Valentine Sensory Bin | Still Playing School

Valentine Sensory Bin

We created a Valentine's Day themed sensory bin.  The contents were irresistibly fun for our daughter as she worked on both early math and fine motor skills


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Our contains white rice, Valentine colored pompoms (Did you know they were originally called pompons?), various kinds of hearts, cupids, and flowers, a small shovel and rake, and containers used to dump and pour. We need to play with this bin inside since it's cold out so we put a blanket under it for easy clean up. We added an ice cube tray so we could work on one to one correspondence which is a precursor for counting correctly.


Our daughter only just turned two but she loves sorting. One morning she asked for her bin while I was working on household chores. After allowing her to play independently for awhile, I sat to observe what she was doing. We started chatting about how items were the same and different. There were times when I wouldn't have understood why she sorted the items the way she did until we talked about it. Alternatively, I started to sort for her and let her continue to sort additional items in the tray. She was practicing fine motor skills (check out that pincer grasp) and working on math concepts naturally. I had provided the materials and the rest was up to her.  Plus we were having so much fun together yet she had also explored it independently while I worked on other tasks.


Inviting a friend over to explore the bin allowed our daughter to have someone who could show her new skills she might not have thought to try independently and vice versa. We also had a chance to review and model how to play with the bin appropriately. As she "taught" her friend how to use the bin she was also refreshing the "rules" in her own mind. This also gave me time to clean up after dinner while they were engrossed in the bin.



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7 comments :

  1. I had a lot of fun observing and playing in the sensory bin with her that day we put it together.....love you both.

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  2. Such a cute idea! I've thought of trying sensory bin with Dominic but I admit I'm just afraid of the mess it will create. Maybe I'll face my fear and do it anyway! haha

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  3. Dollarama has great plastic jewels and stones and even heart shaped ones that are great to add! My preschoolers love to find them! Sensory bins are so fun, aren't they?!

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    1. Hmmm...is Dollarama a local thing? I've never heard of it. Where are you from? We got our pompoms at Hobby Lobby and I had to resist the urge to keep buying more pink and red goodies!

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  4. So cute!! I think I need to make a Valentine Box for my sweet "C"! She would love it.

    Fondly,
    Pink and Green Mama
    MaryLea

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  5. Ice cube tray! Love it. Trying soon :)

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  6. I've got a stash of things that I bought last year at 90% off to share with you for your bin! So fun!

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