Sensory Bins

SENSORY BINS

—• What are sensory bins exactly?

+ They are a hands-on, tactile experience for kids that can be premade or an at-home project for the entire family. They are designed to engage the child’s senses, such as touch, sight, and sound, and promote learning through play. Children can explore and manipulate the items in the bin, which can include items like rice, sand, water, beads, or small toys, to stimulate their imagination and cognitive development.

+ Sensory bins can get expensive but you don’t have to buy them premade. You can make them yourself and have fun in the process! We’ve compiled a list of items for making your own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

—• STEP ONE: Choose a container.

+ You can make bins of different sizes and depths. Try to buy a couple of the same size to make stacking easier. A small sensory bin (about 6qt) is perfect for a small amount of filler, one child, or maybe you’re wanting to take it somewhere. Food storage containers also work for bins. If you have more than one child and small containers, you can make individual bins for each child.

+ The most commonly used bin is about 25 quarts and has high enough sides to contain the filler, yet short enough as to not hinder play.

+ If you are using a lot of filler or want to give your child a whole-body experience, consider using a long, under-bed rolling container. These are easy to store if you can, for example, roll them under a bed. This is also a good option if you have multiple children using it at the same time.

** If you don’t have a container before you buy one, look around your house! Examples are large Tupperware-type bowls with lids, shoe boxes, and plastic storage containers. If you still don’t have anything but you are on a budget, they sell plastic tubs/bins with lids at your local dollar tree or dollar store.

—• STEP TWO: Decide on your base material.

+ You’ll want to choose your main material(s) that will fill the bin. Typically these include things like:

~ Rice (Plain white or can dye with food coloring)

~ Dry Pasta (different types- macaroni, spirals, penne)

~ Beans (Dry or cooked)

~ Oats (soft and crumbly)

~ Sand (let them get their own in the backyard)

~ Kinetic Sand (or play sand)

~ Water Beads (under direct supervision, nontoxic)

~ Aquarium Sand or Rocks

~ Rocks or Glass Beads from a craft store

~ Ribbons with Various Textures

~ Shaving Cream

~ Cotton balls or Pom Poms

~ Play-dough (flatten it)

~ Shredded Paper

~ Even Plain Water! (can add food coloring)

+ Have a child that likes to taste test everything first? Be sure to use edible materials that are safe for play and for consumption! Some suggestions are:

~ Cheerios or other dried cereal (can also be crushed and used that way)

~ Dried bread crumbs

~ Ground-up cookies or crackers

~ Jello

~ Yogurt

~ Sugar/Brown/Powdered (limit consumption)

~ Uncooked oats/cream of wheat

~ Whipped Cream (fat-free has less sugar)

~ Candy (preferably sugar-free)

~ Beans/Rice/Pasta (cooked or uncooked)

~ Dried chickpeas

~ Water

—• STEP THREE: Add sensory elements.

+ You can enhance their experience by adding different elements to the bin. Interacting with these items promotes cognitive development, fine motor skills, exploration, focus, and attention as well as social interaction if done with others (or with you!) Examples of sensory elements include:

~ Cars or trucks

~ Plastic animals or bugs

~ Sand shovels, small sand toys

~ Mini silicone cooking utensils

~ Small plastic measuring spoons or cups

~ Plastic utensils, ladles

~ Pom-Poms

~ Feathers

~ Funnels of different sizes

~ Water beads (under direct supervision, nontoxic)

~ Small pieces of playdough

~ Scraps of fabric

~ Small bowls they can use for sorting

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

—• Here’s a few ideas that are easy to make:

[ Construction themed ]

~ Play sand/kinetic sand or ground-up cheerios/ chocolate cookies for dirt. Add construction trucks, mini-traffic cones, and pebbles/rocks. Scoop and spoons for digging.

[ Elmo/Cookie monster themed ]

~ Dried chickpeas or pebbles dyed red, blue, yellow, and green for the base. Add red and blue Pom-Poms, mini cups for sorting, mini utensils for grabbing, and mini Elmo/Cookie monster plastic figures (dollar tree).

[ Ocean/Underwater themed ]

~ Blue jello or water-dyed blue as the base, crushed vanilla cookies for sand. Add seashells, blue water beads (directly supervised), and small plastic fish. If using water, include a small fish net for scooping.

[ Outer Space themed ]

~ Dried black beans (or cooked) as the base. Add glow-in-the-dark stars, small astronauts, a mini spaceship, and a scoop or spoons for digging. Can also add black water beads (direct supervision).

[ Rainbow Color Sorting themed]

~ Dye some white rice using several different colors. Mix some together to use as a rainbow base. Add different colored Pom-Poms throughout the bin, a set of small tongs for grabbing, and optionally, several small bowls/containers to hold the different colors.