Learning Through Play with 60+ Sensory Bins

Looking through the features for this week, we noticed a running theme.  It seems lots of folks are enjoying their days with their kiddos by doing fun and educational…

Sensory Bins!

If you’ve been following this blog for any amount of time, you probably know that we love any sensory inspired play and sensory bins are one of our favorites!  We’ve done holiday themed bins, educational learning bins, color themed bins… There is no limit to the type or learning aspects you can develop through sensory bins.

So what is so great about Sensory Bins?

Sensory bins are a fantastic way for young children to explore their senses.  Kids, especially the younger set, learn through touch…picking up an object, manipulating it’s weight, exploring it’s color, texture, and size…and comparing the object to others.  Sensory bins allow a child to use all of their senses when exploring objects.  They can feel the different textures, see the contrasting colors, smell rice/corn/paper/whatever, hear the crunch of materials, even taste the objects.  And then there is the proprioceptive and kinesthetic senses that come into play when the child picks up and manipulates the items in relation to his body.
While all of this sensory stuff is completely awesome for little ones, don’t forget the learning that happens when a sensory bin is explored: colors, shapes, matching, comparing/contrasting, language development, sorting, counting, and fine motor skills, language development, and imagination skills.
The topics of sensory bins are limitless.  You can build a bin around a science theme, a specific letter of the alphabet, a holiday, or just throw some black beans in a bowl and add a few spoons and cotton balls…FUN!
Let’s see what super fun and imaginative sensory bins our featured linkers came up with this week:
Alphabet Learning Through Play by Little Bins for Little Hands
(ten completely fun and educational alphabet themed bins!)
Bird Seed Sensory Bin by Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails
(we love playing in a bin of bird seed in this house!!)
Ocean Sensory Table by Stir The Wonder
(oh, our kids would love this one!)
(perfect edible sensory play for babies!)
Zoo Sensory Bins by Fantastic and Fun Learning
(Such fun with this collection of sensory bins!)
40+ Farm Sensory Bins by Living Montessori Now
(…we made the list…YYYEEAH! Seriously, there are great ideas in this post!)
Some of our favorite Sensory Bin posts:
 You may want to see more of our Sensory Bins here.

Driveway Sensory Drawing: Wet Chalk!

wet chalk

Drawing with wet chalk on a driveway is such a fun sensory experience for outdoor play and one that develops so many areas of gross motor skills, fine motor skills, and visual motor skills through sensory play. Drawing milestones like coloring with chalk is part of childhood but this driveway chalk activity builds many skills!

Wet chalk

Wet Chalk

We played outside one cool morning and discovered something really fun…We had left a couple of pieces of chalk outside during an overnight rainstorm. 

The texture of wet chalk is so cool! It smears on the driveway so easily and is the neatest texture. For children struggling with tactile defensiveness wet chalk is a great sensory experience because you can grade the dryness or the wetness of the chalk texture.

There was only red and blue that were soaked through, but they combined to make a pretty nice rainbow!

How to make wet chalk

There are several ways to make wet chalk to use on a driveway.

  1. Soak driveway chalk in a bucket of water overight or for a few hours.
  2. Draw with chalk on a wet driveway. After a rain works or spray the driveway with water from the hose.
  3. Crush chalk into a powder and mix water into the chalk dust to create a messy, thick chalk paint. This liquid chalk paint recipe explains more on this strategy.

You can select the wet chalk method that works best for you!

Once you have your wet chalk created, you can get started with the chalk art.

Wet Chalk Activities

We’ve created a list of chalk activities here on the website before so any of those ideas would work. But if you want to explore development of other skills, try these wet chalk activities:

  • Make a chalk rainbow
  • Make a driveway obstacle course
  • Create letters and use a wet-dry-try method of writing the letters
  • Mix colors
  • Use the wet chalk for body painting
  • Paint rocks
  • Write names or words
 
 

 

 
 
 
Wet chalk
 
We played with this for a while…the chalk drawing even started to dry on the driveway.
I LOVE this picture!
 
Use wet chalk on the driveway
 
Baby Girl loved this messy play.  She got her hands right in there and covered them with the chalky mess.


Outdoor Sensory Play

What a great sensory experience!  Check out how Baby Girl is on her hands and knees…She’s putting weight through her upper body and down to the hands, and strengthening her shoulder girdle which is so important for fine motor dexterity.  All this while exploring the texture of the chalk, manipulating little pieces of chalk, and having fun with her sister!
 
