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sensory bin

Taste Safe Apple Pie Sensory Bin

Cheerio type cereal, little apple candies, cinnamon sticks, cardboard strips, and a small bowl in a bin

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I’m not going to lie, taste-safe play ideas are my favorite. Anytime I can give my little one a fun sensory experience that doubles as a snack it’s a huge win. Our beautiful Taste-Safe Apple Pie Sensory Bin is a (primarily) taste-safe activity, so it’s okay to snack a little while playing. Set this up in the morning so kids can play and enjoy breakfast simultaneously. If you have busy kiddos who wake up moving, you know how valuable combining food with play can be.

The top half o the image shows the sensory bin from a more distant, top down view. The bottom half of the image shows a close-up of ingredients in a spoon hovering over a blurry sensory bin. Text in the middle reads "Taste Safe Apple Pie Sensory Bin."

Here’s to winning mamas! We all know this is an intense, but worthy gig. Sensory bins can be an easy and fail-safe part of your routine. Have a stash tucked away to improve any rainy day whether it is stormy on the outside or the inside. Nothing improves grumpiness faster! That’s because sensory play is calming. It provides a sense of safety for the vestibular system and helps children of all ages move back to parasympathetic mode. 

How to Make a Taste Safe Apple Pie Sensory Bin

Supplies Needed

A four part collage shows the ingredients for the activity in the first square. The second, third and fourth squares show different views of the taste safe apple pie sensory bin.

Step-By-Step Instructions

  1. Cut the card stock into strips. This will be used for the lattice crust. 
  2. Cover the bottom of the bin with Apple Jacks cereal.
  3. Place the rest of the supplies on top of the cereal.

Ways to Make the Taste-Safe Apple Pie Sensory Bin Work For You

  • Have kids follow a recipe to help develop cognitive skills. For example, one red apple, two green, and two scoops of Apple Jacks. 
  • Kids can also stack apple candies for a fine motor skill activity. See how many they can get before they all tumble down.
  • Use different tools to change things up from one day to the next and work on new skills! Start with a spoon or scoop. Then add a pair of child-friendly plastic tongs. Next, throw in a metal measuring cup. Try a few small wooden bowls. If you have a wheel-hungry kid, you can even throw in a couple of bulldozers to build that pie. I’m not even joking. 
  • Weaving the lattice crust is its own skill. It requires hand-eye coordination, planning, and spatial awareness. You can practice this skill separately to help ease into it. The same technique can be used to make an apple pie craft –giving you another opportunity to practice this skill with your little one.
  • Ask your child to talk about what they are touching. You might ask leading questions like: “Describe how smelling the apple candy makes you feel?” or “What can you tell me about Apple Jacks cereal?” or “What are the steps to building a (pretend) apple pie?” This encourages language development and helps strengthen neural pathway connections. 
  • Have your child sort red apples from green apples and red cereal from green cereal. Place one color in one pie crust and one color in the other. 
  • Encourage counting. How many apple candies fit in one pie crust? etc.

Close up of a child's hand scooping ingredients in or out of a pie shell in the sensory bin.

Books to Read with our Apple Pie Sensory Bins

We have two different apple pie sensory bins. This one is taste safe, and our other one is a completely different sensory experience. Perfect bins to use back-to-back when you can plan a trip to the orchard for picking apples, and read these books together at the same time. Want more book ideas? We’ve got a whole different list on our regular Apple Pie Sensory Bin so you have lots of options! 

The Apple Pie that Papa Baked by Lauren Thompson

Apples Here by Will Hubbell

The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall

Apples by Gail Gibbons

How Do Apples Grow by Let’s Read and Find Out About Science
 
Close up of a spoon with apple candy hovering over the sensory bin.

Why Sensory Bins Make Sense

There is so much goodness in sensory play. The definition of sensory play is any activity that purposely engages the senses. Since our five senses are the primary way that children explore and learn about the world, every opportunity to stretch those brain muscles and play with materials that give feedback is positive. Problem solving skills are honed as children guess what something will feel like, experiment with material, test their theories, and come up with solutions.
 
Neural pathways are developed and strengthened as connections are made between how something looks or smells, how it feels to the touch, and how it behaves in a scoop or in the palm of the hand. The need for sensory input is satisfied, and if you have a sensory seeking kiddo who will get that input one way or another, time spent in sensory play is time not spent touching everything on every aisle in the hardware store, or unproductive making messes around the house.
 
