Sensory Bin Ideas for Preschool and Homeschool
Sensory bins are treasure troves for our little ones, filled with textures, colors, and shapes to explore. Through hands-on play, they engage their senses, having fun while sharpening crucial skills.
From refining fine motor coordination to expanding vocabulary through descriptive language, each interaction with a sensory bin is a small step towards holistic development. It’s a simple yet powerful tool that encourages curiosity, creativity, and cognitive growth, making learning an exciting adventure for our little scholars.
What Kind of Bin Do You Need?
You don’t need anything fancy—a regular, clear rectangular container works perfectly fine. In fact, we’ve found that these simple containers hold up well over the years, proving that you don’t need anything extravagant to create engaging sensory experiences for children.
Whether it’s a repurposed storage bin or a basic plastic tub, the focus is on what’s inside rather than the container itself.
Saint Patrick’s Day Sensory Bins
Dyeing chickpeas is a fun and creative way to add color to this simple sensory bin.
Add little toys, scoops and cups. These little dino manipulatives are perfect!
Incorporating sight words into any sensory bin can significantly enhance learning experiences for children.
How beautiful is this? It’s incredibly entertaining and a bit squishy! Dyed rainbow spaghetti is an ideal fit for St. Patrick’s Day. Just a heads up, though – it typically only lasts about two days before it starts to get mushy!
Space Sensory Bin
At the foundation of this bin lies aquarium gravel! Enhance it with glow-in-the-dark stars, playful space toys, and a couple of scoops, and voila! You’ve created a delightfully simple sensory bin. This set came with a rocket ship and a ton of astronauts!
Farm Sensory Bins
This wonderfully easy sunflower bin is an ideal addition for fall or a farm-themed activity. We included small animal figurines that fit perfectly with the theme.
Engaging in the activity of shucking corn is excellent for developing fine motor muscles.
Once all the corn is removed from the cob, incorporate some entertaining letters or numbers to transform it into an engaging educational activity.
These beautifully crafted vegetables complement activities centered on farm and gardening themes perfectly. They come with bins that are great for sorting by colors as well! We purchased this set, made by learning resources.
Fall Sensory Bins
This container is filled with all the wonderful elements of fall, from pine cones and autumn pasta to sunflower seeds and leaves.
Dyeing a variety of pasta adds an extra layer of engagement to this bin.
Combining sunflower seeds with candy corn creates a delightfully simple and enjoyable sensory bin. Don’t forget to remind the kids not to eat the candy! There’s always one!
The heavenly scent of Apple Jacks makes them an ideal fit for an apple-themed sensory bin.
Add in a few chenille stems for a fun and easy fine motor activity.
In this bin, oatmeal is paired with bowls and scoops for a sensory exploration.
Winter Sensory Bins
Playing with frozen water beads is a unique experience, and the blue ones are especially fitting for a winter-themed activity!
Making “Feed the Snowman” is a straightforward activity with recycled bottles. We decorated the bottles with fun faces to resemble snowmen and added cotton balls for “snow.” These fine motor tools are an ideal choice for this activity
Craft the ultimate winter bin by combining blue and white rice with some winter-themed confetti.
These frozen reusable ice cubes bring a cool, wintry vibe to our sensory bin. And those adorable penguins we tossed in? They’re perfect for all sorts of engaging activities!
This bin is just right for those chilly days. We fill it up with water the night before school and let it freeze outside overnight, ready to enjoy the next day. The penguins we used can be found here. But there are a ton of other options available too!
Sensory boxes serve as excellent platforms for cutting activities too. Just throw in themed paper, add some scissors, and you’ve got a fantastic way to practice cutting skills.
Hot, hot, hot…..HOT CHOCOLATE! Are you singing it? Coffee beans, candy canes, and cotton balls for marshmallows come together to create this delightful winter-themed bin.
Christmas Sensory Bin
This bin features a variety of pasta dyed in festive red and green colors, creating the perfect Christmas-themed sensory experience.
This is undeniably one of the most stunning sensory bins we create all year. There’s just something magical about combining cranberries with fresh greenery to craft an enchanting experience. And it smells amazing!
Create a Christmas cutting box filled with all things red and green, including yarn and tinsel, for a festive and engaging activity.
Community Helpers Sensory Bins
This highly popular sensory bin is comprised of coffee beans, rocks, and construction vehicles, providing an engaging and tactile experience.
Enhance any sensory bin by adding magnetic letters and incorporating magnetic wands to transform it into a fun and educational activity.
This “Garbage” themed sensory bin is packed with shredded paper, recycle bins, and garbage trucks, offering an immersive and interactive experience.
Dinosaur Sensory Bins
Children adore everything related to water and bubbles, like giving these dinosaurs a bath with soap and toothbrushes!
This easy-to-create bin is filled with plain macaroni noodles, lima beans, and toy dinosaurs. These toys are our top pick for a range of dino-themed activities.
This year, we introduced a new activity to our dinosaur theme. We filled five bins with sand and dinosaur fossils for an exciting excavation experience. Students used brushes to role-play as archaeologists, uncovering dinosaur fossils buried in the sand bins.
Spring Sensory Bin
Brain flakes are versatile hands-on toys that lend themselves well to a variety of activities. During our spring theme, we enjoy using them to create vibrant flower designs.
Summer Sensory Bin
This watermelon sensory bin is absolutely adorable! We dyed lima beans pink and added black beans to resemble seeds. With the addition of scoops and cups, it’s the perfect setup for sensory play.
Soap, water, sponges, and loofahs are ideal for the “clean the germs” activity. Plus, bubbles are always a hit with kids!
Sensory bins provide valuable hands-on experiences for preschoolers and toddlers. They encourage exploration, develop essential skills, and promote creativity in a fun and engaging way.
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