Sensory Bins

Eyeball Sensory Bin

This sensory bin was most popular with my older kids. In fact, I happened to have it on the counter during a zombie theme party we had for our son and the preteen and teenage guests at the party loved it! Some of those boys spent more than twenty minutes playing in it. Don’t believe anyone who tries to tell you that sensory bins are only for little ones!

Eyeball Sensory Bin...even popular with older kids. To make this eyeball sensory bin, I used purple water beads, water, googly eye stickers, bright coloured eyeball finger puppet rings, and cartoon eye glasses. I began by filling a clear plastic bin with water and the purple water beads to allow them to soak up the water. When the water had been absorbed, I added the other items.

One of the ways the kids played with this bin was to play seek-and-find with the eyeball stickers that were here and there and everywhere.

Eyeball sensory bin with purple water beads The cardboard on the cartoon glasses got wet from the water beads after a few days so we ended up having to take those out, but they were a fun element while they lasted. The kids enjoyed trying them on and laughing at each other! They also liked playing with the ring finger puppets.

This would be a good sensory bin to go along with a Monsters theme unit or for Hallowe’en.

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.

Fall Sensory Bins

By Sharla Kostelyk

Fall is here. We’ve been phasing out some of our summer activities as the weather cools. I love the colours in the Fall so that helps me make the mental transition in adapting to the crisper weather.

Last week, we made our first autumn sensory bin of the season. Actually, it was a bin-in-a-bag I got from a friend so all I had to do was dump it into a bin and let the kids start playing!

Fall Sensory Bins:

Fall Button Tree Quiet Bin for Preschoolers from Hands On as We Grow (pictured)
Thanksgiving Sensory Bin from here on The Chaos and Clutter
Fall Sensory Basket Ideas for Babies from Growing Hands-On Kids
Apple Sensory Bin {With Free Printable} from Teaching Mama (pictured)
How to Create A Fall Colored Rice Sensory Bin from Little Miss Kate & Co.
Fall Sensory Play for Toddlers from Fun at Home with Kids
Autumn Sensory Bin with Birdseed and Cinnamon from here at The Chaos and The Clutter
Fall Sensory Bin (With Homemade Pumpkin Play Dough) from Wildflower Ramblings
Fall Farm Sensory Bin from The Jenny Evolution
The Best Part of Harvest: Playing in the Corn Sensory Bin from The Resourceful Mama
Pumpkin Patch Sensory Bin: Practicing Matching With Preschoolers from Life Over C’s (practised)
Sunflower Sensory Bin from Rubber Boots and Elf Shoes (pictured)
Camouflaged Dinosaurs in Autumn Leaves from Messy Little Monster (pictured)
Football Sensory Bin from Fantastic Fun and Learning (pictured)
Spooky Spider Sensory Bin from The Eyes of a Boy (pictured)
Fall on the Farm Sensory Bin from Gift of Curiosity (pictured)
Fall Sensory Bin from Happy Hooligans (pictured)
Seek-N-Find Fall Sensory Bin from Mama Miss
Pumpkin Patch Small World Sensory Play from Buggy and Buddy (pictured)
Fall Harvest Sensory Bin Play Fine Motor from Learning through Playing

These fall sensory bins are sure to give you creative ideas for making your very own. If you’ve never made a sensory bin before and aren’t sure if your kids would enjoy playing in one, try one just once. I think you’ll be surprised how much time they spend using it and the type of imaginative play it inspires.

fall sensory bins

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.

Autumn Sensory Bin with Birdseed and Cinnamon

By Sharla Kostelyk

When it comes to sensory bins, I usually make a new one every week and have an easy time coming up with ideas. I have a storage cart that houses sensory supplies so in a pinch, I search through there for inspiration and it only takes me a few minutes to put together a new bin.

This summer was the busiest we have ever had (four different camps between VBS, day camp, horse camp, and mountain bike camp for five of the kids, extended family camping trip, my trip to Virginia to speak at a blogging conference, family road trip to Vancouver Island, out of town wedding in the mountains where my husband was the best man, and various day trips) and trying to get back into the swing of homeschooling this Fall has not gone as smoothly as planned.

Even something as simple as coming up with a new sensory bin can add to the general feeling of overwhelm. That’s where great friends come in! My friend Michelle gifted me this sensory bin in a bag. She was one of the moms that did the sensory bin swap with me last year and since then, we have given each other a few bins-in-a-bag.

Autumn Sensory Bin with birdseed and cinnamon Making a bin-in-a-bag couldn’t be simpler. You take your latest sensory bin and dump the contents into a resealable bag and then pass it along to someone so that their kids can enjoy a new sensory bin experience.

