Sensory Bins

Sensory Bins Book

Today I am officially launching my new eBook, Sensory Bins: the What, the How & the Why. We’ve been using sensory bins in our home now for a few years and they have helped my kids tremendously. Four of my kids have SPD (sensory processing disorder) and of all the things we’ve tried, sensory bins have been the easiest to implement and have had the greatest impact.

I first decided to write a book about sensory bins when I noticed how many moms had never heard of them. We would have kids over to play and they would naturally gravitate towards the sensory bin. It didn’t seem to matter whether it was a child with sensory issues or not and I noticed that kids of all ages were enjoying them. Moms would comment to me that usually an activity is never able to hold their child’s attention for more than a few minutes and yet they would play with my sensory bin for between fifteen minutes and an hour.

The moms were astounded and wanted to learn how to make their own. I began telling more and more people about them, fielding questions and sharing ideas. This led me to the idea of putting all the information in one place that is easy to access and can reach more people.

In the book, I share information about how to assemble sensory bins, explain why they are important, provide storage tips, share recipes for different types of sensory dough, and have printable lists of ideas for sensory bin bases, containers and items to fill them with. I hope that this guide will help others to easily create these wonderful hands-on learning experiences for their children or students.

Sensory Bins: the What, the How & the Why is available to purchase for $2.99 on pdf, Kindle, Kobo, or Nook. To celebrate the launch of this new book, I will be featuring a sensory bin or sensory activity each day this week. I’d love it if you’d help me spread the word!

Frozen Treasure Find

By Sharla Kostelyk

I find that it’s so much easier to think of fun sensory activities when the weather is nice! While this activity did require some prep work on my part, it was so worthwhile because this kept the kids occupied for a very long time!

I actually made one big frozen treasure find for the kids all to work on together and then little ones for each of them just for fun.

For the individual ones, I used empty yogourt containers and put a few small items in each. I used glittery foam stickers, sequins and pompoms. I then filled them with water and froze them. The little ones were much more challenging to unmold than the big one was, but after having them sit in water for a minute, they came out easily.

The larger one took more time to make as I made it in layers. I used an empty ice cream bucket and placed some items at the bottom before adding a layer of water. I then put that in the freezer and when it had set, I added a few more items and a layer of water that I had added some blue food paste to so that it created layers of blue. The interesting thing is that the layers of regular water I added afterwards each took on a bit of the blue but less with each layer, creating a really cool effect that was completely unintentional!

The weather hadn’t been great, so I wasn’t in a rush to complete this and took a few days of adding layers here and there and keeping it in the freezer in between.

For the “treasures”, I used a few play coins, sequins, ocean life shaped ice cubes, pompoms, silk flowers, foam stickers, string that I wound through the layers, toy fish, and mini pinwheels. I tried to stick with a summer theme.

I ran the bucket under the water for a few seconds to release the ice creation from the ice cream pail and set it outside for the kids to play with. They used spray bottles, squirt bottles, a turkey baster, and plastic spoons to try to release the treasures from the ice.

This occupied them for a long time and it morphed into a bit of a science project as they decided to experiment with different temperatures of water in their bottles and with different techniques. It was also a good way to cool off on a hot summer day!This project is part of my series on Summer Sensory Activities.

If you are looking for information on making sensory bins, you may be interested in my book.

Join me for a free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get your Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.

The “No Rules” Garden

By Sharla Kostelyk

Children love to create and explore. They also love to do what they’ve seen their parents doing and they love to pretend. All of those factors come together to make this activity a guaranteed hit!

I gave the kids a patch of soil where in years past we have planted a garden. This year, we only managed to plant in the pots on our deck, so this patch by the garage was just sitting there filling with weeds.

I provided them with a few garden tools and a small garden play kit from the dollar store that included a watering can and some plastic gardening tools. I also lay out some gloves and packets of seeds. I gave them no direction whatsoever except to point out to the older ones that on the packets of seeds, it lists how deep they should be planted and how far apart. I then set them loose in this gigantic sensory bin to do as they pleased!

It was a bit of a challenge for me not to want to give them instructions or show them how to plant so I had to consciously step back and let them explore. I was there if they wanted to ask questions but I let them just have fun and do things the way they wanted to. Some of them ditched the tools after awhile to get in there with their hands and really get muddy once they had poured water in there!

They especially liked that I gave them real seeds to plant. I imagine we may have some surprise vegetables popping up in a few weeks!

