Hey Hey, Friends!
Now that schools are back in session, we can all take a deep breathe- we did it! Summer can be a relaxing reward, but it can also be quite chaotic, especially in the weeks leading up to school starting. I urge to to give yourself a pat on the back! In addition, I hope you grab this Free Bookmark Download and take a look at the Creative Sensory Bins Ideas below.
You can make copies of the bookmark download as needed and hand them out for the kiddos to cut out and have. They can even decorate it if they prefer. Use the button below to download yours NOW!
Continuing on… Creative Sensory Bins for the Classroom
I love a Free Download, but am also a HUGE fan of sensory bins in the classroom. Sensory bins can captivate children, unlike many activities, due to the child’s immense levels of curiosity. With that fact, these bins are a great tool for learning as they truly learn through play and exploration. Check out the different ideas we will be using throughout the year:
1. Color Exploration—I used black beans as the filler. I used silicone muffin holders for collecting the colored items. I included items like feathers, buttons, and pom-poms. You could provide tongs for children to grasp and place the items for good fine motor development. (This would be great to include in the Bible story lesson of Noah and practice the colors of the rainbow as well.)
2. Feed the Turkeys – For this one I used chickpeas as the filler. (Chickpeas make a great filler for sensory bins. They are easy to paint as well to make them different colors. Simply add the chickpeas to a Ziploc gallon sized bag and squirt acrylic paint in the bag. Close the bag and mix. To dry, spread the chickpeas on wax paper lined cookie sheet. Allow to completely dry. Add to sensory bin!)
I also made turkeys out of toilet paper tubes. I added details to the tubes like googly eyes and construction paper beak, waddle, and feathers.
I added spoons so children can scoop and pour to feed the turkeys!
3. Farm Play – For this sensory bin I used Deer Corn for the filler. I added items like toy tractors and plastic farm animals. You could also add a small milk carton decorated like a barn, some scoops for filling bins of corn, etc.
4. Creation Story- For this sensory bin I used blue water beads and green painted rice. To color the rice I added the desired amount of rice to a Gallon size Ziploc bag and green food coloring. I mixed (and added food coloring) until all pieces of the rice were dyed green. To dry, I poured the dyed rice onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Allow to dry completely (at least 24 hours).
I split the bin in half by folding some foil and separating the “Land” (rice) and “Water” (water beads). I then added plastic land animals and ocean animals to the bin.
5. Nativity Story- For this filler I used the black beans. I used popsicle sticks to make a manger and used a small piece of cloth for baby Jesus. For the characters in this bin you can either create wooden peg people or the Little People nativity people.
These Creative Sensory Bin ideas are all very simple, but they give children great opportunities to explore, build fine motor skills, help retell Bible stories, and much more!
In preparation for the Bible Skills Season, we hope that our Blue Cycle Bible Skill Boosters Book may be helpful to your ministry! It is downloadable much like many of our books. Check this book out here!
