Create Sensory Bins for Your Child

Children learn by exploring the world around them, and you can encourage this exploration by creating sensory bins for your child to play with. Used in many daycares and preschools, sensory bins are an easy and relatively tidy way to provide your child with new tactile experiences.

Sensory Bin Containers

The easiest container is a small, clear plastic tub with a lid that snaps on. They seal and stack well, and the clear plastic allows you and your child to see the contents of the bin. On a smaller scale, you can use a casserole dish, a cookie sheet, or even a clean plastic tray leftover from a freezer meal.

Filling Your Sensory Bins

There are many fun options to use, each giving your child a unique tactile experience. You can use just one material per bin, or mix a few together.

From the kitchen, you can use uncooked oatmeal, rice, or beans. Popcorn kernels, cooked or uncooked pasta, flour, sugar, or even seeds such as pumpkin or sunflower also work. A really fun material is jell-o. You can put cubes or scoops of jell-o into your bin, or just make the jell-o right in your bin.

Other household materials that you can use to fill your sensory bins are shredded paper, crumpled balls of wrapping paper, cotton balls, and styrofoam packing peanuts. From your craft room, borrow a mixed bag of buttons, crafting feathers, various sizes of beads, curled ribbon, or even scraps of yarn.

Outdoor materials that work in sensory bins include rocks or pebbles, small pinecones, acorns, or gardening soil. Water can be messy, but is also very entertaining for little ones. Increase the fun factor by coloring the water with food coloring, or adding some dish soap for bubbles.

Tools for Sensory Bins

Giving your child a few tools to work with will increase their interest in the sensory bins. From your kitchen, borrow utensils such as spoons, spatulas, or even a colander to use. Cups, bowls, or old plastic containers can be used with the bins to introduce the concept of volume to your child. Gardening tools, such as a small hand shovel or hand cultivator designed for children are also fun. Toy trucks are perfect for hauling around the materials in the bins. You can bury small figurines, such as animals or dinosaurs for your child to unearth. You can also provide your child with a small tray or muffin tin for sorting their discoveries, or even for sorting the materials filling the bins. A magnifying glass is another great tool to have on hand to aid your child's exploration.

According to Zero to Three, a national foundation supporting early childhood education, new experiences and activities are vital to brain development in the years of early childhood. Creating sensory bins is an easy way to help incorporate new visual, auditory and tactile experiences into your child's play.

Source:
Zero to Three: Frequently Asked Questions on the Brain