The other day I was in a department store and passed by a square mirror for $3. I knew that I could make all kinds of sensory trays and activities with it so I scooped it up!
For this winter themed tray, I added white feathers, silver jingle bells, a strip of white faux fur, and a blingy “W” sticker. I left the sticker on its clear backing for the tray and told Miss Optimism that she can craft with it when we are done with the tray.
This is a lot less than I usually include in a sensory bin or tray, so I’ve been surprised at how much the kids have enjoyed playing with it and at the scope of their imaginations. They have made the feathers into clouds, the faux fur into a snow hill, the jingle bells into tobogganers! They have threaded the jingle bells onto the feathers, have created patterns with the feathers, have hidden the “W” beneath layers of fluff…they have not tired of this activity yet.
I’m both excited and sad that it is time to bring out the winter themes. We got our first snow of the year on Sunday and though some has already melted and it is supposed to warm up tomorrow and melt what remains, soon, there will be a snow that stays until Spring.
If you are looking for more sensory ideas or information, you may be interested in my book and by following my Sensory Bins board on Pinterest.
I started with a base of coffee beans and coffee grounds and then it was actually Einstein’s idea to add the 
This was a very simple bin to create. For the base, I used sand. I added a 
The kids liked all of the items in the bin but the squishy lizard and the stretchy snakes were among the favourites. They used the cork coaster as all kinds of things, they scooped with it, pushed sand with it, set things on it, made it a character in their story, and used it to cover animals from the sun. I had bought a pack of them at the dollar store for sensory bin purposes and it worked really well for this bin.
Please note that due to the potential for sea glass to be sharp and the potential choking hazards of the rest of the items, this tray is designed more for older children than for toddlers. Even with older kids, this is a tray that should be used with adult supervision.
The kids loved watching the 
Baby oil has a scent that either you love or hate and I have some kids in each camp so some of them can’t get enough of these while others choose not to play with them because of the smell and I’m okay with that.
I decided on a purple themed bin because I had some great things on hand that just happened to be purple! For the base, I used crinkly purple paper shreds for crunch, rice that had been dyed purple, purple foam bits that were nice and soft, beads, and pompoms. I added a purple shovel as a scoop, string, plastic grapes in different shades of purple, and a (fake) Canadian $10 bill.
To create a sensory bin around a particular colour is as easy as having a look around your house to see what you may have on hand that would fit the bill and throwing it all into a container for the kids to explore! The ideas are endless…for a blue themed bin, water with a few drops of blue food colouring could serve as a base as could blue jello or glass beads. For a white bin, cotton batting or cotton balls make an obvious choice for a base, but foam packing pellets, white rice or shaving cream could also be used.