Using a Touchy Feely Box for Coin Identification

This is by no means my idea. I have heard of it and seen it used in a variety of settings and finally I created my own. Using a Touchy Feel Box is a fantastic tool help kids learn by feeling. Here is how we used it in my classroom.

Materials

shoe box

fabric

glue

scissors

a variety of coins

Creating the Box

Face the open part of a shoe box away from you.

Cut two holes on the back of the box that are big enough for students to fit their hands through, but not so big that they can be seen through too easily

Cut two pieces of fabric that are big enough to cover each while like a curtain and glue them so they hang down and cover each hole. Glue them only at the top of the box.

The box is now complete.

Using the Touchy Feely Box

There are a variety of ways to use this box, but for this post, I will share how we used our touching boxes.

We were learning how to identify coins and learn their value. For this lesson, I simply wanted students to be able to identify the coins by touch because our coins here in the States can be tricky to learn for the little ones.

I began by passing around a Quarter. We talked about its size, thickness and weight. Each child was able to hold and study the coins before passing it along to the next person. I then passed around the other coins one at a time and the kids did the same. Some things we discovered were Quarters are the biggest, Nickels are the thickest. Dimes are thinnest. Dimes have bumpy edges. Students shared other observations as well.

I then pulled out the touching box, laid a few coins inside the box and called the first student to sit behind the box, pick up a coin and through touch only, try to identify the coin they had chosen.

After each child had a chance to do this once, they each had a second turn, but this time, they not only had to identify the coin they picked up, but also say why they think it is that particular coin.

This was a great way to give my students another way to identify coins.

Other Uses for The Touchy Feely Box

Use plastic letters and use the box to identify letters according to their lines and circles.

Use shape (plane and solid) blocks to practice identifying shapes and their attributes.

Use a objects with a variety of textures.

Use on object and practice using adjectives to describe the item.

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