For Letter E week, I set up a pretend bug lab with toy insects, paper cameras, and little notebooks. The children played entomologists, taking pretend pictures of the bugs they found. We also set up an eye doctor’s office and made an Earth sensory bin with blue rice and green pasta wheels. See what else we did for Letter E week below.
1. Elephant Letter Matching Sensory Bin
Hide one set of elephant alphabet cards in the sensory bin and lay the matching set out nearby. Children can dig for a card and find its uppercase or lowercase partner. You can also hang one set around the room and have children tape the matches beside them. Find the elephant alphabet cards on TpT.
2. Earth Sensory Bin
Blue rice, green pasta wheels, and loose wooden pieces made up this Earth-inspired bin. I set it out as an invitation to scoop, sort, and arrange the materials.
3. Eyeball Sensory Bin
I added plastic eyeballs to red rice and set out utensils and trays for scooping and transferring. The eyeballs were a favorite with my group.
4. Entomologist Dramatic Play
I set out toy bugs, dress-up props, and little entomologist reports made from a printed cover and stapled blank pages. The children used paper cameras to pretend to photograph the bugs they were studying.
5. Eye Exam Dramatic Play
I started with eye charts and pretend glasses. The next time I set it up, I added colored tape to the glasses and brought in kaleidoscopes, pretend prescriptions, and magazines to make an eye doctor’s office.
6. Earth Color Patterns
I made Earth-colored pattern cards and set out blocks in matching colors. Children could copy a pattern or keep it going. Start with one color, then try an AB or ABC repeat when they’re ready.
7. Elephant Toothpaste Demonstration
We watched colored foam rise in the jars and compared what happened in each one. For a teacher-led version, follow the American Chemical Society’s Elephant Toothpaste demonstration, which uses 3% hydrogen peroxide. Have children observe from a safe distance while an adult handles the materials and cleanup.
8. Egg Ghost Observation
I soaked eggs in a mixture of vinegar and tonic water for several days. Once the shells softened, I gently rubbed the shell away so the children could see how the eggs had changed.
9. Solve the Case by Elimination
I used the Halloween edition during Letter E week and focused on elimination. Read one clue at a time and let children explain which possibilities they can cross off. Find the printable Halloween mystery games on TpT.
Continue Letter E Learning
Pair these activities with Emotions With E from my ABC Discovery series. After reading, invite children to name a feeling and make a face to show what it might look like.
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