The Sensory Bins Master Guide and a FREEBIE! - Sparkling in Primary (2024)

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Hey there!

Have you ever tried sensory bins with your class?

Are you looking for the proper tools and techniques to implement sensory bins with success?

If you already implement sensory bins, is there anything that would make them more effective & efficient?

I will admit, it was terrifying implementing sensory bins in my centers when I first began teaching kindergarten. All I could think about was the mess, overexcitement, andstorage of all of these materials! We all know what could happen when giving a five-year-old a tub of rice to play in! 🤭

There are so many reasons why teachers have gotten away from using sensory bins in the classroom. Maybe materials had gotten old and never replaced, district curriculums override a lot of the fun, play-based learning that used to take place, storage of all the materials have gotten out of hand, or there is no TIME to create these fun bins anymore! Despite what the reason is, there is a solution or an easier way around!

In this blog post, I will give you the WHAT, the WHY, and the HOW of sensory bins. ALSO, stay tuned for a FREEBIE at the end!🛍️ You will not want to miss this!

What is a Sensory Bin?

Sensory bins master guide.

When most teachers think about sensory bins, they think of sensory bins in preschool centers and as toddler activities. Also what I described above. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Sensory bins are important for children at every step of early development. Whether you are a classroom teacher, private school teacher, homeschool teacher, daycare teacher or mom-teacher, sensory bins play SUCH an important part in child development. Sensory bins provide children opportunities to learn through play and exploration.

A sensory bin is a container or tub filled with various objects and materials that stimulate children’s senses. Some children do not like the “feel” of certain textures, like squishy, slimy, smooth, wet, etc., so sensory bins open up a child’s world to exploring these textures in an exciting and engaging way. A huge component is also social interaction and language development. Children are able to learn and interact in a meaningful way.

Sensory bins are appropriate for all young children, not just toddlers and preschoolers! The difference between a sensory bin for first grade and a sensory bin for a toddler is the contents and purpose of the bin. For younger children, the purpose may just be to explore and build with the contents. For older children, the purpose may be tied to a state standard or stem learning activity. The opportunities for learning are endless with sensory bins!

There are so many purposes for sensory bins. Sensory bins can be used to:

Explore
Create
Build
Learn
Interact

I LOVE creating sensory bins for my own children. I raid the Dollar Tree in search of fun, low-cost items and also gather seasonal items from outside.

These items are for my Halloween sensory bins!

Why Sensory Bins Are Important

Sensory Bins – Language and Vocabulary Skills

Sensory bins expand a child’s vocabulary by describing what they are feeling, playing with and doing. Children are also interacting with one another, taking turns, using words to express feelings. When working with students at the sensory bin center, have them use their five senses to describe what they notice, aid in conversations between the children, and encourage the children to work together to complete an activity of a project.

For an English Language Learner, sensory bins are a FANTASTIC way to increase language and vocabulary skills and practice these skills in context. Sensory bins should be a staple in every EL classroom!

Also, themed sensory bins (farm, ocean, etc.) are a great language and vocabulary builder!

Sensory Bins – Stimulates Multiple Senses At Once

The unique aspect of sensory bins is that they are one of the best activities for stimulating and developing awareness of senses in young children. This is also known as tactile learning.

Raisingchildren.net.au in their article, Child Development: the First Five Years, also explains that “Your child’s early experiences – his relationships and the things he sees, hears, touches smells and tastes – stimulate his brain, creating millions of connections.”This is where sensory bins can really help your child to learn through senses and explore the world around them. You can view more of the informative article here!

For example, when playing with a sensory box of pasta, children discover the sound the pasta makes when poured, the rough or bumpy texture, or the smell of the raw pasta. Sensory play provides children so many experiences for tactile learning!

Children are also strengthening fine motor skills while manipulating the materials. Fine motor strength helps children to gain control and learn how to button, zip, feed, write and so much more. This is a skill often overlooked in early education because the focus is on academics and meeting standards, Anywhere fine motor strengthening can be added into a school day is of HUGE importance!

Sensory Bins – Learn Through Play

Have you ever wondered how young children seem to remember EVERYTHING! And I cannot remember what I ate for breakfast!

I mean, really, why can’t we all have a memory like that!

Children’s brains develop the most between birth to five years old. Their little brains are just soaking up everything around them and exponentially learning! And SURPRISE! The primary avenue for children to learn and develop is with PLAY!

Raisingchildren.net.au, an Australian parenting website, has an abundance of articles relating to child development. Child Development: The First Five Years is the article that caught my attention because it focuses on the importance of play in a child’s early development years. The article also explains that it is important to guide children through activity, but also letting them try on their own because it is important for children to learn through their own mistakes. You can view the article here!

While playing with all of these fun items in a sensory box, children are also learning life skills. Maybe it is pouring the rice into a cup and learning about capacity and estimation, discovering what works and what doesn’t when scooping, pouring, and filling. These skills are also math-related.