When kids are just starting out with gardening, following the “rules” of gardening isn’t what’s important. It’s about fostering a love of nature and giving them an opportunity to experience watching something that they planted grow. If their seeds are planted too close together or with vegetables they “shouldn’t” be next to, worry about teaching them those things when they get older.

The point of this exercise is to set them free to explore through their senses and discover the joy of gardening.

This life sized sensory bin is part of my 5 Days of Summer Sensory Activities Series.

If you are looking for information on making sensory bins, you may be interested in my book.

Summer Sensory Bin

By Sharla Kostelyk

This summer sensory bin is one of my favourites of all time. It was perfect for outdoor play. As an added bonus, I didn’t have to worry about glitter being all over the house because any excess glitter stayed outside!I bought a small blow-up boat for just one dollar to house this sensory bin. I started by laying in some plastic fish (also from the dollar store) and some leaves and a flower that I cut from a bouquet of silk flowers also purchased from the dollar store.

I then added water. I sprinkled a fair bit of glitter in the water because glitter always makes things more fun! I brought the boat outside. It’s been my experience that sensory bins that involve a lot of liquid do better outside because then I am less stressed about the potential for mess!

I gave the kids a small net and watering can to use with the bin and they just had a great time exploring, scooping fish into the net, watering the flower, even adding real grass.

Join me for a free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get your Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.

This activity is one that I am sharing as part of this week’s series of Summer Sensory Activities. I will be posting two new ideas a day all week.

If you are looking for information on making sensory bins, you may be interested in my book.

Garden Sensory Bin

By Sharla Kostelyk

The kids are interested in learning about gardening right now because we are reading The Secret Garden and they are fascinated by it. Their current interest has been further peaked by Snuggle Puppy’s science fair project on plants. Given this, I thought this would be a good week to make a Garden Sensory Bin.

I used only what I had around the house although I had so many ideas of what could have gone into this (gardening gloves, seed packets, mini watering can, etc.). What I ended up using was a pail filled with dry black beans to look like dirt, a few small utensils for scooping and digging, and some felt and plastic vegetables. A little tip: because the pail was deep, I wadded up a few paper towels and put them at the bottom so that I wouldn’t have to use so many black beans.

The reason I chose to make this bin in a bucket is that I thought it would be fun for the kids to be able to bring it out on the deck on warmer days to play with it out there. The kids are excited to dig in!

If you are looking for more sensory ideas or information, you may be interested in my book and by following my Sensory Bins board on Pinterest.

Our Best Sensory Bins

By Sharla Kostelyk

Sensory bins are a wonderful tool for use not only with special needs children, but also with toddlers, preschoolers and school aged kids. They can be used at home, in daycares, preschools, camps, homeschools, and classrooms. They can even be created to be portable and taken on trips.

Sensory bins need not be expensive or time consuming to make. So much learning, discovery and excitement can take place as a result of allowing your child or student to explore them.

Sensory bins are a big part of things for us around here. I thought it might be helpful for you if I put all of our most successful sensory bins in one place so that it’s easy to access. I will continue to add the kids’ new favourites as we make them.

For instructions on how to create a sensory bin, information about why they are so beneficial for children, relevant recipes, printable idea lists and more, get your copy of my ebook Sensory Bins: the What, the How & the Why.

You can click on any of the pictures or titles to go to each specific post and get details on what is in each bin and how I put them together.

Our Best Sensory Bins:

Seaside Sensory Bin using cut up pool noodles and a base of sand

Dollar Store Sensory Bin and ideas for other inexpensive sensory items

Penguin Sensory Bin made especially for Granola Girl’s love of penguins

Christ-centered Easter sensory bin featuring Resurrection Eggs

The Calming Lavender Sensory Bin is simple and wonderful.

Our Coffee Sensory Bin uses actual coffee ground and beans to create an olfactory experience.

Valentine’s sensory bin in red, white and pink

Winter sensory bin with many textures

Zoo sensory bin using dry chickpeas and lentils as a base

Thanksgiving sensory bin including scented candle

Puzzle sensory bin for Autism Awareness Day

Birthday party sensory bin for our birthday theme unit

Rainbow sensory bin which was obviously colourful and was one of the kids’ all-time favourites!

Pirate sensory bin complete with eye patch

Spring sensory bin with rice dyed green as a base

Magnet sensory bin with worksheets

St. Patrick’s Day sensory bin

Knights and kings sensory bin fit perfectly with our history studies at the time and with the letter “K” theme

Ice Cream sensory bin – if I were to do this one again, I would add some pompoms to add some variety in texture, but the kids did have hours of fun with this bin