ABC Sensory Wand Pointers

I have sung the praises of reading pointers before on the blog.  They are fun tools to use at home and in the classroom with young children.  Today I have a super fun ABC Sensory Wand Pointer that will motivate your kids to point out lots of letters and words in their environment.

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ABC Wands

I got this idea after looking at a pile of broken bubble containers we had accumulated over the summer.  My little ones are notorious for breaking the wands off the handles.  I didn’t want to throw the container away and was determined to come up with another use for them.  That is how the ABC Sensory Wand Pointer idea began!

Making the ABC Sensory Wand Pointers

Materials needed for one pointer:  empty bubble wand container (remove the wand part), light corn syrup, hot water, foam ABC beads, glitter, hot glue gun or super glue (optional)

1.  Make sure that the bubble wand container is empty and remove the wand from the handle.

2. Pour about a 1/2 inch of hot water into the container.  Add about 1 teaspoon of glitter.  Close and shake gently to mix.

3.  Add about 30 ABC beads to the container.

4.  Next, pour light corn syrup to fill the container about 3/4 full.

5.  Fill the remainder of the bottle with hot water.

6.  You may want to hot glue or super glue the lid on to avoid any messes that could occur if the container is opened.

Using the ABC Sensory Wand Pointers

There are many uses for your new alphabet pointers.

Idea 1:  Give the kids time to explore the wands.  The kids will love to turn the wand pointers up and down watching all the letter beads float through the tube. Challenge them to name all the letters they see.

Idea 2:  Go on a letter hunt through the house, classroom or neighborhood.  Have the kids point to the letters they find and identify each one.

Variation:  Children could also say the sound of each letter they find and point to it on their hunt.

Idea 3:  Older children can go on word hunts in their environment.  As they point to each word they can say and/or spell it.

Idea 4:  Beginning readers who still need to point to the words as they are reading can use the ABC wand pointers while reading a large piece of text such as a big book or a poem written on chart paper.

Can you think of any other creative ways to use these ABC Sensory Wand Pointers?  I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments.

P.S. For more literacy activities, be sure to follow my Pinterest board on the topic.