Sharla Kostelyk

Nature Inspired Easter Sensory Bin

Using nature as inspiration for your sensory bin is a great way to provide your toddler or preschooler with educational interactive fun. And since spring is right around the corner, Easter is the perfect time to create a nature activity for your kids. With this nature inspired Easter sensory bin, your little ones can have some educational fun while exploring nature at home. Nature provides your kids with tons of opportunities to explore and meet their sensory needs. From smelling the flowers to touching the soft grass, there are several ways your child can use their senses while playing outside. And that’s why nature is the perfect inspiration for an Easter sensory bin.

Nature Inspired Easter Sensory Bin:

Supplies needed:

plastic tub
plush Easter bunny
rocks
gold gems
stones
artificial grass
Spanish moss
artificial flowers and plants
mini birch logs
artificial insects like butterflies/dragonflies

Instructions:

Add the Spanish moss to the tray. Add the artificial grass on top. Spread out evenly.
Place the artificial plants, flowers, and mini birch logs around the bin.
Add the stones, rocks, and gems to the bin.
Add the butterflies and dragonflies to the bin.
Set the bunny near the bin.

Nature Inspired Sensory Bin Activities

Once you have your sensory bin put together, it’s time to let your kids explore.

If you’re looking for ways to encourage your kids to play, try these fun activity suggestions:

Play with the bunny in the bin. Encourage pretend play by asking your child to play with the bunny in the bin. They can make the bunny interact with the different elements of the bin and use their imagination as they play.
Touch the different elements and compare the textures. Explore their sense of touch by touching each item to see what it feels like. Then, compare the different textures to see which ones are similar, like the rocks and gems, and which ones are different, like the logs and moss.

Listen to nature sounds. In addition to invoking your kids’ sense of touch, this nature inspired sensory bin can also let your child use their ears to hear. Figure out what sounds the elements make when rubbed together or moved from spot to spot.
Encourage imaginative play. After child plays with the bunny, your child can also use the butterflies and dragonflies for play. Show them how the insects interact with the different elements in the bin, then let them use their imagination to play with the toys.
Sort and organize. Practice sorting and organizing the elements in the bin into different categories, like colour, shape, or size.
Compare to nature. Take a look at each element in the bin and compare it to items found in nature. Ask your child what each item looks like and then let them guess what it is and where in nature you can find it.

Check out some of our other Easter sensory activities for kids:

Easter Fluffy Slime

Eggs and Carrots Easter Sensory Bin

Sensory Sound Eggs

St. Patrick’s Clear Slime

By Sharla Kostelyk

Finding fun and educational activities for the holidays is a great way to incorporate the celebration into your learning. And when it comes to St. Patrick’s Day, there’s no better way to learn and play than with clear slime! This quick and easy slime recipe allows you to add in fun holiday-themed elements, making it a great STEAM activity your kids will love. What’s so great about making clear slime is how easily it can be adapted to the holiday season. Use the basic recipe to make the slime, then mix in different elements based on your celebration. To make your own St. Patrick’s Day slime, grab some gold glitter, shamrock confetti, and plastic coins for your kids to incorporate into their homemade recipe.

St. Patrick’s Day Clear Slime Recipe:

Supplies Needed:

1 cup Elmer’s Clear School glue
2-3 Tbsp. contact lens saline solution
1/2 tsp. baking soda
gold glitter
shamrock confetti
plastic gold shamrock coins

Instructions:

Pour the glue into a large mixing bowl and stir the baking soda into it.
Begin to add the contact lens solution a few drops at a time as you stir.
When you find that the mixture begins to pull away from the bowl, it’s time to begin kneading.
Add the glitter and confetti. Continue kneading.
Fold in some of the gold coins or offer them to your child as they begin to play.
If the slime is still too sticky to play with, add one or two more drops of contact solution and knead.

How to Make Perfect Slime

Making great slime doesn’t have to be difficult! And since it’s a messy project anyway, there really isn’t one way particular way to make a batch of slime. But with these simple tips, you and your kids can make perfect clear slime every time you mix up the ingredients, no matter what holiday you’re celebrating:

You must use your hands.

The most fun part of this project is getting messy, which means your kids can’t be afraid to get their hands dirty. After adding the contact solution to the glue mixture, you’ll see the slime begin to form. At this point, the only way to properly mix the ingredients is to use your hands.

Pick the right glue.

The key to getting a good slime consistency is to use the right glue in your recipe. Most slime makers recommend Elmer’s glue as their glue of choice. But any washable school glue will work for this recipe. The key to getting the best slime is to use a glue that contains Polyvinyl Acetate or PVA, which is a nontoxic additive found in most washable glues.

No Borax needed.

