By Gigi on October 17th, 2017
This Halloween sensory bin is made of just a little bit of spooky and a whole lot of fun!
Children learn best by using their senses. Tubs filled with a variety of substances and materials enable young ones to use those senses to explore things that capture their attention. As they manipulate the objects, they are seeing, touching, smelling, and hearing. This allows them to collect information and make discoveries, which leads to the practice of many learning concepts.
Young learners build language, social emotional, and problem solving skills as they work alongside their peers to delve into the bin’s contents. They increase their math skills by counting, sorting, and classifying different elements. Quantity comparisons are also made as they decipher who has more “spiders” or “rocks” in their “cauldrons”. Additionally, scooping, pouring, and picking up different items helps to strengthen fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination.
Without a doubt, sensory bins are one of the best hands-on learning tools. So hurry and gather up a container and some spooky goodies!
MATERIALS USED:
– Any suitable container
– Aquarium gravel
– Pom poms
– Halloween buttons/embellishments
– Sequins
– Mini candy cauldrons
– Large googly eyes
– Plastic spiders, bats, snakes, centipedes, skeletons
– Halloween bouncy balls
– Plastic spoons
By Gigi on May 8th, 2017
Last week Zoey wrote about her garden sensory bin. I thought it was completely amazing, and could not wait to come up with my own variation. This bin uses the same base (brown colored rice) which looks exactly like mulch. Mini pots are holding flowers, but I am hoping my children will also use them to sort the different types of bugs.
That’s the wonderful thing about sensory bins; they are literally bins overflowing with learning opportunities. Looking forward to seeing those little green thumbs!
MATERIALS USED:
– A large plastic bin
– Brown colored rice (tutorial here)
– Plastic bugs
– Mini flower pots
– Silk flowers
– Gardening gloves
– Tweezers
– Rake
– Shovel
– Watering can
By Zoey on May 1st, 2017
Spring has definitely sprung in our classroom. The seeds, the children planted, have started to sprout. The butterflies have emerged from their chrysalises, and the children’s colorful kites are hanging from the ceiling. To go along with all of this, I set up a garden sensory bin, that needless to say, has been a popular spot in the room this week.
As a base I used colored rice. I then added a shovel, a rake, a sifter, a pair of large tweezers, and some garden fruits and vegetables. Large plastic carrots, left over from Easter, made the perfect receptacles for all the goodies. The children all had a great time using their imaginations and motor skills while “gardening”.
MATERIALS USED:
– Rice
– Brown and black liquid watercolors (refer to our (post on how to color rice))
– Rakes and shovels
– A sifter
– Large plastic tweezers
– Plastic strawberries and carrots
– Large plastic carrot containers
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