This Insect Sensory Bin is a great addition to a preschool unit on insects or Spring. It has a variety of textures and colours. This adds to both the visual and tactile sensory experiences.
We used this sensory bin while studying insects in our homeschool. The kids enjoyed playing in it. The green rice looks like grass and made us look forward to Spring.
My kids were quite surprised that there was a pasta shaped like insects! We used some of the pasta for the sensory bin and cooked the rest for lunch. This created a gustatory (taste) sensory experience for them as well.
This particular sensory bin was one of the ones we had made in our sensory bin swap. That meant that when the kids and I got to the insect unit in our science, I could easily just dump the contents of the bag into a bin and voila!
Insect Sensory Bin:
- rice dyed green*
- insect shaped dry pasta
- toy bugs
- stretchy insects
- spiders (see note below on spiders)
*you can find a tutorial on how to dye rice for sensory play here.
Bug Shaped Pasta
Stretchy BugsPlastic Bugs and Arachnids
A note about the dyed rice:
When you’re finished using this sensory bin, you can store the green rice in a resealable plastic bag. The green rice makes a nice sensory bin base for a lot of different themes because it looks like grass. You can also use it inside sensory bottles or bags.
Spiders are not insects:
Yes, I know that spiders are not an insect. The kids wanted to add them and we actually used it as a compare and contrast science lesson on why they are not an insect. If you prefer to have this be an authentic insect sensory bin, simply leave the spiders out!
Ideas to expand the learning:
- Add magnifying glasses to the sensory bin.
- Set out books about insects and let the kids try to match them up.
- Add scoops, small cups, and tweezers for fine motor skill practise.
You may also be interested in checking out these sensory bins:
