• Home
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Meet Sarah
  • Playful Days
  • Shop Resources
  • Search

How Wee Learn

Out of the box learning ideas, playful art, exploring nature, and simple living - that is How We Learn!

  • Quiet Time
  • Letters and Numbers
  • Art
  • Science
  • Get Outside
  • Shop

Mystery Box – Sensory & Vocabulary Activity

August 10, 2020 by Nataly Leave a Comment

You hear “sensory activity” and you think messy, right? Well, lucky for you, this kindergarten language development activity is mess-free but just as much fun as any other sensory activity! The purpose of this activity is to let your child explore an object using only their sense of touch, while using descriptive language to communicate to you what the object feels like. 

This fun sensory and vocabulary activity is such a great kindergarten development activity. The kids loved trying to figure out what each item was!

Mystery Box – Kindergarten Language Development Activity

Supplies you Need for the Mystery Box 

  • Cardboard box (medium size)
  • Items to put in the box (hairbrush, toothbrush, stuffed animal, pom-pom balls, avocado, play dough, slime, etc.)
  • Craft knife/box cutter
  • Items to decorate the box (optional) – marker, streamers, tape

Making your Mystery Box

Find a Box

I grabbed a leftover box from the garage and laid it on its side. Be sure to use a small or medium sized box. A large box will make it difficult for your child to reach the objects you place in the box. 

Make sure the box flaps are open or cut away. This will be the opening, so you can place the objects in the box. On one side of the cardboard box, I drew two circles using a toddler-sized cup to trace around. I then simply cut them out using a craft knife. The holes needed to be large enough for my daughter to reach in but not see inside. 

Decorate the Mystery Box

This is optional! If you want to keep it simple and easy, you can skip this part. The activity will still be just as much fun. The teacher in me can’t help but want to make the box “pretty.” I used streamers, black sharpie, and white paper to make the box look more appealing. 

Gather the Mystery Objects

Now it’s time to gather (and hide out of sight) a variety of items to put in the box. You will want to select different objects that will elicit a variety of different tactile feelings. I chose a hairbrush, toothbrush, stuffed bunny, pompom balls, balloon, avocado, play dough, and feathers. Smooth, rough, soft, hard, slick, round, bumpy, prickly, and slimy are just a few of the possible adjectives that you want your child to identify.

This fun sensory and vocabulary activity is such a great kindergarten development activity. The kids loved trying to figure out what each item was!

Time for the Fun!

Next, I asked my daughter to close her eyes. Then, I placed one of the objects inside the box. She put her hands through the holes and picked the object up without opening her eyes. You might even want to blindfold your child to keep him/her from peeking through the holes to look into the box.  

Vocabulary Development

As soon as my daughter got ahold of the objects, I would ask her a couple of questions as a way to encourage her to use descriptive words to identify what she felt: Is it heavy or light? Is it hard or soft? Is it smooth or rough? Guide your child in using adjectives like the ones below to describe the objects. 

Texture: smooth, sticky, rough, silky, lumpy, pokey, fluffy, slippery

Shape: round, flat, straight, wide, narrow, square, bent

Size: long, short, big, small, fat, chubby, thin, tall, large, tiny

Variations

The mystery box makes for a fun, relaxing kindergarten language development activity that can easily be revamped by changing out the items in the box! Here are some variations of the mystery box that you can try:

  • Nature box – leaves, rocks, sticks, pinecones, dirt, and flowers
  • Literacy/Math box – Letter and number puzzle pieces 
  • Summer box – goggles, swimsuit, sand, seashells, beach ball, water

This kindergarten language development activity will be a nice break from the messy activities we usually do. I’ll be adding it to our sensory activity rotation from now on. What version of the Mystery Box will you try? 

Nataly is a certified elementary teacher turned stay-at-home-mom to two little girls. She enjoys sharing simple yet fun kids activities to help make playtime meaningful!

This fun sensory and vocabulary activity is such a great kindergarten development activity. The kids loved trying to figure out what each item was!

 

You might also like:

Filed Under: Activities for Preschoolers, Kindergarten, Kindergarteners Tagged With: kindergarten, kindergarten activities, sensory activity, vocabulary activity

« Color By Letter and Word Family Printable Pages
Dinosaur Stomp: A Prehistoric Kindergarten Homeschool Project »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The maximum upload file size: 512 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video, document, spreadsheet, interactive, other. Drop file here

Annual Sale Save $40 and Get FREE Shipping on the Kindergarten at Home Curriculum!
Did you know that 90% of a child's brain growth happens before age 6? Play into Kindergarten Readiness

Visit my Sponsor Oak Meadow

Follow How Wee Learn

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
For every step of your journey
  • For Ages 1.5-3
  • For Ages 3-5
  • For Ages 4-6
  • For Ages 6-8
  • For Ages 6-12

Shop Resources


Copyright © 2023 · How Wee Learn · Privacy Policy · designed by blogger boutique · Genesis Framework

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT
385 shares
  • 7