Pond Themed Sensory Bin Idea
Have you ever tried out sensory bins with your little one? By little one, I mean anywhere from toddler to early elementary, because they are wonderful for a wide variety of ages. They are simple to pull together but give hours of entertainment, learning, and skill building. This one is perfect if you are doing a pond unit study or just simply for fun.
Pond Themed Sensory Bin Idea
Kids need to learn using their senses, and whether you utilize sensory bins as a teaching tool along with a homeschool unit study, or you are working with a child who has sensory development issues, these are fun projects that are also inexpensive.
The idea behind sensory bins is to expose your children to different shapes and textures. You can easily use these to help them learn to sort, classify items, and simply understand the difference between soft and hard. This particular pond themed sensory bin is ideal for use with many different books and even unit studies.
Supplies Needed:
- a plastic tub at least 5″ deep and about 15″ x 24″
- water beads
- plastic pond animals – we like Safari Toobs Frogs & Turtles and Safari Frog Life Cycle
- magnifying glass
- pebbles
- small sticks (for logs)
- various books about pond animals
How to build your sensory bin:
Spread a towel on the floor beneath your sensory bins for easier clean up. If using water or any liquid, this keeps spills to a minimum and makes it easy to simply grab and put things away easily.
After soaking water beads until the are fully sized (about the size of marbles) place them in as your base with a little bit of water to keep them moist.
Add frogs, fish, turtles, snakes, and alligator plastic creatures. We also added rocks, and thick sticks from the yard as well a piece of plastic greenery from a plant for pond plants. Use your imagination as you assemble sensory bins for your kids. Consider their likes and dislikes to not only challenge them but also appeal to their preferences.
One excellent educational tool to go along with sensory bins is to read a book out loud to your kids while they sort and play in the bins themselves. You can create a book list and let them choose, or plan a unit study around what you add into the bins each day.
Grab books from your existing library, the public library, or order online to complete a great collection that will help them to relate the items you have in your sensory bins to the world around them.
The kids have a ball playing with the squishy water beads, scooping, pouring, and investigating with the magnifying glass. Spend a little time on the floor with them while they play so you are on hand to answer questions, encourage play, and hear their observations.
Sensory bins like this fun pond themed idea are ideal for creating playtime that will help them to step outside their comfort zones while learning something new. Mix and match different items to go with different books, or let your kids help you pick what you will put into their next sensory bins.