When I posted this on Instagram I got a few comments asking about how my children play with sensory bins and what age they are. The twins have turned five and love sensory bins. Even my soon-to-be-eight-year-old loves playing with them. It’s sort of hard to describe what they do when they are playing. They love top scoop up the materials and put it into pots. They talk a lot and seem to make their own imaginary games.
This sensory bin was really quick and easy to put together. I wanted it to look like the beach but wanted an alternative to sand for a change. I used brown and white rice, lentils, dried chickpeas, shell pasta. On top of this we added some starfish, shells and pebbles of different shapes and sizes, I found these in the aquarium section of the pet shop.
It looked lovely when the girls had mixed up all the different parts. I also few in a few gems for them to find and used some Learning Resources Handy Scoopers to work on their fine motor skills.
The girls enjoyed trying to find things in the beach sensory bin, including catching the starfish.
This was harder than it looked.
They loved scooping up the things in the handy scoopers and separating the different sized pieces.
The best thing was finding the hidden gems. This was a very calming sensory bin. It was great for frazzled brains at the end of the school day. There was a bit of mess at the end, but it was easy to sweep up. I used a long thin plastic box with a lid so that it would be easy to store and so all three girls could play at the same time.
This is a great sensory bin for the Summer. It is easy to set up and so inviting. In fact, it was so realistic the girls demanded ice cream when we stopped.
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