Sensory play is well known to reinforce learning. That’s why it is so valuable to add books and cooking and apple picking and crafting and science experiments to the sensory experiences you provide. That’s a lot of benefits, and we’ve barely scratched the surface! Read more about the amazing benefits of sensory engagement through play.
 
A more distant view of the taste safe sensory bin with a "completed" apple pie in one of the crusts.

How to Make an Emotions Sensory Bin

teal bin filled with oatmeal and paintbrushes used to uncover emotion stickers on the bottom of the bin

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I’ve been wanting to put together this sensory bin for a while now, and circumstances kept intervening. It’s not even that hard — I’ve kept the whole thing very simple and easy. I finally had some time on my hands to make this one happen. An emotions sensory bin combines one of your child’s favorite ways to play with an important developmental milestone: emotional literacy. Add some great books, a few other ways to play, and interesting conversations, and you have yourself a learning unit that your child will benefit from for years to come. 

An emotions sensory bin showing a bin with ats, tongs, scoop, and emotions stickers.

Why Explore Emotions with Sensory Bin Play

I can think of no better way to explore emotions safely. Sensory play is calming to the central nervous system and helps your child move from parasympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) to the sympathetic nervous system. It is also allows for the safe physical expression of emotions, pressing, squeezing, and pulling to work through anger, fear, or anxiety without hurting themselves or others. This helps cortisol levels come down.

Sensory bin play is also grounding, giving your child a sense of his place in space and his connection to the physical world. Body awareness increases as children play with toys that provide sensory input, and this also helps them recognize emotions as they begin and build instead of after they spill over. Combined with the fact that the actual content of this bin teaches kids to identify, name, and talk about various emotions and you have a win-win play experience.

How to Make an Emotions Sensory Bin

Supplies Needed

Four steps to make an emotions sensory bin and play with it are shown. Place stickers on the bottom of the bin, add oats and tools, Find the stickers. Use a makeup brush.

Step-By-Step Instructions

  1. Put the stickers on the bottom of your sensory bin.  
  2. Cover with oats. 
  3. Add in any sensory tools and the makeup brush and have your kids explore and search to find each emotion.  

A sad face is exposed in the bottom of the emotions sensory bin with a makeup resting nearby.

Tips and Ideas for your Emotions Sensory Bin

  • Other sensory tools or figurines can be added to make the bin more fun to play with or more educational. 
  • Instead of oats, you can use various types of rice, quinoa, cereal, or water beads. 
  • You can make an emotion card and laminate it so your kids can check off each emotion as they find it.
  • Take the time to talk about each emotion to help your child learn more about emotions as well. 
  • Read books related to emotions to give your child the language necessary to discuss big emotions with you or a therapist.
  • Play with toys, games, and add more sensory activities to help your child form connections. We have a great list to get you started at the end of this post. 

A close up of the sad face sticker in a bin of oats.

More Ways to Play With Your Sensory Bin

  • Add more tools, such as tongs, scoops, buckets, bowls, cups, funnels, construction vehicles, etc. 
  • Practice counting as you find the emotions stickers. 
  • Encourage verbal expression, asking your child to describe each sticker and use emotion words etc. 
  • Tell a story as you uncover various emotion faces and turn each into a different character in the story. 
  • Remove all of the oats little by little into a large bucket until all of the stickers are exposed, then dump the bucket back in and play some more. 

Books to Read about Emotions

Toys and Games that Teach About Emotions

Don’t Go Bananas. A therapy game intended to help kids work through strong emotions.

Roll With It Coping Skills Dice Set. teaches 52 different coping skills for big emotions.

LeSong Plastic Sensory Emotions Shapes. These would be a fun add for your sensory bin! 

Wooden Emotions Magnets. Provide a way to explore emotions with a young child while you are working in the kitchen. Magnets can also be used on a sheet pan in the car, or on a piece of metal mounted on the wall at play height. 

More Great Ideas for Working with Emotions through Sensory Play

We have so many fantastic ways to explore emotions through play! Be sure to check out Emotions and Calm Down Strategies Mega Bundle. It has a huge stash of resources to help your child in this area. 

Play the Feelings Jenga Game to get your child talking about emotions as they work through the emotions of frustration, anger, and excitement caused by the game itself.

How to Work Through Emotions with My Child will give you coping skills and strategies to use as the parent in any big emotions situation.

Make sure to check out our Big List of Books About Emotions for Kids to get even more book suggestions!

The Emotions Sensory Bag and the Emotions Sensory Bottle are both fun new activities. Each pairs perfectly with our Emotions Sensory Bin and will also work well for younger children who aren’t quite ready for sensory bin play. 

