Seashell Alphabet Writing Tray: Letter Recognition & Pre-Writing Activity

Are you looking for a multi-sensory letter recognition activity to do this summer? This beach themed Seashell Alphabet Writing Tray is a fun way for kids to practice pre-writing skills and more!

What You'll Find On This Page

Seashell Alphabet Writing Tray:

Writing Trays are are shallow trays and a material such as sand that kids can move to write letters, numbers, shapes, and more. These type of learning activities are a multi-sensory way for children to work on letter formation, handwriting, and pre-writing skills. They are also a great way for kids to develop and strengthen their fine motor skills too.

Getting Ready To Use The Seashell Alphabet Writing Tray:

What’s Included:

26 Capital Letter Seashell Cards
26 Lowercase Letter Seashell Cards
30 Sight Word Seashell Cards

What Else Is Needed:

Wooden Tray
Colored Sand
Glitter
Paint
Paint Brush

For this sensory writing activity, you can use any time of tray such as a wooden tray, cookie sheet, or plastic tray. If you are using a wooden tray like we did in this activity, you may want to paint it a bright and contrasting color so the letters stand out when your kids write them in the sand.

After the paint dries completely, stir glitter into colored sand. If you don’t have colored sand, you can use food coloring to dye regular play sand. Next, pour the sand in the tray and spread it evenly by gently shaking it.

Then, click on the pencil below to download and print the seashell letter cards. I like to print my resources on white card stock, because it is more durable. But, you can use copy paper too. Next, laminate the cards so your kids can reuse this activity and cut them apart.

How To Use The Seashell Alphabet Writing Tray:

There are so many fun ways to use this writing tray and differentiate this activity for your kids. Here are just a few ideas for you:

Your kids can pick a letter, identify the letter, and write it in the sand. If your children don’t like to touch the sand, they can use a pencil or small dowel.
To have your beginning readers practice letter sounds, give them the sound and have them write the letter that makes that sound.
If your kids already know the names of the letters, they can practice writing and spelling sight words. There are 30 sight word cards included that your kids can use or you can give them other words to spell such as CVC words.

If you have other ways that you are using this letter writing tray, I would love to hear them. Leave a comment below and share your idea with us!

This Seashell Alphabet Writing Tray is a fun way for kids to practice letter formation and writing. This multi-sensory learning activity will stimulate their sense of sight and touch as they work on developing and strengthening their fine motor skills.

Pin For Later:

Do you want to save this letter recognition activity for later? Pin this to your alphabet activities board on Pinterest and it’ll be here for when you’re ready!