Valentine’s Day Sensory Bin

Sensory bins are such a inexpensive and fun activity you can do with your children during holidays. Toddler and preschool age children benefit from the different activities that can be incorporated with them. They are also very popular for children with special needs or developmental delays. Who doesn’t love an activity that is fun and encourages your child to learn at the same time? The best part is that you can buy everything that you need at a dollar store!

To start your valentines sensory bin you can add some big fluffy cotton balls. This will give a good base to start with and such a fun texture. Then simply go to the holiday section of the dollar store and go crazy! You can add items like foam hearts, hard heart gems, and anything glittery! When choosing your items just keep in mind your child’s age and whether or not the item might be a choking hazard and they will be able to grab all of these items. Make sure to choose different sizes objects with an array of textures. Once you have thrown all of your items into a big bowl start doing some fun activities!

• First, let your child explore naturally. This will allow them to discover on their own all of the items that you have included. Sit back and watch their creativity expand! I love listening to my little one create fun little story lines and games on her own.
• Second, work on language development. Ask them to tell you what they are exploring in the bin. Identify all of the items. Name the colors. Discuss the different textures they have encountered. Play a fun game of “I Spy” to help reinforce the descriptive words that you have now discussed.
• Third, transfer the items. Give your child multiple containers of different sizes. Let them fill our pour galore! Have them move objects one at a time into another container. Make sure to keep in mind if your child’s fingers are big enough to handle this activity. If not you can give them a pair of tongs to help them along. This will help them with their fine motor skills.
• Fourth, count the objects. Have your child sort the objects into different categories. Then they can count how many there are in each category. Different categories that you could use are size, color, shape, texture. They will have so much fun with this!
• Fifth, pattern making. Ask your child to make a sequence line with the objects. If this is too advanced for them then you can make a sequence line and ask them to replicate it.

I hope this has inspired you to do some fun and inexpensive activities with your child for Valentine’s Day!

Sources: Fantastic Fun and Learning