Take advantage of your child’s natural love of animals and create an incredible sensory experience with this Arctic Animals Sensory Bin. Filled with different textures and ample opportunity for pretend play, this could keep your little one happy for hours. Bonus: Sensory play helps kid regulate emotions. It’s a win for everyone!
We are huge fans of sensory bins around here because they help with so many different areas of childhood development. From encouraging fine motor skill improvement, to encouraging verbal expression and communication sensory play can be the springboard for growth. Be sure to check out our huge and growing list of sensory bin ideas for a huge number of themes and special occasions. While you are poking around, you’ll also want to check out the Arctic Animals Sensory Bag and Bottle, both of which are more portable and serve different functions.
Supplies for your Arctic Animals Sensory Bin
- Cotton Balls from The Dollar Store
- Blue and Clear gem stones from The Dollar Store
- Arctic Animals
- Sensory Trays or this option.
How to Make an Arctic Animals Sensory Bin
Set up a tray in a central location or a spot near where you will be working. One of the things that makes sensory bins so handy for moms with small kids is that you can move them anywhere you need to make your life easier! Working in the kitchen on dinner, set one up at the table or island. Need to finish work for a client on the computer? Set up a bin in your office on the floor. Ready to relax with your favorite cooking show? A sensory bin on the coffee table is perfect! Once you have the tray in your desired location, simply fill it with the various supplies and invite your kids to play. It’s that simple.
As a special note, if your child is young enough to put things in their mouths all the time, they cannot play with this or any other sensory bin without direct supervision.
How to Direct Sensory Bin Play
If your child is struggling to know what to do with a sensory bin, you can ask leading questions to encourage play. Depending on the child, you can either focus on the textures of the bin with questions like “Describe how the cotton balls feel on your hand?” or “Do you think the cotton balls feel like real snow?. If focusing on textures is a bad idea, focus on the animals instead. “What do you think polar bear wants to do today? Show me!” or “What is the sea lion’s favorite part of the day?” Once your child starts playing with the sensory bin they aren’t going to want to stop. Sometimes, encouraging that first step is the hardest part!
Ways to Change up the Arctic Animals Sensory Bin
A simple change that can be fun for some kids is adding fake snow. Insta-snow expands with water, and if you use cold water it will be cold! It has a fluffy texture, but can be off putting to some kids. If you do this, leave out the beans and cotton balls.
Blue kinetic sand (also called moon sand) can be a fun way to simulate water in place of or in addition to the glass beads.
Adding a couple of ice cubes can be a fun way to talk about the temperatures in the arctic. Remove the ice cubes after a few minutes of play to prevent messes.
If safe (and your child won’t throw them) add a couple of very large rocks to the sensory bin. Not only does it add a new texture to the bin, it also adds a touch of real nature and gives the animals new places to perch or congregate.
What are the Arctic Animals
The list of animals who’ve adapted to life in the Arctic is actually quite long, and if you want to expand your sensory experiences into preschool learning, these are just some of the animals you could study or find to include in your sensory bin!
- Polar Bear
- Arctic Fox
- Caribou
- Musk Ox
- Arctic Wolf
- Walrus
- Narwhal
- Orca
- Beluga Whale
- Grizzly Bear
- Arctic Ground Squirrel
- Arctic Hare
- Arctic Tern
- Dall Sheep
- Bald Eagle
- Ermine
- Harp Seals
If you want to take your sensory bin in a new direction, gather up any stuffed animals you have from the list above (or you can find the full list of arctic animals here). Have one or two of the stuffed animals join your child at the sensory bin. Engage with your child and pretend that the animals are participating in sensory play. After a few minutes, step back and see what happens.
Arctic Animals Books to Read
- Rory: An Orca’s Quest for the Northern Lights by Sarah Cullen
- Arctic Animals by Tyler Grady
- The Arctic Fox’s Journey (Let’s Read and Find Out About Science).
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I Spy Arctic Animals by Alek Malkovich
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North: The Amazing Story of Arctic Migration by Nick Dowson
Helping Children Become More Aware of their Bodies and Emotions
- If you want to help your child connect with their emotions or sensory input, sensory play is a great time to ask open ended questions like these.
- How do you feel when running your hands through the beans (or glass beads, etc.)
- Can you remember how you felt when you were crying earlier? What has happened to those feelings?
- If you pull apart a cotton ball, what do your fingers think about that?
- Scoop beans into your hand and let them fall out slowly. What does that make you think about?
