Anyone else have a different imaginative play activity occurring every hour at their house? My kiddos are 100% in that stage right now, which I absolutely love! They spend hours making up stories with animals, sending toys across the world in airplanes, and going back to the Jurassic Period on their self-built dinosaur trains. I just love to watch their little big imaginations at work! And those big imaginations have been working hard in the playroom, especially in the play kitchen. After seeing all of the fun that my sweeties have been having in their kitchen, I decided to create a quick and easy sensory bin utilizing one of our most beloved toys; Alphabet Cookies!
I am telling you, these alphabet cookies are amazing! My kiddos use them in more ways than I could have ever imagined. They are cookies, backpack accessories, sorting toys, and so much more! Today, I decided to bring the cookies back to the kitchen with this Alphabet Soup Sensory Bin.
*This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn on qualifying orders at no additional cost to you.
Materials
- Alphabet Cookies
- Children’s Kitchen Pots and Pans
- Kitchen Utensils – ladles, scoops, measuring cups, etc.
- Sensory Bin
- Smaller container for water
Set up
1. Fill your smaller container about half way up with water.
2. Drop all of the alphabet cookies into the water to create soup .
3. Place the ‘soup’ container into the sensory bin.
4. Add your pots, pans, utensils and accessories to the sensory bin.
5. Insert eager toddlers and watch as they ‘make soup’ over and over again!
Related: Check out this activity that we used our alphabet cookies for earlier this year!
Making Alphabet Soup is such an easy set up and has an amazing return in the learning department. It gave my littles a chance to explore letters by discussing their names and sounds, as well as comparing features. Then there were the fine motor muscles they were strengthening by pouring, scooping, dumping, and repeating the process again and again. On top of that, they were growing those ever important social skills like sharing, serving others, and communicating about the tools they were using and how their soup was being prepared. And we can’t leave out those sweet little imaginations that were bursting with stories of being a cook in a kitchen and preparing meals for hungry guests. So. Many. Skills. All of them in this tiny, simple activity. Pretty amazing, huh?
What I love most about an activity like this one is that my kiddos don’t realize that they are learning and developing all of those skills while playing. It’s just play time to them! #Winning!
Then, we dialed up the fun by adding our play salt and pepper shakers to the bin. The soup needed flavor, of course! And that is the beauty of a simple bin like this one. You can add any extras you see fit to amp up the fun! You could also add some vegetables from the play kitchen and empty spice containers from your kitchen for added imaginative play. The sky is the limit here!
And if your sweetie is loving that imaginative play like my kiddos, check out our Dinosaur Sensory Bin for hours of open-ended imaginative play!
