What Is A Sensory Bin?
A sensory bin is typically a bin or container of various items that a child can touch and explore. This might include taste-safe items, toys, and even everyday household tools such as spoons, ladles, and even a spatula. You can customize each bin on a specific theme, such as a holiday or learning subject. Sensory bins are growing in popularity lately because it is convenient for parents and caregivers to put together, and it provides children with an engaging learning activity.
4th of July Toddler Sensory Bin
For this 4th of July activity, we are making fun sensory bins with the holiday theme. Feel free to adjust your bin as you need.
Materials:
- Bin (s)
- Beans
- Paint (Red & Blue)
- Cookie Cutter Star Shapes
- Dollar Tree Miscellaneous Items (Hats & Cups)
- Zip Loc Bags
I like to paint the beans with colors that correspond to this holiday. You can also use something different for the filler, maybe Red, White, and Blue pom poms or shredded paper. You can find lots of tutorials online on how to paint beans.
For me, I just tossed in one bag of beans per color. I eyeballed it and added enough paint to each bag that would be sufficient enough to cover all of the beans inside. I also added about a quarter cup of hand sanitizer, though I’ve seen some people leave this part out. You’re going to close the zip lock bags and mixed everything until you are sure every bean is covered in paint. You’re going to want to set the beans out to dry on a tray or layer of paper towels. I let them dry overnight. Making sure that there was as least amount of overlapping beans as possible.
When everything is dried, toss it into the bin in which your child will be playing. I like to add cookie cutters to give children more autonomy. This is also the time when you might want to throw in some spoons, the Dollar Tree cups and hats, and any other tool your child might use to scoop and gather.
Don’t forget to supervise your children carefully. I use this activity only when I am present and if I need to step away, I will either bring the child with me or bring the bin to a higher level where the child can’t reach. Safety First.
Other Ways To Play
Give your child tweezers and have them practice grabbing the beans with this new tool. Always encourage young learners to do their best, without making them feel bad if they make mistakes or simply know their own limits and ask for help.
Practice vocabulary as children learn to fill and empty the cups and hats. Can they learn to verbalize “empty” and “full?” Can they practice filling up the red cup first, and then the blue cup?
Try playing a silly game of hide and seek. Can your child place any painted bean under a hat? If you mix the hats around, can they successfully identify which hat the bean is hiding under?
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