Kiddos love to find special “treasures” in all that they do! Hiding some invisible “ghost” letters in white rice is perfect for this Halloween season …or any season for that matter. Thanks for the idea Pinterest! With only a few materials and a few minutes of prep, your little one will be hunting for letters in no time! …and with any luck, you’ll be sitting back and relaxing while they play!

Materials:

• Permanent marker
• Parchment paper
• Hot glue gun
• Hot glue sticks
• White rice
• Bowl/basket/container
• Marker/pencil

Step 1 – Write your neatest uppercase alphabet on parchment paper. Write it so letters are at least a half inch apart so they don’t get glued together in step 3.

Step 2 –  Turn the parchment paper over so the letters appear reversed. You’ll be able to see them clearly since the parchment paper is translucent. This is important if you want the letters to stay clear/the color of the cooled glue in step 3—it helps keep them “invisible” in the rice, otherwise the color of the marker/pencil will melt into the hot glue (I learned this through trial and error).

Step 3 – Carefully trace over each letter with hot glue. Let the alphabet cool completely before peeling it off.

Step 4 – Dump white rice into a container.

Step 5 – Peel the hot glued letters off of the parchment paper and hide them in the rice container.

Little Ones: Not ready for letters yet? Not a problem! Make shapes with hot glue instead! TIP: Outline the shapes with glue, then fill the middle of the shapes in with additional glue to make them more sturdy.

Toddlers and Preschoolers: While letters are great, hide numbers or shapes in the rice for a simple variation. Hide multiples of letters and turn it into a matching game. This is a great way to make it a counting game and work on one-to-one correspondence too! You could say something like “Count how many G’s you found!” Hide the letters in your kiddo’s name and have them spell out their name once they find it. TIP: Save the parchment paper and use it as a matching board!

Kindergarten: This is such a fun way to work on reading or spelling sight words! Trace/glue the letters in a word so they are all touching (but still legible), when you peel up the word, it should be stuck together and easy-to-read. If your kiddo is working on spelling, hide the letters of one sight word at a time, then have your little learner spell out the word in the correct order.

 

SUGGESTION: When you’re done with the shapes/letters/numbers and rice, save them for another day! They work great in a sensory bin and clean up in a sweep because they all fit nicely into a large baggie.

No matter the variation, your little learner will have a blast hunting for hidden treasures!