When slime making first became popular, many recipes included Borax. But that ingredient isn’t exactly safe around kids. With this easy St. Patrick’s Day slime recipe, you don’t need Borax to make amazing slime! Instead, you need just three nontoxic ingredients – clear glue, saline solution, and baking soda.

Customize with mix-ins.

Once you have your clear slime made, your kids can have some fun personalizing their holiday creation. There are a variety of mix-ins you could use to create holiday slime, including food colouring, glitter, confetti, sequins, small beads, essential oils, puff balls, foam balls, faux snow, glow in the dark pigments, buttons, and rock salt. Experiment with different mix-ins to have some fun with this basic clear slime recipe.

Check out our other St. Patrick’s Day sensory activities:

St. Patrick’s Day Fluffy Slime St. Patrick’s Day Sensory Bag St. Patrick’s Day Sensory Bottle

March Emotions Printables for Kids

By Sharla Kostelyk

March is the time of year when winter starts to lift and spring is in the air. It may seem like that would be a welcome thing for everyone, but some kids may have mixed feelings about the change.

They may welcome spring or feel sad about losing their favourite season. They may have mixed feelings about spending more time outside. Or they may be excited about what is to come.

These March emotions printables can help children to both identify and talk about all those different feelings.

March Copywork Emotions Sentences:

Being able to identify and discuss emotions is an important skill to develop in childhood. Kids need to develop a solid understanding of emotions and learn how to effectively express their own.

These printing practise worksheets allow kids to practise their printing while also normalizing talking about emotions. They have a shamrock theme which is perfect for March.

Supplies needed:

March Emotions printables
pencil or pen OR
plastic sleeve AND dry erase marker

Download the printable pages. To make them reusable, laminate the pages or slip them into a plastic page protector. Students can use a dry erase marker to do the tracing and writing.

If you want to just have them be single use, give the student a pencil, crayons, coloured pencils, or markers and the printed papers.

Instructions for the student:

Read the sentence.
Fill in the outline.
Trace the dotted words.
Write the sentence on the lines provided.
Discuss the different emotions.

These worksheets can be the jumping off point for a discussion with the whole class or one-on-one talk about different emotions. They can be used by teachers, homeschoolers, parents, or therapists.

March Feelings Log:

Keeping a daily log of feelings helps kids to examine their emotions. It also allows them and their teacher or parents to recognize any patterns they see emerging when looking back through the log. This can provide important insight.

By participating in this daily exercise, kids can normalize talking about their emotions. They may also lay the groundwork that helps get to the root of why they are feeling the way they are.

Doing this at the same time each day can develop a positive habit.

It may be most helpful to do this in the morning to then be able to adjust activities or expectations based on how the student is feeling or it may be best to do after supper or before bed to reflect on and analyze the day.

Teaching emotions is such a powerful lifelong tool to gift your kids with.

I’ve created a Feelings Log for March that includes a writing prompt and drawing prompt about spending time in nature and going outside to play, and weekly tracking sheet of “Today I feel” along with sweet little shamrock faces to use to help them better express their emotions.

Supplies needed:

printed March Feelings Log pages (download here)
scissors
markers, pencil crayons, or crayons
pencil or pen

Enter your email below to get your free March Emotions Printables bundle. You can use this with your child at home or print it off to use with your students in the classroom.

Our other monthly emotions printables:

I Spy Birds Sensory Bottle

By Sharla Kostelyk

Kids can work on their visual perception while playing with this I Spy Birds Sensory Bottle. It is simple to create at home or for the classroom. This sensory bottle creates opportunity for kids to use their tactile, visual, and proprioceptive sensory systems. Sensory input is an important part of child development and emotional regulation.

I Spy Birds Sensory Bottle:

Supplies needed:

- 16.9 oz. bottle (you can use a sensory bottle or Voss type water bottle)
- white rice
- funnel
- bird buttons
- optional: hot glue

Directions:

Using a funnel, add a small amount of rice to the bottom of the bottle.
Place a bird button inside the bottle.
Repeat the above steps until all the birds are placed inside the bottle. By layering the rice and birds, you can ensure they won’t all be in the same place.
Fill the remainder of the bottle with rice, but leave some space for the rice to move around. You can empty out rice if you feel the rice doesn’t move enough to allow the animals to be seen.
Replace the lid on the bottle.
If you want to secure the bottle, you can secure the lid with a hot glue gun.
Give the sensory bottle to your child or students to explore.
If you want, you can write a list of the birds for them to find.

Allow the child to move and shake the rice around until they find all of the birds. They can even expand the activity by researching what type of birds they are.

This activity would go well with a unit study on birds.

Expanding your study on birds:

Go for a nature walk to observe birds and listen to their songs.
Create bird notebooking pages.
Set out books on birds.
Make a bird feeder and watch as birds come to eat.
Complete some bird worksheets.
Play the Birds of North America game.

