• Bright Ideas
  • Education
  • Travels
  • Simple Nutrition
  • Yummy Eats
    • Breakfast
    • Main Dish
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Snack
    • Side Dish
    • Drinks
    • Breads
    • Soup
    • Appetizer

Betsy Ramirez

food. fun. family

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Let’s Work Together
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
  • Video for RDNs

Education

The Ultimate List of Multisensory Ideas for Homeschool

This Ultimate List of Multisensory Ideas for Homeschool will help you and your child throughout the school year!

Read through to the end and get a printable list!

multisensory ideas for homeschool

When I first started my homeschool journey, I had no idea the learning curve in front of me. I was a not a mom who planned on homeschooling. I had work plans, not lesson plans. When I realized my son had dyslexia, along with his dysgraphia, I set out on a journey, even though I was racing to ‘get it all in’ so he wouldn’t be more behind. Working with occupational therapists over several years, I did pick up quite a bit. I learned my my son was a kinesthetic and tactical learner. What I had to learn was how he learned in a multisensory way. Working with his certified dyslexia specialist and Wilson tutor for over 2 years at A Kid’s Choice, helped me develop some concrete tools in incorporate at home. I have also enlisted the help of my friend, Colby over at Special Inspirations, who is also a dyslexia specialist.

First, let’s go over what multisensory learning means for your child. Multisensory learning is a teaching style that incorporates more than one of the senses. They are composed of visual, tactile, auditory, and kinesthetic methods. It helps struggling kids grasp and retain concepts by making connections. Any child who struggles with learning a concept can use a multisensory method to aid in learning. For dyslexics, it’s the core of learning. While this list is a snapshot of the hundreds of ways you can bring multisensory learning into your home, I am going to give you my favorites so you can start building your own multisensory homeschool space.

Notecards

Colby suggests keeping note cards on hand. You can cut them apart to for syllables or separate basewords from suffixes. She also has students write each phoneme (sound) on a separate notecard and then have them tell you how many phonemes (sounds) are in that word. Another great idea is to use notecards to tap out the sounds using stickers, like shown below.

 

multisensory ideas

courtesy of Colby Horn. 

PlayDoh and Bendaroos

Dawn Coker, dyslexia therapist for A Kid’s Choice, recommends using PlayDoh for math, as well as making maps. She suggests using rolling up PlayDoh into balls for addition and subtraction. She also uses it with to make maps when studying geography or history because it makes a great tactile experience. Colby from Special Inspirations uses them for letter and word formation. I also enjoy using Bendaroos for word and letter formation.

 

multisensory map

courtesy of Dawn Coker

multisensory activity

multisensory activity

courtesy of Colby Horn

Magnetic Letters and Numbers

Magnetic letters and numbers come in handy when you need a visual and tactile way to teach reading or do math. You can find word work mats on Teachers Pay Teachers, but one of my favorite places to find resources is This Reading Mama. I love her free Welded Sounds Spelling Mats.

magnetic numbers

Dry Erase Boards and Chalkboards

We spend a lot of time using our dry erase board and chalkboard. Both of these come in handy for math, phonics, and drawings. We use these for vocabulary by segmenting it into 4 sections and utilizing the Frayer Model. The Frayer Model is a graphic organizer for vocabulary that lets the student put the word in the middle and then they describe the word in one quadrant, describe it’s characteristics in the 2nd quadrant, draw or give an example in the 3rd quadrant, and give or draw a non example in the 4th quadrant. We also use the color coded markers quite frequently in with word work or math.

multisensory activity dry erase

Dice and Dominoes

I absolutely love using dice and dominoes in math. I found the Math Dice to use for games and place value. Each color represents ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands. Dominos and dice are also perfect for addition, subtraction, and multiplication.

multisensory activity

Dry Erase Blocks

These are a fun resource because you can use them for any subject. You can also use them with colored dry erase markers to make them even more visually appealing.

Dry erase blocks

Hands on Tiles and Color Blocks

We are starting fractions this year, and I am excited to use these color coded magnetic fraction tiles. It will make learning fractions so much easier! The color cubes can be used for just about anything in math.

hands on fractions

color cubes

Sand, Shaving Cream, or Gel Bags

Colby at Special Inspirations builds words with word puzzles and then spells them in sand (tracing using two fingers). She also has her students practice cursive writing in shaving cream! Gel bags are easy to make. All you have to do is put some hair gel into a Ziploc bag and make sure it is air tight. You can practice words or letters on it.

