Flying High In the Sky

This easy to set up sensory bin is perfect for little hands. It is fun to sort thru and play in, and it has a really fun feature for night time play; this Flying High in The Sky Sensory Bin Glows in the DARK!

We have been making sensory bins for about 8 years now.Even though Rolf is a tween and is generally too cool for my projects, even he wanted to get his hands into this one. I used things we had in our craft supplies, but for your convenience I added affiliate links to help you find some of these items that you may not have.

Supplies:

A Storage Bin with a lid

Neon Blue Food Color

Glow in the Dark Paint

A zipper seal baggie

White Rice, Uncooked (2 cups)

Rainbow Ribbon

Toobs - In the sky

Tongs

Glow in the Dark Stars

Cotton Balls

To dye the rice

Place 2 cups of white rice into a zipper seal baggie.

Add 2 tablespoons of non toxic glow in the dark paint (I used art deco brand) and 10 drops of neon blue food color to the baggie.

Seal and shake well.

Pour the rice on a paper towel, paper plate, or something like an old cookie sheet and allow to dry for about 4 hours. You may need to stir halfway through the drying time.

To assemble the bin:

Cut several sections of rainbow ribbon in various lengths from 1 to 3 inches.

Gently "fluff" several cotton balls to resemble clouds.

Pour the dry, dyed rice into the storage bin.

Bury several sections of rainbow ribbon in the rice bin.

Place the remaining rainbow ribbon on the top of the bin.

Bury several plastic glow in the dark stars in the rice bin.

Sprinkle the remaining stars on top of the bin. 

Add fluffy cotton clouds to the bin.

Add the planes and helicopters from the tube of Toobs 

Add a pair of tongs to the bin and invite your child to explore.

The tongs add a challenge to the bin, which is excellent for practicing fine motor skills.

I like to make sensory bins in a container with a lid,so we can snap the lid on it when play time is over and revisit the activity later.  For bins like this that are fun to play with anytime, that comes in handy because my kids want to dig around in this one all the time!

Here is the bin after dark. We LOVE glow in the dark activities! 

Some of our favorite glow in the dark activities include:

No Electric Night Lights

Galaxy Glow in the Dark Slime

Find more sensory ideas here:

Sensory Play

Lemonade Sensory Bin

This hands on activity is perfect for engaging the senses while serving up an awesome opportunity dramatic play for preschoolers.

Harper and I both love lemons. We like the way they smell and taste. The last time I sliced up a few lemons for my eating pleasures (yes, I eat lemons like oranges!) Harp was intrigued by the seeds. She sweetly demanded  asked to pick out all of the seeds. 

There are worse things a girl of her age could be interested in doing, and an idea was born. I knew we could throw together a really easy lemonade bin that would keep her happy all afternoon. 

Supplies:
A Knife
Clear Plastic Bin
Water
Ice
Lemons
Serving Spoons
Cups
Dishes

Directions:

Pour several cups of ice and water into the plastic bin.

Slice a lemon or two and float the slices in the water.

Add spoons, tongs, cups and bowls for instant fun.

Invite your little ones to make lemonade.
They will want to touch, maybe taste and definitely smell things in here!

This is the perfect way to spend a hot day. Let the kids splash, squeeze and dish up cool spring refreshment!

If you liked this sensory play idea, keep scrolling babe, cause I have so many fun ideas for sensory play!

Reader favorites include:
Easy button sensory bags
Birthday Cake Sensory Bin

Cat in the Hat Pattern Making Sensory Bin

This year in honor of Dr.  Seuss's birthday we made this easy and fun Cat in the Hat Pattern Making sensory bin. This is a fun way to put your puffle to good use and work on pattern making skills which later help kids grasp math concepts.

This post contains affiliate links. 

We love sensory bins, bags and play! Both of my kids still get excited when they see I have a new bin ready to explore. This one was a huge hit because they had been itching to get their hands into pluffle. This is such a fun squishy foam! It is a must have for sensory play!

Supplies:

Pluffel

Assorted red and white items.We used cotton balls, feathers, legos, mini clothespins and glittery Christmas scatter

Measuring spoons, tongs and other fun items to pick up the items in the bin with.

A large tray or a plastic storage bin.

Directions:

Pour pluffle on to a tray or into a storage bin.

Make sure you take a moment to squeeze, form and otherwise take in the pluffle; it is a great sensory play option and adults will enjoy the texture too.

Next, offer your child an assortment of red and white items.

We used tiny clothespins, legos in red and white, feathers, cotton balls, and Christmas scatter that was glittery and red.

