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A sensory bin is a super easy way to help your preschool child explore the world around them. Not only can it help develop their fine motor skills, but it can also build social/emotional skills and other cognitive skills. Read more about this from Salus University Health. Sensory bins can be simple or complex. They can be messy or “clean.” They can be focused or free play. So many different ways to play. Our top 5 sensory bins are found below. To read more about developing your preschooler’s sensory skills, click here!
Water Sensory Bin
Water sensory bins are the easiest bins to set up. You just need a bin and some water. You can create some super cool themed ones or simply give your child water, spoons, and bowls. One of my children’s favorites is colored water. I add a bit of food coloring to the water while they play. One of our favorite “themed” bins is a pour station. I provide my children with a large cup of water in a sensory bin along with smaller cups. They then pour water from cup to cup. Want to read more about how to set up a water sensory bin? Click here.
Pasta Sensory Bin
This sensory bin is great for a preschool child with a younger sibling who might come by and want to play too. A pasta sensory bin is a great tactile bin. You can color the pasta and cook or not cook the noodles. You can use different-shaped pasta. You can make a learning sensory bin by hiding different things in the pasta so that your child has to find certain things or match items. The ideas are endless. Click here to read more about a pasta sensory bin, including my tricks to dye the pasta.
Chickpeas Sensory Bin
This sensory bin is similar to a noodle sensory bin for your preschool child. The chickpeas are usually uncooked and hard. One easy way to make this a learning sensory bin would be to add a scale and some toys to have your child weigh different toys compared to chickpeas. You can dye the chickpeas and have your child sort the chickpeas. Click here to read more about how we use chickpea sensory bins.
Dough Sensory Bin
Playdough is super fun for all ages. It can be a great sensory experience. You can make your own play dough. The cool thing is that you can make your own playdough or not add as many ingredients to it to make it more like cloud dough. It is a simple mixture that can be modified to make different types of dough! Click here to see how I make my dough sensory bins.
Rice Sensory Bin
Another favorite sensory bin for a preschool child is rice! Rice can be a very relaxing sensory experience. We have used rice in themed sensory bins and free-play sensory bins. We have used rice in learning sensory bins. We have used plain rice and dyed rice. Click here to read how we use rice in our sensory bins, as well as how I dye it!
Do you skip sensory bins because they are super messy? They can be messy and super fun, but there are some easy tricks I have used over the years to contain the mess more! You can see how I did that here.
Do you have a younger child, make sure you check out my Top 5 Sensory Bins for Babies and Toddlers!
I also have a great learning sensory bin program where you can print off and laminate pictures and letters to hide for your child to match and learn their letter names and sounds.