 
Wet chalk activity for kids
 
We kept tracing over the rainbow lines until the chalk became so small…great for working on that tripod grasp
 
Big Sister was really aware of the lines of the rainbow when she was tracing.  This is fun for a new hand writer who is learning to place letters on the lines of paper ((line awareness)).
 
Tracing the big arch of the rainbow allowed her to cross midline on a fun activity.   Why do kids need to cross midline?? One reason is so that hand writers efficiently allow the dominant hand to do the work during handwriting while moving left to right across the page in a smooth manner.
 
Play with wet chalk to make a driveway rainbow
 
And of course, you MUST add raindrops to the rainbow 😉
 
 
Colors Handwriting Kit

Rainbow Handwriting Kit– This resource pack includes handwriting sheets, write the room cards, color worksheets, visual motor activities, and so much more. The handwriting kit includes:

  • Write the Room, Color Names: Lowercase Letters
  • Write the Room, Color Names: Uppercase Letters
  • Write the Room, Color Names: Cursive Writing
  • Copy/Draw/Color/Cut Color Worksheets
  • Colors Roll & Write Page
  • Color Names Letter Size Puzzle Pages
  • Flip and Fill A-Z Letter Pages
  • Colors Pre-Writing Lines Pencil Control Mazes
  • This handwriting kit now includes a bonus pack of pencil control worksheets, 1-10 fine motor clip cards, visual discrimination maze for directionality, handwriting sheets, and working memory/direction following sheet! Valued at $5, this bonus kit triples the goal areas you can work on in each therapy session or home program.

Click here to get your copy of the Colors Handwriting Kit.

Patriotic Craft Fingerpainting Fireworks

This finger painting fireworks craft is a great July craft for toddlers that can be used to celebrate the Fourth of July with toddlers and preschoolers! Add this one to our favorite creative painting ideas!

Finger Paint Fireworks

This weekend I had 5 kids (ages 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) and I had to think of something to keep them all busy. Finger painting is a fun craft for kids all ages, the babies love feeling the different texture of paint on their fingers and playing with the paintbrushes. I pulled out the paper and let them go to town with the washable finger paints!

 

 
 
 

 

 
 I helped my little guy (2) make hand prints in red and blue.

 

 

 The big kids enjoyed mixing colors while my 2 year old enjoyed painting his hand…and mixing colors in the paint jars…ughh. I think every color is now brown. 
 
 This project kept the kids busy for about 30 minutes, enough time for me to put away the dishes and wipe down the table 🙂

 

 
Once the paint was dry we gathered up some black construction paper, gold tinsel from a gift bag and scissors.  I folded the paper into a small square and helped the older kids cut out fireworks.
 
 

 

 
 We glued the fireworks onto the paper and made the tinsel stream down from the fireworks.  We talked a little about the 4th of July and I told my daughter it was the country’s birthday.  The best part was hearing
my daughter recite the Pledge of Allegiance  (so cute)!
 

 

Hammer Golf Tees into The Ground

Do you know the hand eye coordination benefits of hammering golf tees into the ground? This fine motor and hand-eye coordination activity is great for summer!

We took this one a step further and used our hammer and golf tees in other ways, too!

Hammer Golf Tees Into the Ground

 
We have taken the challenge!  You all know how much we love to play with our kids.  And play matters!  Play is the child’s occupation…they learn so much through process of using their imagination, working their fine motor skills, building self-confidence, developing language…and MORE. All through their daily play! 

 

This was an easy (and fun) activity that we all enjoyed.  We have played with golf tees in the past, and had SO much fun (check it out!).  My Little Guy will often times ask if I can pull out the golf tees for him to hammer into an empty egg carton. 

We took this activity outside and hammered away!  This was big time fun for Little Guy and Big Sister.  They sat for a long time as we hammered golf tees all around the big tree in our back yard.

 
 
We added some yarn for a little extra fun and connected the golf tees.  We were planning to add Little Guy’s Spiderman guy to climb in the web, but there was a giant Thunderstorm brewing.  We gathered up our golf tees and hammers and headed indoors.
 
