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sensory bin

Bee Life Cycle Sensory Bin

By Sharla Kostelyk

A bee life cycle sensory bin is a hands-on way to reinforce learning for kids on this topic. You can use this bin in a science unit or at a sensory station in your home or classroom.Bee Life Cycle Sensory Bin #sensorybin #sensoryplay #beelifecycle #kidsactivities #scienceWalk kids through the transformation of a bee from egg to larva to pupa to a mature honey bee. You can either add everything to the bin all at once, or you can add them in after the amount of time they would happen in real life.

In that case, you would add the egg on the first day and it would “hatch” into the larva after 3 or 4 days, so you could add the larva on that day. The next stage takes between 6 and 11 days depending on whether the bee is a future queen or a worker bee.

Bee Life Cycle Sensory Bin:

Materials needed:

  • plastic bin
  • black and yellow water beads
  • the life cycle of a honey bee pack
  • optional: small jar of honey to touch, taste, and smell

Life Cycle of a Honey BeeLife Cycle of a Honey BeeLife Cycle of a Honey BeeYellow Water BeadsYellow Water BeadsYellow Water BeadsBlack Water BeadsBlack Water BeadsBlack Water Beads

  1. Place the water beads in a plastic container. I used three packs of yellow beads and one pack of black water beads.
  2. Add water.
  3. Allow the water beads to expand fully (this will take several hours) before adding the items from the life cycle of a bee package.

Kids can use their hands to dig in the bin and touch each of the stages in the honey bee cycle. If you’ve included some honey, they will also be able to use their sense of taste and smell to enhance their learning.

This sensory bin engages the visual and tactile sensory systems and if honey is included, it also engages the olfactory (smell) and gustatory (taste) systems as well. This is hands-on learning at its best.

If you’re doing a learning unit on bees, here are some other great resources to check out:

Free Bee Life Cycle Printables from Homeschool Preschoool

How to Make a Bee Habitat from Natural Beach Living

Printable Life Cycle of a Bee Layer Book from Passionate Curiosity

Books that would go along well with this unit:

Are You a Bee?Are You a Bee?Are You a Bee?Book Plus Bee Life Cycle Foam ModelBook Plus Bee Life Cycle Foam ModelBook Plus Bee Life Cycle Foam ModelThe Life and Times of the HoneybeeThe Life and Times of the HoneybeeThe Life and Times of the HoneybeeThe Life Cycle of a HoneybeeThe Life Cycle of a HoneybeeThe Life Cycle of a HoneybeeThe Bee BookThe Bee BookThe Bee BookFive Bizzy Honey BeesFive Bizzy Honey BeesFive Bizzy Honey Bees

Check out some of our other science related sensory bins:

Solar System Sensory Bin Solar System sensory bin glows in the dark

Insect Sensory Bin 

Filed Under: Sensory, Sensory Bins Tagged With: sensory bin, sensory play

Insect Sensory Bin with Pasta

By Sharla Kostelyk

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.

Insect Sensory Bin #sensory #sensoryplay #sensorybins #sensoryscienceWe 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 PastaBug Shaped PastaBug Shaped PastaStretchy BugsStretchy BugsStretchy BugsPlastic Bugs and ArachnidsPlastic Bugs and ArachnidsPlastic 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:

Frog Sensory Bin Frog Sensory Bin Play

Spring Sensory Bin 

Filed Under: Sensory, Sensory Bins Tagged With: sensory bin, sensory play

Winter Sensory Bins

a collage of different winter themed sensory bins and the words "Winter Sensory Bins"

By Sharla Kostelyk

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. Sensory Bins ebook Get 175 sensory activity ideas in convenient printable lists which are ideal for using in the home, classroom or in a therapeutic setting.

Filed Under: Sensory Tagged With: sensory bin, sensory play

How To Make Kinetic Sand At Home

a white bin filled with kinetic sand also contains 3 small construction vehicle toys that are yellow and black in colour.

By Sharla Kostelyk

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!

Homemade Kinetic Sand #sensoryplay #sensoryplayrecipes #kineticsand

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.

how to make your own kinetic sand

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 

Filed Under: Sensory Tagged With: sensory bin, sensory play

Pumpkin Pie Scented Moon Dough

in a red plastic bin, light almost white cloud dough is sprinkled with fall coloured plastic leaves and small metallic leaf shaped confetti. There is also a metal scoop in the corner.

By Sharla Kostelyk

This pumpkin pie scented moon 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 #olfactory #sensoryplay #clouddough

Pumpkin Pie Scented Moon Dough Recipe:

Supplies:

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

Directions:

  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 moon 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 moon 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.Moon 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 Moon Dough

Rainbow Soap Foam

Filed Under: Sensory Tagged With: sensory bin, sensory play

O Holy Night Nativity Sensory Bin

By Sharla Kostelyk

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.

O Holy Night Nativity Sensory Bin #sensoryplay #sensorybin #sensoryI’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.

Join me for a free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get your Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.

Check out some of our other Christ-Centered Christmas Activities:

Nativity Chalk Silhouette

Paper Plate Manger Craft

Filed Under: Christmas, Sensory, Sensory Bins Tagged With: sensory bin, sensory play

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