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.
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