Sand and shaving cream

Colorful Flash Cards

Anything visual and color coded is helpful to kids with struggling learners.

flashcards

Legos

Legos are great to use with syllable division or math.  We also use them for Language Arts to link nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Your kids can come up with some pretty amazing ideas if you ask.

Clothes Pins and Colored Craft Sticks

We use clothes pins for math and reading. I adore these free math clip cards from The Measured Mom! She has tons of great multisensory resources. She also has other great clip cards to check out.

Colored Craft Sticks can be used for place value or build a simple sentence house to teach about grammar. We also use them to keep our place when reading or tap them when breaking down words into syllables. I have even seen people use them for STEM activities or as story sticks. multisensory sticks

 

Pipe Cleaners and Beads

Pipe Cleaners can be used like the Bendaroos or you can use them as an abacus for math with the beads. Beads can also be used separately for math or making letters.

Sandpaper Letters

I adore sandpaper letters. We used them for learning letters and sounds and now we use them for learning cursive handwriting! It’s such a great tool!

Glue and Scissors

Tempera Paint in various colors

Colored Pencils

Colored Marker Crayons

Now that you have all the tools,  you can throw them in a bin! That way, it’s all in one place and makes lesson planning a breeze!

multisensory bin

I hope this list has helped inspire you to make a multisensory bin in your home! I made one and it’s been the lifeboat of my homeschool this year! If you need a cheat sheet, you can print it off by clicking  The Ultimate List of Multisensory Ideas for Homeschool. 

List of Multisensory Ideas

Do you have any more ideas, comment below! If you want to keep up with more of my homeschool and dyslexia posts, be sure to subscribe to the newsletter!

 

 

Author: Betsy Ramirez

Betsy is a registered dietitian/nutritionist, homeschool mom, & fairy tale junkie, who loves getting crafty. Being on my bike and lifting weights are my therapy. Thinking outside the box is my jam!

Twitter Facebook

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Related


« Pumpkin Pancakes {Gluten Free / Dairy Free}
DIY Harry Potter Halloween Quidditch House »

I am so tickled you are here!

I'm Betsy! I'm a registered dietitian, homeschool mom, Air Force wife, & world traveler. I love my family, food, crafts, exercise, nutrition, and now homeschool! Thank you for joining me at my kitchen table.

Keep Up With The Latest & Greatest!

Must Reads

4 Quick and Healthy Snacks for Kids

Snacking is always happening in our house! My kids are always running to the cabinet and asking what there is to eat. Now that they are old enough, it has gotten easier but the lack of ideas makes it easy to go for poor choices. My niece contacted me a few weeks ago to help […]

Lunchbox Lessons for Healthy Kids

Who needs some Lunchbox Lessons? Mom and Dad, do you feel like you are running a restaurant? Are your kids constantly demanding to eat? School may not be in session but that doesn’t mean kids can’t learn some ways to make their own healthy lunches. It doesn’t to be this hard. I am going to […]

Categories

  • Bright Ideas
  • Education
  • Simple Nutrition
  • Travels
  • Uncategorized
  • Video
  • Yummy Eats

Most Popular Recipes

4 Quick and Healthy Snacks for Kids

April 30, 2020 By Betsy Ramirez

bowl of watermelon salsa with chips and lime

Easy Watermelon Mango Salsa

June 21, 2019 By Betsy Ramirez

Simple Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Simple Roasted Sweet Potatoes

March 6, 2019 By Betsy Ramirez

Give the gift of chocolate with more than 20 chocolate dessert recipes from Registered Dietitians!

20+ Dietitian Approved Chocolate Desserts for Valentine’s Day

February 13, 2019 By Betsy Ramirez

Diary Free Chocolate Avocado Pudding is the perfect dessert for chocolate lovers!

Avocado Chocolate Pudding ( Dairy Free )

February 3, 2019 By Betsy Ramirez

Keep Up with Betsy’s Best!

CONNECT WITH ME

Copyright © 2025 · Divine theme by Restored 316

Copyright © 2025 · Divine Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

 

Loading Comments...