Sensory Bins

O Holy Night Nativity Sensory Bin

One of my daughters and I were walking through the hardware store when we saw a bright yellow star shaped cookie cutter. I’m not sure why it was at the hardware store, but immediately, I thought that it would make a great nativity star in a sensory bin. It was a bit harder to find the rest of the items for this O Holy Night Nativity Sensory Bin, but it all came together once I had the star to plan it around.

I’m really happy with how this turned out. I used dry black beans as the base to represent the darkness of the night when Jesus was born. I wanted to use a round container this time to make the sensory bin just as a change from the rectangular ones that I usually use.

O Holy Night Nativity Sensory Bin:

Materials needed:

dry black beans
foam wise men, shepherd and camel
ceramic baby Jesus and sheep (I got mine at the dollar store)
small angel shaped metallic cookie cutter
yellow star shaped cookie cutter
container

To put together this nativity sensory bin, fill a container with black beans and place the other items on top. You could add a Mary and Joseph of course as well. You can also add other animals or pieces of hay. If you already have a children’s nativity set or manger at home, you could add that into the bin instead of purchasing new items.

The nice thing about using black beans as a base is that you can easily stand up the foam pieces and cookie cutters within the bin. This allows kids to move things around within the sensory bin and set up the scene the way they want to.

This O Holy Night Nativity Sensory Bin is an effective way to reinforce the Christmas story with your kids. It pairs well with many children’s books that tell of Jesus’ birth.

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

Check out some of our other Christ-Centered Christmas Activities:

Nativity Chalk Silhouette

Paper Plate Manger Craft

Christmas Gifts Sensory Bin

By Sharla Kostelyk

‘Tis the season of giving and when I saw that package of Christmas bows waiting to be put on packages, I knew they were destined for another purpose in this house! Pretty much any item that comes through the door into our home becomes used for sensory play in one way or another. Using those decorative bows and some other sparkly festive items, I put together this Christmas Gifts Sensory Bin for the kids.

A few years ago, when I put together our Winter Wonderland Sensory Bin, I used a foil tray instead of a plastic bin. I like to change up the containers to keep it interesting and also to provide additional sensory input. The foil tray has ridges that provide that extra sensory feedback and it’s shiny so it provides a different visual component than a matte plastic container would.

When I saw how shiny the bows were, I decided that the foil tray would be the perfect container for this sensory bin. I looked around the house and in our sensory drawers and found some other items to complete this sensory play experience.

Christmas Gifts Sensory Bin:

Materials needed:

foil tray
Christmas gift bows
small decorative Christmas gifts (I found mine at the Dollar Store)
green shiny pompoms
mini Christmas ornaments

Place all the items into the foil tray. You can use a plastic bin if you don’t have a foil tray. You could also add ribbon curls or strips of holiday wrapping paper. The beauty of this sensory bin is that it uses items that you may already have. You could in fact create it after Christmas by reusing your gift wrap, bows and ribbons.

For dozens of other sensory bin ideas, check out all of our past Sensory Bins.

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

Join our free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get our Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.

Christmas Ornament Sensory Bag

Take Flight with a Sky Sensory Bin

By Sharla Kostelyk

Last year, we did a flight unit in our homeschool and I always like to add sensory elements to everything we study. It allows the kids to explore and use their imaginations and helps their retention. Recently, we created three sky sensory activities that would have complemented that unit nicely including this sky sensory bin. They would also work well with a weather unit.

For this sky sensory bin, we used a base of dry pasta that we dyed blue. If you’ve never dyed pasta before, you can read about how to do it using either rubbing alcohol or vinegar. (click those words and it will take you to simple tutorials for each method)

For the actual bin for this, I used a clear food storage container that was fairly deep. After filling it with the blue pasta shells, we added some of the items from the In the Sky Toob and used the remaining items from the tube to add to our Sky Sensory Bag and Sky Sensory Bottle.

The kids cut cloud shapes out of white foam and added them into the bin. We also added cotton balls to represent fluffy clouds. I like how colourful the items are. They make this such a cheerful looking sensory bin.

The hot air balloon from the In the Sky Toob was a particularly popular element and there were several imaginative play scenarios that resulted from it.

For dozens of other sensory bin ideas, check out all of our past Sensory Bins.

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

Join our free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get our Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.

Solar System Sensory Bin

By Sharla Kostelyk

We recently did a solar system unit in our homeschooling. It was a really fun unit with lots of easy ways to create hands-on science experiments and interest for the kids. I try to always think of at least one sensory element to go along with the unit studies that we do. For our solar system unit, I made a naturally weighted space sensory bottle and this solar system sensory bin.

Glow in the Dark Solar System sensory bin I thought it would be fun to add some glow in the dark elements to this particular sensory bin so I added two different glow in the dark components. One worked better than the other.

For the base of this solar system sensory bin, I used a glitter gravel I picked up at the dollar store. I added two different sizes of decorative black rocks. I used some items from a Space Toob such as a rocket ship, satellite and lunar rover. For the glow in the dark elements, I added 3D glow-in-the-dark planets which worked really well and sprinkled glow-in-the-dark glitter over some of the black rocks, which didn’t show up as well in the dark.

Solar System sensory bin glows in the dark This sensory bin allowed a hands-on opportunity for the kids to explore the planets and learn some of their characteristics. They also enjoyed the glow in the dark effects.

For this particular science unit, I think it was beneficial to have two sensory activities, the sensory bin and the space sensory bottle because some of my kids preferred one while others preferred the other. I also brought both to our homeschool co-op and both were explored by all ages of kids.