Get even more ideas from this Big List of Ideas to Teach Kids About Emotions.

The Day the Crayons Quit Sensory Bin

colored rice in a bin with bright colored pompoms, dice, tweezers, and a magnifying glass

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Building a sensory bin around a book is a genius idea. Reading aloud is so incredibly valuable for our children. Not only will The Day the Crayons Quit Sensory Bin encourage you and your children to read aloud together, it will also provide positive sensory input. Plus, your kids will be working on fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, gross motor skills, observation, and color theory. 

The top half of the image shows a close up of the sensory bin with magnifying glass front and center and the book staged behind. The bottom half of the image shows a different view of the sensory bin with the dice and tongs featured. In the middle, text states "The Day the Crayons Quit Sensory Bin".Bright and engaging colors, a variety of interesting textures, and a story to tell, retell, and imagine will make this a sensory bin your kids won’t want to leave. The value of sensory input for children cannot be overstated. The same can be said for literacy. This activity encourages both.

About The Day the Crayons Quit

A delightful book, The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt and Marichelle Daywalt, tells the story of a time when all the crayons were dissatisfied with their lot in life. Each of the crayons leaves behind a letter to explain their plight and a dissappointed young man must convince them to take up their posts again so that he can color. The book covers themes like communication, feelings, empathy, and respect.

Why Connect a Sensory Bin to a Picture Book

The beauty of reading picture books to children is that the pictures help  to bring stories to life for children and help them engage with the story even as they work separately on the skill of picturing a story as they read. Reading out loud to your children has immense value because they can hear and understand far more than they can read on their own. So by reading, you are providing an enriched literary experience they will come to crave for themselves. 

When you add a sensory bin to the picture book experience, you are extending the magic. You keep the story alive in their minds and give them one more way to explore the concepts introduced by the book. As they play, they replay or continue the story in their heads or outloud with each other. This gives kids practice using vocabulary, communicating with each other, using imagination, and exploring the world.

The connection between the sensory bin and the book strengthens neural pathways in the brain and improves comprehension through play. It’s a new way to process and work through new information. 

How to Make a “The Day the Crayons Quit” Sensory Bin

Supplies Needed 

Step-By-Step Instructions

  1. Fill the sensory bin with rainbow rice.
  2. Add rainbow pom poms and number mini erasers.
  3. Add small bowl, tongs, magnifying glass, and dice.
  4. Set the book next to the bin.

Suggested Activities to Go with The Day the Crayons Quit Sensory Bin

  • Read the book.
  • Roll the dice and find a matching number mini eraser with the magnifying glass.
  • Roll the dice and use the tongs to place the correct number of pom poms in the bowl.
  • Use the magnifying glass to take a closer look at the book.
  • Locate a color in the book and find the matching colored pom poms.

How to Play with A Sensory Bin

  • Sort and organize. This is such a valuable activity for kids. You can sort items in the bin by color, type, or size. 
  • Encourage your children to enjoy free play in the bin and see how they approach the experience. Let them run their hands through the rice, scoop and pour it, and play for as long as they like.
  • Compare and contrast. Talk about how the textures, colors, shapes, and sizes of each object compares to the others. Use descriptive words like smooth, soft, fluffy, or bright to describe the objects and compare them. 
  • Gather and distribute. Move all of the pom poms to the bowl. Then dump the pom poms and move all the number erasers to the bowl. Use tongs, tweezers, or thumb and index fingers to work on fine motor skills a variety of different ways.

Sensory Bin Variations

You do not have to use rainbow rice. You could use rainbow pasta, rainbow beans, or a different sensory bin filler in primary colors. 

Be creative! You can find mini crayon erasers and all kinds of things to use in your sensory bin if you have the room in your budget, but you can also pick things up at yard sales, at thrift shops, and from around your home. For this sensory bin focus on primary colors or rainbow colors to go with the theme of the book.

Add funnels, scoops, tweezers, measuring cups, spoons, and other tools to help your child experience the different materials in the bin. 

Learning Extension Activities for The Day the Crayons Quit

Create Your Own Follow-Up Story: The Day the Crayons Were Happy

The Day the Crayons Quit Coloring Page

Make Crayon Ornaments

How to Melt Crayons and Make New Ones

Beetlejuice Sensory Bin

bright green tray with dry black beans, purple pompoms, plastic eyeballs, green ribbon curls, a green pincher, and striped play pumpkin

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With the release of another Beetlejuice movie, there’s a whole new generation who will be introduced to the memorable characters. This Beetlejuice sensory bin would be fun to pair with a movie night or for Halloween. It’s spooky but not overly scary because it carries the quirky vibe from the movie.bright green tray with dry black beans, purple pompoms, plastic eyeballs, green ribbon curls, a green pincher, and striped play pumpkinsThis sensory experience inspired by the unique world of Beetlejuice would also be a great addition to your classroom or party. It’s made with simple items that can often be purchased at a dollar store such as the Dollar Tree.

