Now that Jen's little girl is in the first grade, she's been given a list of sight words to practice reading at home each week. Instead of just working on how to the read them, the mother-daughter duo is also focusing on spelling [1], so Gracen's crafty mama came up with a clever way [2] to turn this "homework" into a hands-on activity.
In a video from November 2016 that's now going viral, Jen shows how a simple DIY [3] "salt tray" is a valuable tool for helping kiddos practice printing, spelling, and refining their handwriting. "It's waaaaay more fun than having to use a pencil and paper, fixing mistakes is a breeze (fun even — shake, shake, shake!) so it takes away a lot of the anxiety that comes with potentially making a mistake and the frustration that comes with constantly having to erase, and it's a sensory-filled process which adds interest and holds kids' attention," Jen shared on Facebook [4].
Whether you use a shoebox lid and table salt or a special tray and incorporate some glitter into the mix, as long as you have a strong contrast between the white salt and the color of your tray, you and your little one should be all set!