Exposing preschoolers to the alphabet is an essential part of early childhood learning. In my classroom and at home, I like to encourage this in an exploratory hands-on way. An ABC sensory bin can provide this and so much more. One of the best added benefits to sensory bin exploration is strengthening fine motor and vocabulary skills and letting those imaginations grow!

ABC Sensory Bins

When practicing the alphabet, there are a variety of extensions to build upon beyond simple letter and sound identification. Once you recognize that your kids are ready for an added challenge, you may try some activities such as upper and lowercase matching, ABC order placement, name building, or basic word building.

And if you’re anything like me and love to teach using themes, a sensory bin that incorporates your theme and literacy practice is a must! It’s the perfect way to couple learning with play. Below you will find a variety of themes and tactile ways to integrate literacy into your ABC sensory bin activities.

This alphabet garden sensory bin activity from The Letters of Literacy is perfect for a garden or Spring theme and includes a free printable.

Busy Toddler has a fun way to explore the alphabet and magnetism with this ABC magnetic sensory bin.

Go fishing for the alphabet with this fun water play sensory bin by Fun With Mama.

Clean up some cars and letters with this car wash alphabet sensory activity from Parenting Chaos.

Alphabet Activities for Preschoolers-Sensory Play

If you’re studying the stars or a space theme, put together this ABC star sensory bin from Pre-K Pages.

Shovel some snow and letters with this wintry alphabet hunt from Coffee Cups and Crayons.

If your little learners are into BIG trucks, this construction zone themed sensory activity from Modern Preschool is the perfect way to practice the alphabet.

Create a frozen alphabet sensory tower from Little Bins for Little Hands to practice matching letters and sounds as you melt the tower away!

Pre-K Pages has a great alphabet ocean themed sensory activity that your little sensory explorers are sure to dig!

Practice the ABC’s with Growing Book by Book’s alphabet seed activity bin. This would be great for a theme on birds or seeds.

Here’s a colorful way for the littlest of hands to explore the alphabet using some pom-poms and foam letters like Spark and Pook did.

Enjoy a mess-free tactile way to practice the alphabet with an eye spy sensory alphabet bag from Growing a Jeweled Rose. This would be a great ABC activity to take with you on the go at a restaurant, doctor’s office, or road trip (carefully sealed of course)!

*Sensory exploration should always be closely supervised*

Learn more fun ways to teach kids the alphabet in our popular Top 10 Ways to Teach Kids the Alphabet post.

Use Alphabet Mats to Learn the ABCs

ABC letter mats can be a versatile tool to use in early childhood learning. They can be laminated and used over and over again for letter formation and writing activities. They can also be used to create alphabet books, posters and more. Letter crafts and process art activities related to a letter you are learning can be a fun way for kids to make connections between a letter and something that starts with that beginning sound. In our Alphabet Letter Mats set you’ll find two full sets of alphabet mats to use and tons of ideas for using them. There are over 140 ideas for using the alphabet mats in meaningful ways to reinforce letter recognition and learning letter sounds.

This 181-page resource pack contains the following:

1) Suggestions for Using the Letter Mats-These ideas include ways to use the mats for small group and center activities and can be done for any letter of the alphabet.
2) Process Art Ideas for Each Letter of the Alphabet-60 ideas!
3) Collage and Texture Art Ideas for Each Letter of the Alphabet-54 ideas!
4) Complete sets of alphabet mats in two different font options.