If you’re looking for similar ideas, check out our Eyeball Sensory Bin, Googly Eye Monster Slime, and Halloween Sensory Game. Or put them all together to create a themed sensory experience. 

bright green tray with dry black beans, purple pompoms, plastic eyeballs, green ribbon curls, and striped play pumpkin

Beetlejuice Sensory Bin

Materials Needed:

  • Black Beans 
  • Ping Pong Halloween Eye balls 
  • Black and white pumpkins
  • Orange and black striped pumpkins 
  • Green curly ribbon bow 
  • Purple foam balls

dry black beans, green bow and ribbon curls, small striped pumpkins, and a bag of plastic eyeballs on a white background

Additional Ideas for your sensory bin:

Add Shovels, Scoops, and Tongs. These tools encourage fine motor skill development as kids dig, scoop, and sift through the bin. They can bury objects and dig them up using their tools.

Incorporate Characters: Position your Beetlejuice and Lydia figurines within the scene to give kids an opportunity to act out scenarios. Perhaps Lydia is searching for Beetlejuice, or the sandworm is chasing them both!

Set up scenes. Create a small “graveyard” area with miniature tombstones or small creepy trees. Position your Lydia and Beetlejuice figurines within a scene or set the sandworm up so that it is chasing them. 

Incorporate other senses. Play spooky music for auditory stimulation. Include citrus scents with candles or essential oils to engage the olfactory sensory system. 

bright green tray with dry black beans, purple pompoms, plastic eyeballs, green ribbon curls, a green pincher, and striped play pumpkin

Other Beetlejuice themed play ideas:

Benefits of Sensory Play

Sensory bins are a great way to stimulate your child’s senses, improve fine motor skills, and encourage imaginative play.

  • Fine Motor Skills: Grasping, pinching, and scooping help to strengthen muscles in the hands and improve coordination.
  • Sensory Exploration: The various textures in this sensory tray stimulate the sense of touch and provide a calming, focused play experience.
  • Imaginative Play: The Beetlejuice theme encourages kids to use their imagination, reenacting scenes from the movie or making up their own storylines with the characters.
  • Language Development: Playing with a themed bin like this one encourages kids to engage in conversation, storytelling, and descriptive language as they talk about the different textures, characters, and elements they discover.

Sensory Play Tips

  • Supervise Young Children: If the sensory tub contains small items, make sure young children are supervised to prevent choking.
  • Store Materials for Future Play: When the bin has served its purpose, you can store the dry black beans in a sealed container to use for future sensory bins.
  • Encourage Open-Ended Play: Allow your child to explore the bin in their own way. Some might enjoy scooping and sorting, while others may create elaborate stories with the items.

bright green tray with dry black beans, purple pompoms, plastic eyeballs, green ribbon curls, a green pincher, and striped play pumpkin

I hope you and your child or students enjoy this Beetlejuice sensory experience. Just remember, you only need to say his name three times!

Jungle Sensory Bin with Printable Feelings Cards

matching two cards of a cartoon sad giraffe

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Sensory bins are a fun way to get your kids engaged in imaginative play. And while they’re perfect for encouraging your child to play independently, you can also use these learning tools to help reinforce important concepts, like emotions. With this fun jungle sensory bin, your preschooler can have fun playing with cute jungle animals while also practicing emotional identification.hands hold up card with animals on them above a bin of dry split peasThis activity is great for preschools, Kindergarten classrooms, or home. You can easily adapt the questions you ask for older and younger kids. Learning opportunities:

  • early reading
  • matching
  • jungle animals
  • emotions
  • sensory play

How to Make a Jungle Sensory Bin

Materials Needed:

  • Large bin or dish
  • Split peas or other green filler (see suggestions below)
  • Toy jungle animals
  • Printable jungle animal feelings cards (you can download those here)
  • Scissors
  • Laminator (optional)

Instructions:

  1. Fill the bin with your filler material.
  2. Add the jungle animal toys.
  3. Print out the jungle animal feelings cards and cut them out. Laminate for durability, if desired.
  4. Place the cards inside the bin with the toys.

process of cutting out jungle animal cards and putting them in a sensory bin

How Do You Play with this Feelings in the Jungle Sensory Bin?