Michelle’s Autumn Sensory Bin contained:

birdseed
cinnamon
bright coloured feathers
fall leaves (plastic)
thin gold rope
two scoops
green pompoms
a rock
a clothespin

Granola Girl said that this bin reminder her of an I-Spy sensory bin. She enjoyed playing with the different textures and she liked the cinnamon scent (though Michelle’s daughter was not a fan of it apparently!). Between the colours and the smell, this sensory experience was a great way to welcome Fall!

Autumn Sensory Bin I’m thankful that I have friends who share their sensory bins with me when I’m in a bit of a creative funk! (Michelle did give me permission to post pictures of her lovely creation).

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.

Frozen Sensory Bin

By Sharla Kostelyk

There’s a Disney movie you may have heard of called Frozen. I am probably one of the few people in North America who has not seen it. I heard little snippets of it once when the kid had friends over who had brought the movie with them and they were all watching it in the other room while I made supper, but I have never sat down and watched it.

I can deduce though given the amount of references to the movie, the frequency of times I’ve been subjected to listen to “Let it Go” sung by my tone deaf daughter, and what I see in stores that this movie is a big deal, in particular to children of a certain age. In this case, given that I haven’t seen the movie, I guess you could say that I was inspired by the movie’s popularity to make a Frozen sensory bin.

For the base, I used salt, but you could also use sugar (which I don’t recommend because it may be too tempting for kids to eat it!) or epsom salt. I added reusable plastic ice cubes in purple and various shades of blue. I froze these to begin with to add another sensory element to the bin of having something cold.

I added fuzzy pompoms in blue and white, glass beads in blue and clear, a tiny Elsa figurine, and some larger Frozen characters, Olaf, Kristof, Anna, and Hans or Sven ( I don’t know which is which!).

This Frozen sensory bin is a simple one but it combines several textures and opens itself up to imaginative play with the addition of the characters.

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.

Summer Sensory Bins

By Sharla Kostelyk

Ahhh, summer…that wonderful time of year when the weather is nice and life seems simpler. Unfortunately, it’s also the time of year when kids seem even more restless and even though some things about parenting may be easier, the sensory needs of your child don’t automatically disappear.

In fact, the sensory needs of some kids become more noticeable in the summer as they adjust to the changes in routine.

15 Summer Sensory Bins To combat this challenge with my kids, many of whom have Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), I use sensory stations. Sensory stations are even easier to set up in the summer because so many of them can be set up outside with little to no preparation. One sensory station that we always keep year-round is a sensory bin. I make a new sensory bin every week or two.

Even though my kids are getting older, they have not outgrown sensory bins. They still play in them and after spending time with one, they are calmer and more able to focus.

These ideas will help inspire you to create your own sensory bin for your kids this summer:

Summer Sensory Bin here at The Chaos and The Clutter

Frog Life Cycle Sensory Bin from Teaching Mama

Starfish and Sand Dollar Shaving Cream Tray from The House of Burke

Water Sensory Tray here at The Chaos and The Clutter

Edible Sand Sensory Activity from A Little Pinch of Perfect

Fizzy Ocean Sensory Bin from Wildflower Ramblings

Seaside Sensory Bin here at The Chaos and The Clutter

Beach Themed Water Sensory Table for Toddlers from Golden Reflections Blog

Summer Sensory Bin Ideas Sparkling Ocean Playdough from Stir the Wonder

Calming Lavender Sensory Bin here at The Chaos and The Clutter

Sea Turtle Sensory Bin from Teaching Mama

Watermelon Sensory Play from Little Bins for Little Hands

Garden Sensory Pail here at The Chaos and The Clutter

Ocean Sensory Bin from Happy Hooligans

Gardening Sensory Bin from Mama Papa Bubba

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.

Citrus Sensory Bin

By Sharla Kostelyk

I first got the idea for making this sensory bin when my neighbour was telling me that you can dry out limes. I thought it would be neat to combine some elements of real food with other items in a sensory bin. I liked the idea of keeping some of the natural scents and textures.

This took me on a bit of an experimental journey into drying citrus! I had some limes that I had taken some of the zest off for a recipe (that’s why there are stripes on the limes in the picture!) and I set them on top of the registers so that when the heat came on, they would dry out.

Drying the limes worked really well so I decided to try the same process on oranges and lemons. The larger fruit didn’t fare as well.

I wasn’t deterred. I then tried slicing oranges and lemons and limes and drying the slices in the same way I had dried the limes. I threw a few more of the whole fruit on there as well to see if I might have better luck the second time around. The larger lemons and orange didn’t work out but the citrus slices did.

For the sensory bin, I used dried lemon, orange and lime slices, the dried limes, some dried mini mandarin oranges, 2 plastic lemons, some oranges I had cut out from the cardboard box the mandarins came in, and a yellow scrubber. I also added a shaker of lemon pepper to put another element of citrus scent in the bin.

It was a very different sensory bin than what we usually make so it was a nice change and the kids thought it was neat that it used real fruit.

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.