sensory bin

It’s that time of year again. The snow is falling, temperatures are dropping, and kids are starting to go stir crazy! These winter sensory bins are a great way to bring the outdoors indoors without bringing the cold in with it.

Sensory play is an important part of development for all kids, particularly those who have sensory issues. The additional sensory input meets their needs and helps with emotional regulation and mood.

Winter Sensory Bins:

Winter Wonderland Sensory Bin from here on The Chaos and The Clutter

Winter Sensory Tray from here on The Chaos and The Clutter

Arctic Animals Sensory Bin at Teaching Mama

Snowman Sensory Bin at Every Star is Different

Snow Sensory Tub from Simple Fun for Kids

Animals Hibernating in Winter ~ Sensory Bins for Preschoolers from The Natural Homeschool

Winter Counting Sensory Table from The Imagination Tree

Arctic Sensory Bin from Adventures and Play

Frozen Oobleck Sensory Bin on Messy Little Monster

Pretend Snow Snowman Sensory Bin from Housing a Forest

Pretend Snow Sensory Bin from Mommy’s Bundle

Exploring Ice in the Sensory Table at Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds

Winter Diorama Ideas: Animals that Adapt in Winter from The Natural Homeschool

Mini Polar Sensory Bin from Mom Inspired Life

Figure Skating Sensory Bin from Every Star is Different

Pretend Snow Sensory Play with Trains from Play Trains

Winter Wonderland Small World Play from Buggy and Buddy

Snow Sensory Activity with Shaving Cream from 123 Homeschool 4 Me

Snow Slope Imaginary Play over at Picklebums

Bring the snow inside with this Real Snow Sensory Bin from Messy Little Monster

Simple Snowman Sensory Bin from Living Life and Learning

Snowball Water Play Winter Activity at Fantastic Fun and Learning

Winter Preschool Treasure Hunt Bin from Brain Power Boy

Winter Sensory Bin from Paper and Glue

Penguin Sensory Bins:

Penguin Sensory Bin from here on The Chaos and The Clutter

Penguin Sensory Bin from Adventures and Play

Make a Penguin Sensory Bin at Mama Smiles

Penguin Pretend Play from Nurture Store

Penguin Ice Play for Toddlers at Messy Little Monsters

Penguin Sensory Play from Fantastic Fun and Learning

As you can probably tell from these examples, sensory bins are simple to create. You likely have most of the supplies in your home today to make a sensory bin that your child would love. If you are looking for more in-depth information on creating sensory bins including filler ideas, sensory recipes, storage, and money saving ideas, you can find those in my ebook on Sensory Bins.  Get 175 sensory activity ideas in convenient printable lists which are ideal for using in the home, classroom or in a therapeutic setting.

Kinetic sand is such a neat sensory experience for kids. It is fun to play with, sparks creativity, and offers great sensory input. I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but the kinetic sand in stores is expensive.

Once your kids play with the kinetic sand for a while (particularly if it’s in a classroom or day care and multiple children have their hands in it), it can get dirty. That means it needs to be thrown out. Which means you need to buy more. That’s why homemade kinetic sand is such a great option. You won’t believe how easy this recipe is to make!

What is Kinetic Sand?

Kinetic sand is sand that has had ingredients added to it so that it becomes mouldable like clay. It continues to have the grainy properties of sand, creating an interesting texture experience.

Yet it sticks to itself, much like wet sand at the beach. When you are on the shore making sand castles or sand sculptures, you need to add water to keep the structures from becoming too dry and crumbling. This is essentially the idea behind kinetic sand.

DIY Kinetic Sand Recipe

Ingredients:

• 4 cups sand
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil

How To Make Kinetic Sand:

1. Measure out the sand and flour and add to a large bowl.
2. Mix the sand and flour together.
3. Stir in the oil. Combine well.

Now you have your own homemade kinetic sand to play with!

This recipe is included in our Sensory Play Recipes eBook. It includes more than 25 easy to make recipes for awesome sensory activity options. If you’d like a sample that includes 5 recipes from the book, just pop your email into the box below.

Does Kinetic Sand Dry Out?

If the sand begins to dry out after a few weeks, you can mix in a few drops more of vegetable oil and give it a good stir.   

Homemade kinetic sand is wonderful for playing with and such an easy recipe to make. You can buy enough sand to make large quantities of your own kinetic sand for the same cost as one pack of store bought variety.

You can also purchase sand in cool colours. This allows you to make coloured kinetic sand.

I put the kinetic sand in a sensory bin and added some small construction vehicles and a scoop. This created a sensory bin that encouraged imaginative play. Even my teens enjoyed playing with this one. They especially liked packing it into small cups and creating mounds and then pushing them over with the toy steamroller.

One of my sons couldn’t seem to get enough of squishing this in his fists and then releasing it to feel it fall through his fingers.

Other Play Ideas

You could also use this play material to create a beach sensory bin with seashells, small sand toys, glass beads, and rocks.

Or you could simply dump it in a kinetic sand tray and let your child’s imagination lead the way. They can stamp in this sensory play material with cookie cutters or stamps. Kids can experiment with creating shapes. They can add small toys to create a small world. There are so many options.

For therapists, this is an interesting material to use in sand trays. The proprioceptive sensory feedback kids receive from squishing and squeezing the sand can create a calming effect. You can still have the child add toys and play out scenes.

Once you know how to make kinetic sand at home and realize how easy it is, you’ll never need to buy it again!

Click here for more easy sensory play ideas:

Snow Playdough

Milky Slime Recipe

Unique Types of Slime

The Mega List of Sensory Bottles 

This pumpkin pie scented cloud dough is the perfect Fall sensory bin filler. Create a sensory experience that involves both the olfactory and tactile sensory systems.

To me, the smell of Fall is encapsulated in pumpkin pie spice. The scent reminds me of my grandma’s pumpkin muffins and takes me back to my childhood. 

Pumpkin Pie Scented Cloud Dough Recipe:

• 4 cups flour
• 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

1. In a bowl, mix the flour together with the pumpkin pie spice.
2. Pour in the vegetable oil.
3. Stir well and then knead by hand.

Since everything in this play recipe is edible, this cloud dough is taste safe. This makes it a good sensory play option to use with babies and toddlers. Of course, adult supervision should always be used.

Dump the scented cloud dough in a plastic bin. If you want, you can add some Fall themed items. I added silk fall leaves, leaf confetti, and a small scoop in our bin. If using this bin with babies, skip the addition of the leaves and confetti.

This recipe is included in our Sensory Play Recipes eBook. It includes more than 25 easy to make recipes for awesome sensory activity options. You can get a sample of 5 of the recipes in the book by filling in your email below:

This dough is soft and mouldable. It forms shapes in your hand but can still revert to its powered state. The addition of the pumpkin pie spice provides the scent and also a slight hint of brown in the dough, adding to the Fall feel of the experience.Cloud dough can be messy. Messy play is great for kids, but not always as fun for parents!

It works well to put an old sheet or tablecloth underneath the area you are playing in. You can also use a shower curtain purchased from the dollar store. This contains the mess. When the kids are done playing, you can gather up the corners and shake it outside.

You may be interested in some of our other sensory experiences:

Pumpkin Scented Puffy Paint

How to Colour Cloud Dough

Rainbow Soap Foam