. Just wondering if this desire faded with any of yours, if they had it.
Thank you so much for posting this! I have been coming up with ways all week to help my older son with low muscle tone learn writing skills.
Susan~ Initially they didn't even think to lick the salt. But once my older kids let them know what it was, they wanted to try it. So, every so often they will ask if they can lick their fingers. Not sure what else could be used other than sugar...and I don't know if I could keep them from eating that!!! :-)
Jenn
Post a Comment