Encourage your child to recreate the stripes of the Cat in the Hat's hat.

This is a great opportunity to use fine motor skills with the spoons and tongs. Encourage your child to try placing the items with those tools as well as their fingers.

When play time is over, you can snap a lid on the bin, or put it all back in the pluffle container for future play sessions. Pluffle never dries out!

You can find all of my sensory ideas here.

Favorites include:
Rainbow Rice BinVeggie Garden Sensory Bin

Squishy Eye Sensory Bag

Squishy, silly, sensory play with a spooky feel just in time for Halloween!

We love sensory play! Bins, bag and sensory activities are always a hit with my kids!

I made this easy but oh so fun  spooky eyes sensory bag for Harper. It is perfect for Halloween and can be used in several ways. 

This bag makes a great stress reliever for little hands. Kids feel stress too, and squishing this bag helps them to relieve some of it. But, this spooky eye sensory bag is also a fun way to practice sorting skills.

This post contains affiliate links.

Supplies:
Hair gel
Zipper seal bag
Googly Eyes

Squeeze about 1/4 cup of hair gel into a zipper seal bag.

Add googly eyes.

Seal the bag.

If your child has a tendency to use rough hands or is a toddler, you might want to reinforce the sides of the bag with duct tape.

Invite your child to squish, squeeze and sort the spooky eyes sensory bag!

You might also like these  sensory activities.
Unicorn Fine Motor Play is a whimsical way to engage the senses.

veggie garden sensory bin

This veggie garden sensory bin comes together so easily to give little ones a chance to play and get excited about their vegetables while working on fine motor skills.

We have a weekly routine in the summer; every Tuesday and Saturday we head to the farmers market. We buy all of the fresh food we will eat that week, plus a little extra to freeze. I love how the offerings change throughout the season. The kids love the sights, the smells and the baked goods. While they might spend most of their visit to the market pleading for cookies, they always jump in the line for our favorite farmer. Who gets to hold the basket and who gets to pick the produce? We always work it out.

Last week while we were in line for our peppers, onions and radishes, the kids were bickering about the basket and the picking job and inspiration hit. I knew right away that I was going to recreate a garden scene for their enjoyment. If they argued about who got to play first, I will never tell.

Supplies:

• Plastic box with clip lid
• One pound of dried black beans
• ½ cup of whole coffee beans
• Leaves from artificial flowers
• Assorted play food; tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, strawberries etc
• Plastic serving tongs
• Sandbox tools

Directions:

Layer the dry black beans in the box.

Add coffee beans to the mix for a fragrant experience.

Nestle the leaves into the beans (I simply removed the leaves from a few stems of
artificial flowers).

Place the fruits and vegetables in the beans and on the leaves.

Add plastic serving tongs and plastic shovels.

Invite your child to harvest the veggies, to explore the beans and to work on fine motor skills
by picking the veggies and beans up with the tools.

This was so much fun for the kids. Even too cool, 9 year old Rolf got involved and explored this veggie garden sensory bin.

This was fun to smell and touch and it gave Harp a chance to work on her fine motor skills.

When you are all finished playing, you can snap the lid on the bin and store it for playtime in the future.

You can find all of my sensory content here.
Birthday Cake Sensory Bin

Unicorn Fine Motor Bin

Little hands will love this fun threading bin! It is a great fine motor exercise that kids will be magically enchanted with!

Harper and I love to make and play with bins. They are perfect for an afterschool activity for her, and she is always curious about what she might find in one of our bins. This was a really easy bin that I put together literally from our junk drawer. 

We had a bunch of Ikea straws from a recent binge visit and a few sections of ribbon. I ran across these leftover party favor unicorns and knew immediately what we would do with these goodies. In case you don't have all these things at home, this post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase I will earn a small commission from the advertiser.

Supplies:
Straws; I used soda and milkshake straws in assorted colors to offer variety.

I used 4 straws of each color

Ribbon; 12” length; add several strands.

Plastic Unicorn Figurines

A plastic bin with a clip on lid

Instructions:

Cut your straws by color in assorted lengths

As you cut the straws add it to the plastic bin to layer the colors

Tie a knot one on end of the ribbons. Depending upon the width of your ribbon you may want to add
several knots so that the straws will not slip off

Add a few unicorn figurines for fun

With supervision, allow your child to explore the texture and colors of the straws in the bin and thread
them onto the ribbon.

This was a fun fine motor activity for Harp with an added touch of unicorn fun. She happily threaded straws most of the afternoon!


Find  unicorn gift ideas here.