As with all sensory play activities, adult supervision should be used at all times. Even if you have secured the lid with glue, it is still possible to get it open and the bottle contains small parts which are choking hazards for children.

Are you looking for more easy sensory play ideas to make for your child or students? Join us for a five day email series on Sensory Activities and Solutions and get a free sample of our Sensory Play Recipes eBook.

Check out some of our other sensory bottles:

Dinosaur Sensory Bottle

Bugs Sensory Bottle

Van Gogh Starry Night Inspired Sensory Bottle

Ladybug Life Cycle Sensory Bin and Activities

By Sharla Kostelyk

This adorable ladybug life cycle sensory bin is a great addition to an insect study, ladybug study, or preschool classroom. You can set it up for your child at home or students in the classroom and invite them to explore. Whenever you can add a sensory activity into learning, it increases the amount of information children can retain. Sensory bins are a simple way to do this and as kids discover through their senses, they can ask questions which will increase their learning.

Ladybug Life Cycle Sensory Bin:

Supplies needed:

- plastic bin
- rice dyed green >> read how to dye rice for sensory play
- ladybug life cycle pack
- rocks
- sticks
- plastic leaves
- magnifying glass

Instructions:

Dye the rice (read the full instructions here) and let it dry overnight.
Pour the green rice into a plastic bin.
Place the other items into the bin.
Invite your child or students to play and discover.

This sensory bin contains small parts. Adult supervision should always be used when kids play.

Life Stages of a Ladybug:

egg
larva
pupa
adult ladybug

Activities to Expand on Your Ladybug Study:

Observe ladybugs in nature.
Download and print off this ladybug life cycle printable.
Set out books about ladybugs and other insects.
Make and hang suncatcher decorations to go along with your theme.
Create a craft out of a paper plate.
Use these life cycle sequencing cards.
Print and colour these ladybug life cycle pages.

Kids will engage their visual, tactile, and proprioceptive sensory systems by playing in this sensory bin. You can also add something for the olfactory (smell) system by scenting the rice using essential oil.

Resources for Learning About Ladybugs:

Ladybug Life Cycle Pack Ladybug Life Cycle Reversible Hand Puppet Ladybug Land with Live Larvae The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle Life Story of a Ladybug Color the Life Cycle of a Ladybug, Cricket, Butterfly, Honey Bee, and a Frog Ladybugs

You might also want to check out our other life cycle sensory bins:

February Emotions Printables for Kids

By Sharla Kostelyk

February is a time for celebrating love. Not just romantic love, but friendship and family. Kids can however have mixed feelings about Valentine’s Day. They may feel jealous of those who receive more Valentine’s, indifferent, happy, or sad due to circumstances within their family or with friends.

These Valentine’s themed February emotions printables can help kids identify and talk about their feelings.

February Copywork Emotions Sentences:

I strongly believe that teaching emotions is more important than teaching academics. Children need to develop a firm understanding of emotions and learn how to effectively express their own. These February emotions printing practise worksheets allow kids to practise their printing while also normalizing talking about emotions.

These copywork pages allow students to explore emotion words and associate the images with the corresponding feeling. This expands their emotional vocabulary.

Supplies needed:

February Emotions printables
pencil or pen OR
plastic sleeve AND dry erase marker

Download the printable pages. If you want them to be reusable, laminate the pages or slip them into a plastic page protector. Students can then use a dry erase marker to complete the tracing and writing.

For one time use, give the student a pencil, crayons, coloured pencils, or markers and the printed papers.

Instructions for the student:

Read the sentence.
Fill in the outline.
Trace the dotted words.
Write the sentence on the lines provided.
Discuss the different emotions.

These worksheets can be the jumping off point for a discussion with the whole class or one-on-one talk about different emotions. They can be used by teachers, homeschoolers, parents, or therapists.

February Feelings Log:

Keeping a daily log of feelings helps kids to look at their emotions. It can also allow them and their teacher or parents to recognize any patterns they see emerging when looking back through the log. This can provide a lot of insight.

Doing this quick daily exercise is an easy way to help kids to talk about their emotions and get to the root of why they are feeling the way they are. Doing this at the same time each day can develop a positive habit.

Teaching emotions is such a powerful tool. It arms children with a skill they can use their whole life.

I’ve created a special Feelings Log for February. It includes a writing prompt and drawing prompt about Valentine’s Day, and weekly tracking sheet of “Today I feel” along with cute heart faces to use to help them better express their emotions.

Supplies needed:

printed Feelings Log pages (download here)
scissors
markers, pencil crayons, or crayons
pencil or pen

Enter your email below to download the free February Emotions Printables. You can use this with your child at home or print it off to use with your students in the classroom.

Our other monthly emotions printables: