Sand Tray Writing with 24 Apple Cards for Teaching CVC Words Post Preview: Encourage early reading and writing with this sand tray writing activity. Perfect for fall or any time of year, you can use this set of 24 apple-themed CVC word cards.
One of my most vivid memories from student teaching was when the kindergarten I was in got a sand table. The kids went crazy for it. Well, really crazy. It only lasted a little while before the teacher decided to put water in it instead. And that got pretty messy too.
Lots of kids love the chance for sensory exploration and play. This sand tray writing activity will appeal to that desire while also working on reading and writing CVC words.
To make it easier for your preparation for this activity, I have a free printable set of 24 apple cards featuring CVC words.
Note: The apple CVC words printable set is available toward the end of this post.
Related Content:
- Apple Unit Study for Preschool and Kindergarten
- 15 Fun Apple Crafts Your Kids Will Absolutely Love
- Apple Story Problem Math Task Cards for Kindergarten and 1st Grade
- Tot Tray Ideas and Activities
What is a CVC Word?
A CVC word is a three letter word made up of a consonant, a vowel, and then a consonant. CVC words that are used for helping children learn to read are typically ones that are common words that children will be familiar with when they are used in spoken language. CVC words for teaching reading also tend to have letters that strongly follow phonics rules.
Some examples of CVC words that are commonly used when teaching children to read are mom, dad, cat, dog.
Cute story about that word choice: when my now high school-aged daughter was in preschool, we had LG enV2 phones. The phone opened up and had a full QWERTY keyboard, which made it pretty perfect for texting. Molly loved borrowing our phones from us and would send text messages to us and Grandma. Every text read as follows: MOM DAD CAT DOG. It was pretty dear.
Sand Tray Writing with 24 Apple Printables for Teaching CVC Words
In order to work on CVC words and have some sensory fun, I have a sand tray writing activity for you. You can also download a free set of 24 apple CVC word cards farther down in the post.
Materials Needed for the Sand Tray Writing with CVC Words Activity
If you want to do the activity exactly like it is in this post, you’ll need:
- Play sand or Decorative Sand
- Something for writing in the sand such as a stick, unsharpened pencil, or finger
- Plastic lunch tray with four openings – I used to use these with my kids all the time for meals. This is a set of 12, so you could use some for sensory activities and some for meals. Bonus!
- 24 Apple-themed CVC Word Cards – These are available farther down in the download section of this post.
If you want to try some variations on the sand tray writing activity, here are some possible alternatives to try:
Instead of sand, you can still do a tray activity but use something like rice, dry beans, finger paints, shaving cream, or whipped cream.
If you don’t want to use the four opening plastic lunch tray, you could use a deep paper plate, a cake pan, a cookie sheet, or any other similar item with the ability to hold sand and keep it in.
How to Work on CVC Word Reading and Writing with a Sand Tray Writing Activity
This activity is really simple and straightforward. However, here are the steps. Feel free to make adjustments to make things work best for your home or classroom.
1. Print out the set of 24 apple CVC word cards. (These can be found in the download section of this post, which is toward the bottom of the post.) If you will be reusing them, I would recommend either printing them on white cardstock and/or laminating the cards.
2. Fill the largest compartment on the lunch tray with sand.
3. Put the apple cards into the smaller compartments of the lunch tray.
4. Tell your children or students to use their “writing” tool or their finger to “write” a word from one card in the sand.
5. After they write their word, they can either gentle shake the tray to “erase” their word or they can smooth out the sand.
6. Repeat the sand tray writing activity with the next CVC word card.
More Apple-themed Printables and Activities
Before you keep scrolling to get the apple CVC word card printables in the download section, here are some more apple-themed printables and activities you may like:
Easy Apple Word Search Printable
Apple Unit Study for Preschool and Kindergarten
Fall scented homemade playdough – There are directions for making apple playdough, green apple playdough, pumpkin playdough, and cinnamon playdough
Johnny Appleseed Read, Trace, and Write Sentences Packet
Oh, and if you want to make a special treat to go along with your apple activities, your kids or students might love these Homemade Apple Nut Muffins or this Easy Apple Crisp Recipe.
Apple CVC Word Cards Terms of Use
These printable CVC cards for the sand tray writing activity (or other CVC activities) are free for personal and single classroom. The cards may not be used for any kind of commercial purpose. If you aren’t sure if your use of them is allowed, just contact me to find out.
You may not host this printable set on your website or any website or file sharing service. You may not distribute the apple cards document via email or other electronic means. Also, you may not use these printables and claim them to be your own.
If you have any other questions about the terms of use, please be sure to ask!
Download Your Apple-themed CVC Cards
The Printable Set of 24 Apple CVC Cards is a free download for personal or classroom use for Real Life at Home email subscribers.
If you are not an email subscriber, you can either sign up and get this packet as a free gift or you can purchase it for a very small price ($1.25).
Download the Free Apples CVC Cards (24 Card Set) Here (for new and current email subscribers, for personal and single classroom use)
Purchase the 24 apple CVC cards for $1.25 if you prefer to not subscribe (for personal and single classroom use only)
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. They don’t change the price you pay. However, when you shop through them, we may receive a small compensation.
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