5 EASY Summer Sensory Bins Your Preschooler Will LOVE
It’s summertime, and the livin’s easy! ..or it should be, right? Sometimes it feels hard to keep your preschooler engaged in anything for more than, ummm, about 10 seconds **facepalm**
Add these 5 summer sensory bins to your days ahead for loads of fun! You’ll be thrilled to see them playing happily and learning while they’re at it!
- Cheerio Sand
- Mermaid Sea Shells
- Fizzy Sea Shells
- Mermaid ABC Match-Up
- Rainbow Fish Matching Cards
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5 EASY Summer Sensory Bins
Cheerio Sand
Bring the beach to you by making this beach-themed sensory bin using blended Cheerios!
What You Need:
- Plastic bin
- Sand toys
- Cheerios (perfect time to use the stale cereal hiding in your pantry!)
- Blender
- Sun ten-frame resource
How To:
- Blend Cheerios to make your own sand and add to your plastic bin
- Throw in some sand toys
- Add this sun ten-frame match-up resource
- Kiddos pick a sun and practice building numbers 1-20 on the ten frames
Your preschooler will have so much fun playing in the “sand” that they won’t even realize they’re working on developing a strong number sense foundation!
Mermaid Sea Shell Sensory Bin
Easily dye pasta shells in any color of your choice to make a mermaid sensory bin filler. Read on to learn how!
What You Need:
- Plastic bin
- Uncooked pasta shells
- White vinegar
- Food coloring (however many colors you want!)
- Plastic bags (one per color)
- Sand toys
- Plastic shell Easter eggs
How To:
- Pour shells into baggies
- Add 1 Tbsp of white vinegar to each bag
- Squirt in food coloring
- Shake, shake, shake!
- Lay out on a tray to dry
- Pour into a bin with toys and PLAY until little hearts are content!
ONE MORE STEP:
Make it more hands-on for littles by letting them help you dye the pasta.
Pour, squeeze, drip, and shake. They will work on fine motor skills and incorporate STEM into play!
Ask questions to get them thinking as you work through the steps with them:
What will happen if we add red and blue? What should we do next? Should we add more to the bag? How much?
Fizzy Sea Shells
Make fizzy sea shells using baking soda and vinegar for a fun and interactive science sensory bin activity!
What You Need:
- Baking soda
- Water
- Food dye
- Vinegar
- Pouring/squeezing tools
- Seashell mold
- Plastic bin
*Also check your local Dollar Tree and Target Dollar Spots for seashell molds and plastic bins!
How To:
- Mix baking soda and water to create a thick paste
- Squirt in food coloring
- Fill sea shell mold with baking soda mixture and freeze
- Add vinegar to a squeeze bottle (or use droppers, scoopers, or pour straight from the bottle)
- Put frozen sea shells into a deep tray and PLAY!
Extra Options:
- For sparkly fun, add sequins or glitter to the tray.
- For foamier bubbles, add dish soap to the tray.
Mermaid ABC Match-Up
Use this alphabet match-up mat with DIY sand and shells.
Your little one practice identifying and matching with capital and lowercase letters while having fun in play. Model beginning sounds too for extra learning!
What You Need:
- Plastic bin
- Cheerios
- Plastic sea shell Easter eggs
- Mermaid ABC Match-Up mat
How To:
- Blend cereal and add to the bin
- Add sea shell Easter eggs
- Add Mermaid Match-Up resource
- Match letters and practice beginning sounds in play!
Extra Option:
This Mermaid 10-frame activity is perfect to switch things up and practice math skills too!
Rainbow Fish Summer Sensory Bin
Work on matching colors and fine motor skills with this fun fishy activity!
What You Need:
- Plastic bin
- Colorful manipulatives like pom-poms, beads, dyed pasta, or mini erasers
- Mini tongs
- Rainbow Fish Matching Cards
How To:
- Fill your sensory bin with your choice of colorful manipulatives
- Add matching cards to the bin
- Grab a fish card from the bin
- Pick up manipulatives with mini tongs and match the colors on the fish mat
There are 12 different task cards with this resource so your little one can play over and over again!
Don’t be intimidated by these long summer days anymore! Your preschooler will LOVE these sensory bins and probably be asking for more.
Summer sensory bins are so much fun! Do you have a favorite summer play activity for your preschooler? Send me a DM on IG to let me know. You might be featured in my stories!
You might also be interested in:
Using Snacks to Teach Names to Preschoolers
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