Sensory Bins – Interact and Strengthen Social Skills

Sharing and playing with peers is a difficult concept for young minds! Sensory bins allow children to explore how to interact with peers, take turns, practice appropriate ways to play, and so much more! This social-emotional learning is so important for children to practice in the early years. The earlier on children learn to play side by side, the easier each subsequent school year experience will become when it comes to cooperative learning. Today, a lot of teaching is student-lead and project-based, which means students need to know how to appropriately and successfully interact and learn from one another.

Sensory Bins – Align Learning Objectives

Just because sensory bins are considered play, does not mean that they cannot be aligned to learning objectives! Objects can be sorted, counted, organized and measured. Also, other learning activities can be added to bins! See the activities below to see how I tie purposely-planned activities into sensory bins!

Examples of Sensory Bin Play

Below are three examples of how sensory bins can be used in different ways at different ages.

Example 1

In a preschool classroom, Matthew is digging around in a sand sensory bin searching for the rocks to pile in the bed of the dump truck. Alice, his partner, is searching for the colorful rocks to put in a bowl, pretending she is making soup for her doll. Two children, both playing at the same sensory bin, finding different and inventive ways to use it. These two children are also describing the colors, textures, and appearance of the “cool” rocks they find and helping one another find their certain rocks.

Not to mention the diggers and brushes they are using to find and uncover rocks are further developing fine motor skills.

Example 2

Another preschool transition classroom is using a bin of colored rice with colorful magnetic letters hidden inside. Jessica is searching for the letters of her name and building her name as she finds each letter. Jose is sorting the letters he finds by color. Jessica can’t find a letter “i” so she asks Jose to help her. These two kiddos are not only learning about letters and categorizing, but they are also learning about the benefit of helping one another.

Example 3

In a kindergarten classroom, the teacher planned a sensory bin filler consisting of fall leaves, acorns, and mini apples. Hidden in the sensory bin filler are math ten frame cards to reinforce last week’s math lessons of understanding numbers to ten. The students are using a recording sheet to write the numbers from the ten frame cards they find. Once they find a card, they hide the card back in the sensory bin for the other player. This activity is tied directly to kindergarten Common Core standards and is presented in a fun and engaging way!

While searching, Ariella stops to explore the texture of the acorn and tells her friends about the rough and bumpy top. The other children proceeded to find an acorn and describe what they notice. Once the children completed their task, they decided that they were going to count and tally the number of acorns and the number of apples. This is a routine that the teacher taught the children early when first implementing sensory bins. Sensory bin activities are never finished! Their learning opportunities are endless and children can continue to invent their own ways to use them.

These are just three of the COUNTLESS ways that sensory bins can be used at various ages and stages of development. Also, each week and month brings new opportunities for children to explore new materials and activities!

Sensory in activities can be preplanned or left open-ended depending on your objective. The above examples include both bins that are created for children to use their own creativity and explore. Another example shows how sensory bins can be tied to classroom activities.

How To Make a Sensory Bin

One of the best parts about creating sensory bins, you do not need complicated things to create them!

I just use a Sterilite tub similar to these below. It is easy to just cover and store for the next session. Also, if dropped, the contents will not spill out!

Then fill with fun, seasonal or themed items of your choice! Add in any curriculum-based materials as well to link to current teaching standards.

Wondering how to color rice? See this “How-To” video teaching how to color rice! I LOVE using rice because it can be colored seasonally! Just click on the image below to view the video!

How to color rice video guide.

Sensory Bins In Summary

Are you convinced yet that sensory bins play an integral part in early primary classrooms? I am happy to answer any questions you have about sensory bins and incorporating them into your classroom activities!

I have written other blog posts on seasonal sensory bin ideas for Fall and Halloween. Click the titles to view them!

HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT!

I have had this in the works for a VERY long time. This idea developed through the struggles I have had as a kindergarten teacher in my own classroom, knowing my students needed more time to play but feeling the pressure of state standards and assessments coming down on me.

Get ready…

Soon I will be launching the Ultimate Sensory Box! This is a quarterly subscription box for preschool and kindergarten teachers and is the solution to providing our students with more opportunities to learn through play while teaching to standards!

Sensory bin kit for preschool and kindergarten.

This box is going to change preschool and kindergarten classrooms all over and help our children gain the important skills they need that are not present in the typical curriculum. Join the VIP list to be the first to receive updates on the release of the Ultimate Sensory Box, a special VIP ONLY offer, sensory bin tips, and more, signup using the button below! I hope that you to come on this ride with me!

FREEBIE TIME!

Below, grab your FREE 5 step guide to SIMPLIFIED sensory bins to help you successfully implement sensory bins in your classroom! Just click the image below! You will also receive notifications about when the Ultimate Sensory Box goes into the official launch!