“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.”
– Audrey Hepburn
I think it’s safe to say that I’ve been bitten by the sensory bin bug. And sensory bin guru, Katy from @prekwolfpack, is surely to blame. π I’ve had so much fun creating sensory bins for our daughter the past couple of months…new bin ideas just keep springing into my mind all of the time now. Unfortunately, the ideas usually start forming just as I’m trying to drift off to sleep at night. Does that ever happen to you? Needless to say, I started dreaming up this Spring Sensory Bin awhile ago!
I knew that I wanted to do something involving the planting of flowers, I just didn’t know what base filler would work the best. And that’s when I caught a glimpse of the numerous boxes of colorful kinetic sand that have been sitting in my closet for a few months now – and my little dilemma was solved!
I could not wait for our little nugget to open up this colorful bin and explore the many wonders inside!
Spring Sensory Bin
Supplies:
- Under-Bed Storage Tub with Lid (Target)
- Kinetic Sand
- Planter Pots (Hobby Lobby)
- Mini Watering Can (Hobby Lobby)
- Kids Garden Tool Set
- Glass Gems (Dollar Tree)
- Colorful Bugs
- Artificial Flowers (Dollar Tree)
- Kids Gardening Gloves (Target)
- Mini Flower Erasers (Target)
Sensory Bin Setup:
You can literally setup your Spring sensory bin any way your heart desires. Iβm partial to Katyβs (@prekwolfpack) style of setting up sensory bins in a linear manner. Laying everything out in a nice clean way tends to result in more creativity and imaginative play from the kiddos β because they can see absolutely everything that they can use, and itβs not just piled into one big jumbled mess. So with that in mind, I started laying down various lines of colored kinetic sand. I had a larger box of the purple and green, so I made a thick line of each color on both sides of the bin. And I placed smaller lines of pink and blue kinetic sand in the center.
As for all of the other accessories: I placed the bugs on top of the purple sand (on both sides of the bin); I placed the green glass gems in a line between the purple and green sand (also on both sides of the bin); the flower pots and flowers were placed on top of the green kinetic sand; and the watering can, gardening tools, and gardening gloves were all placed in the center (on top of the blue and pink kinetic sand).
I was super excited about this Spring-themed sensory bin…I just couldn’t get enough of all of the cute gardening accessories. That being said, I was honestly second-guessing myself after setting up this bin…wondering if there was too much stuff, and thinking that it might end up being a bit overwhelming for our daughter. But I’m happy to report that this has been one of her all-time favorite bins to play with! π So…there was no need to second-guess myself. Sensory bins are incredibly versatile…so if you set one up and you’re unsure about it, go ahead and give it to your kiddos and sit back and watch the action. If it seems like they are not engaging with it, you can always remove items, add items, or switch things around a little bit to see if it peaks their interest more. There is no right or wrong way for sensory play. Just do what works the best for your family…and know that you can always change things up, if necessary.
Sensory Bin Play:
As I just mentioned, there is no right or wrong way when it comes to sensory play. Your kiddos should be allowed to play, explore, create, and utilize the bin in whatever way they want (aside from ingesting materials or throwing the contents around the house, of course). π I love giving our daughter a sensory bin and just sitting back and watching the various ways that she decides to use all of the elements inside the bin. I love watching her creativity come to life!
That being said, I also know that it can be nice to have a few ideas on-hand when you start playing with a particular sensory bin (just to get the wheels turning). So, I figured I would share a few of things that our daughter has loved doing with this Spring sensory bin (so far).
If you have yet to play with kinetic sand…it really is a fantastic sensory material. It basically mimics the physical properties of wet sand (though it is not wet). It is perfect for molding and shaping…and it is incredibly mesmerizing to just squeeze in your hand, and watch magically fall apart. It comes in a variety of vibrant colors and since it’s kinetic, it only sticks to itself…making it totally user-friendly and easy to cleanup! In all honesty, your kids would be thrilled if you just filled a tub with kinetic sand and added a few plastic tubs for sand castle construction!
Needless to say, molding the sand into our flower pots and little flower containers was a huge hit! We packed the kinetic sand in, turned the pots over and let the molded shape slide out into the sensory bin. Our little nugget enjoyed using the spade to cut slices of the molded kinetic sand (like cutting slices of cake)…and the slices always looked so beautiful with the various colors of sand mixed together.
Of course, we also had to build a few sand castles for our daughter to smash with her feet – as she pretended to be Godzilla. π This idea comes from one of her favorite stories, The Thing About Yetis, by Vin Vogel. She was more than happy to reenact her favorite scene from the book.
And once her feet were in the sand…there was no turning back. She squished around in the bin and requested that I bury her feet in the sand…over and over again! Who says that you can’t explore a sensory bin with your feet too?!?
Our little nugget also enjoyed planting the flowers in the flower pots – using either the kinetic sand or the glass gems as the base. She made several different bouquets…a few of which even contained a color-coordinated bug or two. π
But the activity that she repeated most often, was raking all of the kinetic sand into a big mound in the bin and then pressing all of the bugs, glass gems, artificial flowers, and mini flower erasers down into the sand to create one giant, colorful Spring sculpture!
I’ve been looking forward to putting this bin together for over a month now, and I’m so glad that my excitement and enthusiasm transferred over to our daughter. She requests to play with her Spring sensory bin every single day. And I call that a win!
If you’re interested in taking a peek at the bins I put together over the past two months, make sure to check out our Easter Sensory Bin with Dyed Garbanzo Beans post, as well as our Rainbow Pasta Sensory Bin post! And if you are curious about the many different ways that you can utilize a sensory bin, we shared the various ways that we played with a single sensory bin, in our Wolfpack Sensory Bin Review & Wrap-Up!
HAPPY SPRING!
