Ice Cream Letter Cards

- July 25, 2020

So, I totally missed National Ice Cream Day, which was earlier this week on July 19th. Since July is still Ice Cream month and summer is an entire season of frozen food time, I thought I could still share this free printable. It's just a simple collection, just like all my other letter cards (see them here), but there are still several uses for them.

One of my favorite ways to practice handwriting is with sensory writing trays. This is a modern take on the Montessori salt tray, which can be customized for many different themes or events. If you click the colored text to see several examples from this blog and to get more printable letter cards. They're so fun, and I've found that their almost irresistible to kids.

You can use whatever you have on hand to set up your sensory tray. In the past, I've used lids, paper plates, and trays. My favorite option is a plastic 8x10 plastic tray, as it seems to give kids a good amount of space to write while not being too big. You can add a cookie sheet under the tray for even quicker clean up.

Then, just add a substance that kids can put their finger through to make the letters. The smaller the granules, the clearer the marks show up in it and the better they stay put when you move them around. Salt is really the best. The sprinkles that I used for this tray are very fun, but they didn't want to behave. You can see the difference if you look at my other sensory writing trays.

For this ice cream theme, you could also use whipped cream or shaving cream or even chocolate sauce if you're feeling like getting messy. You could even write in ice cream! If you want to be able to do this activity over and over, you might want to invest in non-food sprinkles, which wouldn't be edible, but also wouldn't attract any sort of bugs.

Kids can use their fingers to make the letters or grab a fun writing tool, like a paintbrush, novelty pen, stick, or something similar to add yet another layer to the activity. It might be a good idea to offer several options and let the child pick what they prefer.

> > > Click Here to Download the Printable < < <

To get the printable, just click on the colored link above and print the cards. I included both the upper and lowercase letters, so you can print all 6 pages or just one set (3 pages). You can use the cards as guides for the sensory writing tray or turn them into a letter matching game. Print several copies and use the letters as a Montessori style movable alphabet. You could even use the letters to make signs!

Let me know if you like these sensory writing tray and what theme I should next!