After you put your jungle themed bin together with the filler, toys, and printable cards, it’s time for your kids to have some fun! Let your child explore the items in the bin independently first. Then, you can encourage them to identify the different feelings they see on the animal cards.

These simple prompts are a great way to get your kids thinking about the jungle themed animals inside their sensory bin:

  • Point at the sad lion.
  • Show me the angry zebra.
  • Find the happy giraffe.
  • Which animal is angry?
  • How is the zebra feeling?
  • Can you find the sad giraffe?
  • Why do you think the lion is crying?
  • Is the zebra excited?

matching two cards of a cartoon sad giraffe

Since this printable activity features a variety of feelings and emotions on each set of cards, your kid can have tons of fun playing with their favorite jungle animals and learning about feelings at the same time. The cards feature three different popular jungle animals: giraffes, lions, and zebras. And each animal displays 10 different emotions:

  • Happy
  • Sad
  • Angry
  • Disgusted
  • Shy
  • Confused
  • Scared
  • Shocked
  • Crying
  • Excited

cartoon jungle animals such as a lion and zebra

Jungle Sensory Bin Variations

  • Use different filler materials, like Easter grass, Spanish moss, small rocks, sand, water beads, or colored rice
  • Add other jungle themed toys, like small trees, sticks, flowers, or leaves
  • Provide fine motor toys, like tweezers or scoops, to add to the jungle fun
  • Use the cards outside of the box by helping your child match the different animal’s emotions

boy's hand plays with a toy animal in a bin of dry green lentils

Activities to Expand Your Jungle Sensory Bin Lesson

  • Read books about jungle animals or emotions
  • Identify your own emotions as they occur throughout the day
  • Discuss how different situations make you or your child feel as they’re happening
  • Draw or paint pictures of different jungle animals or emotions

cards of jungle animals in a bin of green split peas

Sign up with your email address to receive the free printable emotion matching cards.

You may also be interested in:

Easter Egg Hunt Sensory Bin

yellow and purple with toy sparkly eggs and the letters to spell Easter Egg Hunt

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Sensory bins are perfect for interactive play. And when you add in seasonal elements, they’re a fun way to celebrate a holiday with your little ones too. This adorable Easter egg hunt sensory bin is filled with unique ways for your kids to explore using an Easter theme, whether they’re learning at home or in the classroom.

yellow on one side, purple on the other with sparkly eggs and a fluffy chick. Text reads "Easter Egg Hunt Sensory Bin"Using common Easter themed items in your sensory bin is the perfect way to get your kids playing and learning by using their senses. Each item on the bin is designed to help your child learn as they play by engaging at least one of their senses – sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste.

Easter Egg Hunt Sensory Bin:

Supplies needed:

yellow and purple with toy sparkly eggs and the letters to spell Easter Egg HuntInstructions:

  1. Spread the yellow and purple Pluffle in the bottom of the bin, placing one colour on each side.
  2. Place the letters in the bin. You can use the letters to spell out words (like Easter Egg Hunt) or simply let your kids play with the letters and spell words on their own. Kids love to spell out their own names and familiar words. 
  3. Spread the sequin eggs and baby chick toys around inside the bin.
  4. Place the magnifying glass on top of the items for the kids to use.

collage of photos of a yellow and purple Easter sensory bin

Easter Sensory Bin Activities

Once you have your sensory bin set up, your kids can explore each item inside the bin as they play. These sensory bin activities are fun ways to encourage your kids to explore:

  • Use the magnifying glass. Move the magnifying glass over each element in the sensory bin and explore the different colours and textures up close. Compare the fluffy chick’s feathers to the smooth letters to see how they are different.child's hand holding a magnifying glass over a sequined egg
  • Touch the different items in the bin. Use your fingers to touch each item in the bin and describe what each one feels like. Which items in the bin are soft? Which are hard?
  • Squish the Pluffle. Use your hands, a spoon, or a scoop to move the Pluffle around. Squish the Pluffle in your hands or combine the colours to see what happens.
  • Sort or spell with the letters. Put the letters in alphabetical order, sort them by colour, or spell Easter words with them inside the sensory bin.
  • Play hide and seek. Hide the eggs or chicks under the Pluffle and dig around in the bin to find them. Or play a game with a friend or sibling by hiding items inside the bin and asking someone else to find the hidden treasures.hand squishes purple and yellow Pluffle

Check out our other Easter sensory ideas: