Watermelon Sensory Writing Tray

Watermelon is one of our favorite themes to explore during summer- and it’s at the top of our list for summertime treats too! We’ve been having fun reading lots of watermelon themed books and creating watermelon crafts and sensory bins. We recently created a fun and hands-on way to involve the senses when writing. By adding rice that’s been dyed pink to a shallow tray and some black beans to represent the watermelon seeds, you can create a watermelon sensory writing tray. This watermelon writing tray is a great way to extend practicing writing letters or even sight words for early learners.

Watermelon Sensory Writing Tray-Letter writing and sight word practice for preschool and kindergarten watermelon theme #preschool #alphabet #sensoryactivities

Want even more watermelon theme ideas? Continue the fun with a full week of watermelon play and learning with our printable lesson plans for home preschool and preschool classrooms.

Materials

dyed pink rice- you’ll need vinegar, rice, food color, and a freezer bag
black beans or pony beads
shallow tray/baking pan
individual letters and/or sight words

Getting Started

To prepare your watermelon sensory writing tray, you’ll first need to dye some rice pink. By following just a few steps, you can complete this in just an hour or less:

Pour rice into a large freezer bag. (We used 2 cups of rice which covered the baking pan nicely).
Using a one to one ratio, add one tablespoon of vinegar to each cup of rice used.
Add food coloring to bag. (We added 5-7 drops).
Squish the sealed bag with your hands to spread the food color. (Involve kids in this process. It’s fun!)
Set out in sun for one hour to dry. (You may speed up the dry time to about 15 minutes by placing the rice in a pan in the oven on a low heat and monitoring frequently).

Once your rice is dry, add it to your shallow pan and sift around to cover evenly. Next, sprinkle the watermelon “seeds” all over the tray. We made this a team effort and even took some time to let the rice and beans run through our fingers! This gave us time to discuss what we know about watermelon and give an overview of our new writing tray.

watermelon tray_running hands through watermelon theme sensory play

Hands-On Watermelon Sensory Writing Tray

Depending on the age and developmental level of your writers, you may choose to have them write letters or sight words. Using the letter seeds from our preschool watermelon learning theme packet, we set them out near the tray and began by writing letters in the rice tray. Small plastic letters or letters written on note cards would work well too.

watermelon writing tray_writing letters

After the letter formation is complete, grab some watermelon “seeds” to trace over the letter. Pinching each black bean really helps flex those fine motor muscles!

watermelon tray_fine motor seeds

Carefully filling in the letter with the beans also lends some extra practice with letter formation.

watermelon tray_tracing seeds a making letters beginning writing for preschool

When students are ready to extend this writing tray activity, have them trace sight words into the rice. We began with short and basic words we have been working on.

watermelon tray_tracing seeds at preschool sight word activity

Using note cards with sight words written on them is another good option if you’d like to have the writing activity simplified. This gives children access to the correct spelling and formation of letters as a guide.

watermelon sensory tray_tracing seeds the

We loved this hands-on approach to writing. It’s sure to be a quiet activity that we’ll revisit many more times throughout our watermelon theme!

Get a Full Week of Watermelon Theme Learning and Play

Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.

This set includes active hands-on learning ideas and the following printables:

1) Watermelon Seed Counting Game
2) Roll and Color Watermelon Seed Math Game
3) Watermelons on the Vine Beginning Sound Sort (6 initial sounds)
4) Watermelon Word Family Building Activity Set (5 word families)
5) Watermelon Fractions Matching Activity
6) Watermelon Life Cycle Printable Chart
7) Ten Frame Watermelon Seed Counting Mats
8) Growing a Watermelon Emergent Reader (2 versions)
9) Watermelon Letter Matching Puzzles
10) Watermelon Life Cycle Sequencing Set
11) 0-35 Watermelon Theme Number Cards