For hundreds of other sensory bin ideas, you can also follow my Sensory Bins board on Pinterest.

Follow Sharla Kostelyk’s board Sensory Bins on Pinterest.

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

Join our free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get our Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.

Joy Sensory Bin

By Sharla Kostelyk

This Joy Sensory Bin is perfect for a bit of sensory play around the holidays. Even though we have been making sensory bins for a very long time now, it never ceases to amaze me how much enjoyment my kids still get out of them. I also am impressed at the different, out-of-the-box ways the kids think of playing when each bin.

I am in love with that picture because Dancing Queen’s face looks so peaceful which shows the power of sensory play with kids who have sensory needs and anxiety.

Making this sensory bin was a two part project. We made the letters for JOY by covering wooden letters with Modge Podge and sprinkling generously with silver glitter. When they were dry, I mixed Modge Podge with water and went over the sprinkles with it to seal them.

I used a blue bin and added fake snow (also called buffalo snow). I used a type that was iridescent because I liked the look of it but regular would work too.

I added white and blue pompoms, holiday shaped mini cookie cutters, white feathers, snowflake confetti in white, blue and silver, and the JOY letters.

Last year for Christmas, I made a Winter Wonderland sensory bin and while the kids loved it and we decided to use the same snow for this one because it was such a hit, I wanted to do something this year to convey a bit more about the real reason for the holidays so that is where the idea for the Joy Sensory Bin came from.

For hundreds of other sensory bin ideas, you can also follow my Sensory Bins board on Pinterest.

Follow Sharla Kostelyk’s board Sensory Bins on Pinterest.

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

Join our free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get our Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.

Christmas Sensory Bins

By Sharla Kostelyk

We love sensory bins. That’s no secret. We create different sensory bins every week so over the years have created many holiday themed ones. For those who are looking for inspiration to create their own Christmas sensory bins, I’ve compiled some of our past holiday sensory bins as well as some others. I hope this helps you come up with your own. I would love to see pictures of your completed sensory bins.

These Christmas activities not only provide much needed sensory input, they also offer opportunities to improve fine motor skills. They are also great boredom busters for during the holiday season.

Christmas Sensory Bins:

Joy Sensory Bin from here on The Chaos and The Clutter (pictured)

Winter Wonderland Sensory Bin from here on The Chaos and The Clutter (pictured)

O Holy Night Nativity Sensory Bin from here on The Chaos and The Clutter

Christmas Gifts Sensory Bin uses simple Christmas decorations from the Dollar Store.

Nativity Sensory Bin from Growing Hands on Kids

The Easy Christmas Tree Sensory Bin from Happy Toddler Playtime includes mini Christmas trees, tongs, green rice, pompoms, and more.

Oh Holy Night Sensory Bin from Teach Me Mommy

Jingle Bell Rock Sensory Bin from Modern Preschool

Christmas Sensory Box from Learning and Exploring Through Play (pictured)

Red and Green Christmas Sensory Tub from Teaching Mama (pictured)

Christmas Lights Water Bead Sensory Bin from 3 Dinosaurs (pictured)

Candy Cane Sensory Tub over at Nurture Store

Christmas Village Sensory Bin from Happy Hooligans (pictured)

Christmas Sensory Bin from Gift of Curiosity has cute beads shaped like ornaments.

Jingle Bells Christmas Sensory Bins from Mama OT (pictured)

Away in a Manger Sensory Bin from Sugar Aunts

Jingle Bells and Magnets Sensory Bin from Lalymom (pictured)

Dollar Store Sensory Bin from The Good Long Road

Scented Christmas Sensory Bins:

Adding scents or a scented element to sensory activities engages the olfactory sensory system.

Peppermint Scented Christmas Sensory Bin from Parenting from the Heart

Cinnamon Scented Sensory Rice Play from Little Bins for Little Hands

Preschool Peppermint Bin from Learning 2 Walk

This Hot Chocolate Cloud Dough from Fun Early Learning is also taste safe.

Scented Snow Sensory Bin from Where Imagination Grows

Peppermint Sensory Bin from Stir the Wonder

Scented Snowflake Soup from And Next Comes L

Peppermint Water Play Christmas Activity from Fantastic Fun and Learning

Candy Cane Rice Sensory Bin from Little Bins for Little Hands

This Gingerbread Men Sensory Bin includes cookie cutters, nutmeg, and other easy household items and a book to add a literacy element to the activity.

More Christmas Sensory Bins:

Holiday Sensory Play with Gift Wrap from Pre-K Pages (pictured)

Jingle Bell Magnetic Sensory Bin from Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds

For little ones, this Jingle Bells Scoop and Transfer is a great activity. A bit of food coloring ensures that it has even more holiday flair.

Easy Christmas Sensory Bin for Older Babies from Powerful Mothering

All Natural Christmas Sensory Bin from What We Can Do With Paper and Glue (pictured) features items that are found in nature with no dyeing required.

Christmas Water Sensory Play from Little Bins for Little Hands

Christmas Sensory Fine Motor Bin from Learning 4 Kids

Silver Bells Christmas Carol Sensory Bin from One Time Through

Whether you want to expand on a book study or on the movie, this Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Sensory Bin from Montessori From the Heart is a great way to do that and use some of your holiday scraps of wrapping paper, bows, and packing peanuts in the process.

If you’re looking for other Christmas sensory activities, our Nativity Playdough Tray or Gingerbread Playdough Station are so much fun.

I hope these Christmas sensory bins have helped sparked some creativity and ideas for you to make your own this holiday season.

For dozens of other sensory bin ideas, check out all of our past Sensory Bins.

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

Join our free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get our Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.