Alphabet sensory bag is a great mess free painting and letter recognition activity for babies and toddlers. It’s a fun way to paint, learn colours and letters!

We all know that exposing our kids to letters and words at a young age is key to their ability to read as they get older. There are plenty of fun ways to practice letters out there and on our blog. Alphabet Sensory Bag is one of those fun and easy ideas.

My twins love painting and I love painting with them. I just don’t enjoy all the mess! This activity has the best of all worlds. It allow you to paint with them mess free while at the same time learning and talking about colours and letters!

I set this fun activity up on our sensory table and let my twins discover it one morning. They didn’t know what to do at first so I showed them how they can use their fingers to move the paint around in the bag and paint the letters.

I ended up leaving this activity out for a few days so that they could explore it and come back at their leisure. This is something that if you have toddlers you know well. Their attention spans are small but that doesn’t mean that their brains aren’t working in those short moments of stimulation.

To set up this fun activity you will need the following items:

Supplies

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• Ziploc Freezer Bags
• Washable Kids Paint (different colours)
• Black Sharpie
• Masking Tape or Duct Tape

Set Up

Grab your large Ziploc bag and using the black sharpie write the letters of the alphabet that you want to work on with your child. We started with the first 6 letters of the alphabet. I drew block letters so that the kids would have plenty of room to paint inside the letter.

Next, add paint to the inside of the sensory bag. I put a few dollops of paint under each letter. Not only is this activity great for colour and letter recognition it also doubles as a great colouring mixing activity! Seal the ziploc bag securely.

Next, use tape to secure the ziploc bag to a surface. I used duct tape but be careful with using duct tape on certain surfaces as it may damage it. Be sure to test the surface before hand or just use masking tape. I used duct tape because I knew it would withstand the might of my two toddlers where as masking tape wouldn’t. If you don’t have a surface you can safely used duct tape on try taping the sensory bag to the bottom of a sensory bin. Turn the sensory bin over like a table and tape the sensory bag on top of that.

Once your sensory bag is secure, invite your baby, toddler or preschooler to use their fingers to paint each letters. As they do talk about the colours and letters, including what sound they make and words that begin with that letter. As they mix the colours also help them to identify what new colours they are creating.

Lots of fun!

This was such a fun and easy activity that had so many learning outcomes. We will definitely be trying it again!

Looking for other mess free painting activities? Check out these other great ideas for babies and toddlers!

• 45 Sensory Bags for Babies and Toddlers
• Letter Recognition Sensory Bag

WILL YOU TRY ALPHABET SENSORY BAG WITH YOUR BABY OR TODDLER? Pin it for later!