Christmas Sensory Bin Ideas

These Peppermint Scented Sensory Bin Ideas make wonderful activities in the busy days leading up to Christmas. Children will love the delightful aroma and it is so easy to customize based on your children's own preferences!

Sensory bins have long been a great way to keep kids busy, build fine motor skills, encourage creative play, develop literacy, and even work on math skills. The more senses you can include the better the lessons stick in their heads. This Christmas-themed sensory bin is not only fun and appealing to the eyes but it is scented with the delicious holiday scent of Peppermint.

Dyed and scented pasta is an inexpensive and simple base for sensory bins. Fill it with Christmas-themed containers, cookie cutters, spoons, a clothespin for picking up objects, and even natural items like pine cones, or small branches from your tree.

Must-Have Kids Craft Supplies

Sick of hearing “I'm bored”? Keep these fun craft supplies on hand for this activity and creative play time!

To Dye Pasta:

This is pretty easy to make in any amount but for this medium-sized sensory bin, I used a 16 oz. box of pasta, divided in half. Take half your pasta and place it in a gallon bag, add 1-2 tsp. hand sanitizer, 1 tsp. peppermint extract or peppermint essential oil to scent preference, and red food coloring.

Start with 5 drops of food coloring, massage bag to coat all the pasta with wet ingredients, add food coloring until desired shade is reached. Spread pasta out onto a baking sheet, and allow to dry- mine dries in less than 30 minutes usually, especially outside with the sun shining on it.

Once your pasta has dried pour it into your chosen container. Be sure to include items like bowls and spoons and seasonal items. This time I included a clear, plastic Christmas ornament- it was a big hit! Fun for filling and shaking to empty out contents ( great for fine motor skills) it was the most used item in this bin. We also decided to hang this handmade ornament on the tree!

Sensory bins usually have at least a week of life in them. After the first day or two simply swap out some of the items for new ones to keep it fresh. And they will most likely still be interested and find ways to play in it.