 

Hammer Golf Tees into a Box

 
Since we hadn’t had enough with the golf tees and wanted to hammer a bit more…I pulled out an empty shoe box and stuck on some dot stickers.  I wrote the alphabet on them and we got busy, hammering away the ABC’s.
 
 

Baby Girl got in there, too.  She would pull the tees out and put them back into the holes.

 

We ended up adding the yarn again to connect the tees for more fine motor (and fun) play.

Share It Saturday

Playful Learning

Once again you brought us loads of fun and creative links.  We chose a handful of posts to feature that just look like FUN to do with our kids.  We only have our kids as little ones for such a short time.  It so much fun to play with and explore new things.  We can’t wait to try out these activities and PLAY with our children while learning and having fun.
Craftiments made these gorgeous Paint Sun Prints.
Little Bins For Little Hands explored baking soda and colored vinegar.  How fun 🙂
Gift of Curiosity painted rocks (and their hands!) Two things that our kids LOVE to do!
Fantastic Fun and Learning made a block wrecking ball.  How COOL!

Taco Empanadas

This taco empanadas recipe is a quick and delicious meal you can make using leftover ground beef, chicken, or ground turkey. Leftover taco meat is perfect for making taco empanadas! This Mexican empanada dish is a delicious one for all ages. If you are looking for a cooking with kids recipe that the whole family will love, this one is it!

Taco Empanadas

This recipe is just too easy not to share with you…and the best part is our kids love it (and love to help make it)!  I made these one day last week for a play-date and the kids thought they were pretty neat. 

You can improvise the filling with anything you think would be good…I have made them with chicken, ground turkey, and the traditional beef empanadas. 

 

 
 
 

Taco Empanadas Ingredients

To make the taco empanadas, you’ll need to first gather your ingredients:
 
  • Mexican pastry shells
  • 1-1.5lb ground beef
  • One package Taco Mix
  • 6oz salsa of your choice
How to make taco empanadas:
 
  1. Start out with these pastry shells, I get them in the local Mexican store in the refrigerator section.  I usually pick up several packages and keep some in the freezer. 
2. Brown the ground beef- I browned some ground meat in the slow cooker, added a package of taco mix and half a jar of mild salsa.  Let this cook until the meat is browned and it is ready to fill the shells.
 
 
 3. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray so the shells don’t stick.
 
Here comes the part the kids love helping with…
 

 

 

 

 

 


4. Fill the shells with the meat mixture and fold over. 

5. Use a fork to press the shells together. 

6. Wisk an egg and lightly paint the shells with the egg.  My four year old daughter loves helping with this part. 

7. Using the fork while pressing into the dough is great for her little fingers. 

8. Bake in oven at 375 degrees F for approximately 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Delicious!

 

 

Pair this recipe with other easy dishes:

 Veggie Puffs Recipe

Homemade Pasta Recipe

Veggie Quesadilla Recipe

Vegetable Rice

Veggie Quesadilla Recipe

“I Spy” sight word sensory bottle

We made this sensory bottle

and sight word “I Spy” bottle

for an easy little learning activity.  Two of us Sugar Aunts were together one afternoon for a little play session with the kids and this was quick and easy to put together. 
One bottle of sand.
A handful of foam sheet shapes (we wrote a few beginner sight words on front and back of each shape).


 It was perfect for the different age groups of the kids (5, 4, 3, 2, and 1!)
And these kids seem to LOVE anything they can put into something else. The little fingers were everywhere when we told them to drop the shapes into the bottle opening! This is Awesome for tripod grasp skills.
This was great for the 5 and 4 year olds who are learning their sight words.  We used some beginner reader words that they recognize (Their current favorite book around here is “Sam I Am”.  Seeing those words in a new place is pretty cool way to emphasize reading confidence, I think!)
The 3 year old knows most of his shapes (that rectangle gets him every time!) so this was good for his learning level.
The two year old could point to the colors (and with only three options in the bottle, it was not overwhelming for him).
And for the one year old, this was overall great for language development!
((and super fun to shake !!)
We had fun with our sensory sight word bottle.  Have you done one of these? Link them up in the comments, we would love to see them!

Rainy Summer Day Activities

These rainy summer day activities are great for play, encouraging movement, activity, and fun all while playing indoors.
 


Rainy Summer Day Activities!

