Easy at Home Sensory Bins!

What is a sensory bin? 

We are right in the middle of winter, with a few more months of cold and snowy weather ahead of us. When it’s cold outside, we know that many families are stuck inside which can get boring FAST. Here are some easy at home sensory bins that you can re-create at home with things you may already have at the house! Sensory bins provide stimulation to the senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, and even taste!) and be used as a tool for calming and focusing or just as a fun and new at home activity.  

Easy & Simple Sensory Bins:

1. Construction Themed Sensory Bin 

https://www.pre-kpages.com/construction-sensory-bin/  

If your child loves anything with construction trucks and toys, this bin is perfect for you! All you need is any kind of dried beans or dried corn kernels and your child’s construction toys, and you are all set! You could also swap the construction them for a cars, animals, dinosaurs, ect! 

     2. Water Sensory Bin 

Water sensory bins are SO EASY! You can use a bin, a large bowl, or even your bathtub. Just add whatever toys you’d like (maybe ocean animals like in this ocean sensory bin https://www.pre-kpages.com/ocean-sensory-bin/) and a few drops of blue food coloring and you have a fun water sensory bin! You could even just add some plastic plates/cups with a sponge and practice washing dishes. There are many possibilities!   

    3. Rice & Pasta Sensory Bin  

Rice and pasta are relatively inexpensive, and will never go bad. You can dye your rice or pasta before putting it into your sensory bin to add a pop of color. Check out this tutorial on how to dye rice: https://www.thebestideasforkids.com/rainbow-rice/. You could add any kind of toy or ‘buried treasure’ to a rice or pasta sensory bin for your kids to find or burry themselves.  

Tips & Tricks:

We hope you try some of these out at your house! Just a few things to remember when making a sensory bin for your child: If your child is young, make sure none of the pieces are small enough to choke on. Use pieces that are either small enough to swallow or large enough that they couldn’t be swallowed/choked on. We would also recommend putting the sensory bin on top of an old towel, trash bag, or anything that will help make cleaning up easier.  Want to add something that will touch on the sense of smell? Add a few drops of your favorite scent of a  non-toxic essential oil to your sensory bin. 

Show us your bins! 

Thanks for taking the time to read this! Tag us in any pictures that you take of your very own sensory bins at home!! 

Kind regards,  

Katie Whaley, Southern Tier Site Manager