Rainbow Sensory Writing Activity

Welcome back to Book Club Play Dates, where a group of us share ideas for everything you’d need to host your own. Last month’s book was LMNO Peas, and this month we’re focusing on I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More. I’m sharing a rainbow sensory writing activity to go along with the book.

sensory writing activity for I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More

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I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More is all about a little girl who is very . . . enthusiastic about painting! Her mama tells her she can’t paint anymore, but then she proceeds to paint all over herself and the house. Sung to the tune of “It Ain’t Gonna Rain No More”, it’s a catchy book with awesome illustrations.

Materials
Barley
Food coloring (regular and neon)
Small bin
Paintbrush

Set Up
To make the colorful barley, I divided a couple of old bags of barley into seven containers. I then added a different color food coloring to each container. If, after mixing, not all the barley was covered, I just added a few more drops of food coloring. Check out Twodaloo’s colored barley for an alternative to food coloring.

I taped a piece of white printer paper underneath a small plastic tray. This provided a nice contrast with the rainbow barley. Once the barley was suitably colorful, I placed it into the tray. I made sure to add just enough barley to cover the entire bottom of the tray. If too much is added, it’s harder for the kiddos to use the tray for writing and mark-making.

Using the sensory writing tray
Sensory writing trays are meant to engage kids as they’re learning to write. If they’re not ready to write actual words or letters, then mark-making is great practice. Mark-making basically means drawing lines and patterns to practice pre-writing skills.

Grab a paintbrush and let the kids write and draw in the colorful barley! They can write letters, numbers, their names, high frequency words, etc. Maybe they just want to draw some squiggles or a smiley face! I think using the paintbrush to “write” with is just different enough to be fun and silly. Plus, it goes along with I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More perfectly – bright colors and a paintbrush!

Of course, if the kiddos want to use their fingers to write, that’s great too. Even taking some time just to play and scoop with the barley would be so much fun!

How would your kiddos enjoy this rainbow sensory writing activity? Do you think they’d enjoy all of the colors and using a paintbrush?