This week was especially rainy and cool around here, so it was perfect timing for our special Rainy Summer Day play activity round-up. 
Something as simple as no sew felt crafts are a fun rainy day activity.
There are a ton of amazing activities listed here…Check them out below!
You know those days when the kids are out of school, they are picking on (and at) each other for FUN…when you really need to get outside and RUN, or SWIM, or play at the park…But it’s raining or TOO HOT to stay outside any longer???
 
And these words are coming at you non-stop…”I’m boooooored!” “I’m toooooo HOT!”  Or maybe you just need a break from the regular summer line up and you are looking for new play and learning activities. 
 
This list is sure to blast the boredom and do it completely Screen Free!
 
Now, check out these links for some awesome summer play activities:
 
 
Peanut Life Adventures: Create a summer bucket list
Tots and Me: Butterfly play theme
Howling At The Moon: Make a Clay Cat
Teach Beside Me: Fabric Hopscotch
Little Bins for Little Hands: Create a whale and water themed sensory bin
Bible Fun For Kids: Study Creation
The Measured Mom: Make a Mini-book
The Measured Mom: Explore printables with your emergent reader
Fantastic Fun and Learning: Create an edible small world zoo
Mama to 5 Blessings: Create a knight’s castle
Fantastic Fun and Learning: Read a book and play activities along with the book’s theme
Teach Beside Me: Summer Boredom Busters
Gift of Curiosity: Learn about ladybugs
Mama to 5 Blessings: Create and Organize a dress-up area
Life With Moore Babies: Make a solar oven in a shoe box (save it for a sunny day 🙂  
Preschool Powol Packets: Make a popsicle stick airplane
B-Inspired Mama: Play cleaning games with the kids
Teach Beside Me: Make a straw rocket
Gift of Curiosity: Learn about insect anatomy
Wildflower Ramblings: Create a sensory bin
Buggy and Buddy: Make a spirit wand
Coffee With Us 3: Fine Motor Bean Craft
School Time Snippets: Start a math journal
Sorting Sprinkles: Play pirate activities
Teach Beside Me: Make a roller coaster board game
Crafty Journal: Make a DIY foam flier
Stir the Wonder: Paint with feathers
Buggy and Buddy: Create spin art
Toddling in the Fast Lane: Make a bird of paradise
Best Children’s Games: Play with building blocks
Campfires and Cleats: Make balloon animals
Craftulate: Make a shape matching game
Fun-A-Day: Bring a book to life
Teach Beside Me: Create a rainbow collage
Fluster Buster: Make banana ice cream
The Pinay Homeschooler: Learn about plants
Fun-A-Day: Make fizzy letters

Foam Beading: fine motor. scissor use. tripod grasp.

Use this fine motor activity to address the underlying skills needed for functional tasks like pencil grasp, scissor use, clothing fasteners, and more in a fun and playful activity that kids will love! We used simple foal curlers and a pipe cleaner to create a tool for boosting bilateral coordination, visual motor skills, motor planning, and more!
Fine motor activities for kids using foam curler beads.
We spent a “maybe-it’s-going-to-rain-maybe-it’s-not” afternoon this week making these fun foam bracelets.
Or, maybe it’s just typical Western Pennsylvania weather 🙂
We had a cousin play date this week and between searching for worms, picking flowers, and sandbox play…had fun making these

Foam Bracelets.

We started with foam rollers and pipe cleaners.
Fine motor activity for kids using beads cut from foam hair rolls and pipe cleaners.
The older kids snipped the foam rollers into pieces.  I drew lines along the roller with a pen, and they were able to cut along the lines. 
Be careful with cutting these.  Only older children should cut the rollers, and under supervision.  Use your best judgment based on your child’s abilities.
Cutting the foam roll was a neat sensation! It took a little cutting “oomph” concentration.  That different texture is great for cutting practice and line awareness. 
Kids can improve fine motor skills using foam curlers.
We used the foam pieces to “bead” onto pipe cleaners.  The center hole fits perfectly onto a pipe cleaner.  We had a 3 year old, a 4 year old, and a 5 year old who sat for a while and filled up their pipe cleaners with foam beads.
This is a great fine motor task to work on

Tripod Grasp and Bilateral Hand Coordination

in little hands.  They were all concentrating so hard on this task!
Little Guy loves the color red!  His pipe cleaner was red of course…and he didn’t even notice the PINK foam beads 🙂
We had a fun time with our beading session.  And even came up with a few other accessories: