Diving into Sensory Fun
Sensory play means diving into activities that tickle a child's senses, stirring up curiosity and excitement.
Perks of Sensory Adventures:
Getting into sensory play boosts creativity, fuels curiosity, and hones problem-solving skills, all while sharpening language and motor abilities.
When to Jump In:
Sensory play is a blast for babies and toddlers at any age. So, why wait? Dive in whenever you're ready for some sensory excitement!
Keep reading down below for more Sensory Play Ideas to try with your little one!
Bugs and Insects Sensory Bin. The base is DIY moon sand with brown crinkle paper, fake moss, leaves, rocks and different bug toys.
This fun Spring theme sensory bin base is green dyed rice, with blue gems to resemble water, ladybugs, bunnies, and garden decor. All of these items were purchased at my local dollar store, making it budget friendly and endless fun for the little ones.
This dinosaur themed sensory bin has a DIY moon sand base. With a few digging tools, a magnify glass, and some fun dino molds, this kept my 2-year-old entertained for so long!
Who doesn't love mickey mouse? My little one is obsessed, and that's why I was so excited creating this sensory bin for him! With red and black dyed rice, 2 white craft noodles to resemble the buttons, and a few mickey mouse puzzle pieces. So simple and so rewarding!
With water for the base of this sensory bin, we have blue gems, a few rocks, and a few toy frogs for endless fun. I love sensory bins like this, that don't take much to make but still come out super fun for everyone!
Gardening is fun for all ages but sometimes the weather is not so giving to go out and get our hands dirty. That's why this sensory bin was so fun! With DIY moon sand, mini flowerpots I found at Meijer, some flowers from the dollar store and a few pieces of cereal for "seed".
Elmo is such a big deal in our home, I mean he is one of my personal favorite sesame street characters too! I made this sensory bin with our 1-year-old in mind. Red dyed rice, with candy eyes, orange skittles and black dyed macaroni noodles. This was so easy to throw together and so cute!
C is for Cookie and that's law! This cookie monster sensory bin was made specially for my 3-year-old who loves all things cookie monster when it comes to sesame street. Don't mind the purple cookies, printers be printering lol. With blue dyed rice, candy eyes, and black dyed macaroni noodles, this is so easy to throw together for your little one. Adding cookies is also a fun option!
Oscar the Grouch, the grumpy old grouch every neighborhood needs! Green dyed rice as the base with candy eyes, orange pipe cleaners, toy flies, brown crinkle paper, and aluminum foil and paper with hidden "trash" inside! The best part of the sensory bin for my boys were unraveling all the surprises!
Another fun Elmo sensory bin. With Black and red rice (with a hint of blue thanks to the sir mix a lot duo) a few pom poms, and their Elmo sand mild that they are obsessed with. A hit with any Elmo lover!
My 3-year-old live, breath, and exist as Spiderman. And the best part about this sensory bin, I got to make it with rice I already had. The rice from our Elmo and cookie monster sensory bins of course were mixed but that beautifully mix up led to this super cool Spidey bin. With a few foam characters and a season bottle filled with rice, this was definitely a good time with my little one!
Bring the desert to your little ones with this sensory bin! Crushed up cheerios as the base and green moss spread across. Of course, this wouldn't be complete without our slithery friends and some rocks to give that natural feel.
This sensory bin was made for St. Patrick's Day and my 1-year-old fell into a trance running his fingers through the split peas and putting the gold coins into the pot. All of these items were found at our local dollar store. Budget friendly and entertaining!
Valentine's Day, my favorite day because Pink is all around... I mean love ha-ha. Crinkle Paper is a great filler for sensory bins and honestly, I love the cleanup for it! Pink Crinkle paper, heart containers, heartfelt stickers. Can you believe I purchased all of these items from Dollar Tree?!
I love dinosaurs so much, so I make a lot of dino sensory bins for my littles. This sensory bin has crushed cheerios for the base, rocks, blue gems, fake green moss and of course dinosaurs!
Who loves creepy crawlers? Not me, but my boys sure do! The sensory bin filler is DIY moon sand, split peas, fake green moss, plastic bugs, brown crinkle paper, and a magnify glass to get up close and personal to the bugs.
Easter, Spring, or just a die-hard dinosaur lover, this sensory bin checks all the boxes. With Green crinkle paper for the base, assorted eggs, lady bugs, a net to catch all the eggs, and we can't forget about our dinos.
I try to make as many cool construction themed bins because it's what their daddy do! This was pretty easy to throw together. The base is oats with a bit of cocoa powder sprinkle throughout, black crinkle paper, brown crinkle paper, white craft noodles, rocks, and of course some construction vehicles.
This creepy crawling infested sensory bins has brown crinkle paper for the base, rocks, a net for catching bugs, plastic bugs of course, and blue gems for water.
Our cars were due for a good cleaning, so why not make a car wash station for the littles. The "mud" is pudding and we just added cars. Along with some soap, water, and sponges, this was a big hit with our 1-year-old.
I like to call this monster spaghetti. With Dyed noodles, monster figurines, black playdoh, and slime. Super messy but fun for the littles.
I love the colors in this sensory bin. With purple, orange, green, and black rice for the base. We added some Halloween favs for fillers like candy corn and some pom poms and cupcake fillers. One of my early sensory bins.
Another construction sensory bin with some spelling fun! Crushed Cheerios for the base with some cocoa powder for color, candy letters, chocolate rocks, and construction trucks.
This Christmas Sensory bin was easy to make with 2 shades of green, red, and white dyed rice for the base and a few playdoh pieces.
This sticky icky sensory bin has pudding for the base and Halloween fillers I found at the dollar tree! The candy eyes really give off a creepy vibe.
I love using black beans as the base for sensory bins, along with candy letter, plastic spiders, candy eyes and a couple of skulls. This was easy to throw together and endless fun for the boys.
This save the spider sensory bin entertained the boys for so long. Tying thread through the holes of the bin and black beans at the bottom, it was quite the challenge saving the plastic spiders from the web.
A simple sensory bin that your little will love. With crushed Cheerios for the base, add a couple of lizards, some black jelly beans.
The purpose of this bug sensory bin was to target sorting the colors red and blue. This was even a hit with my little brother! With red and blue rice and plastic snakes and bugs to sort.
Blue crinkle paper, blue gems, rocks, and sea animals for a quick sensory bin thrown together to entertain the littles!
The little fairy house is the star of the show and the reason for the sensory bin. When I saw it in Dollar Tree I knew I had to use it for something. With split peas for the base, there's fake green moss sprinkled throughout, blue gems, lady bugs, flowers, leaves, and garden decor I found at my local dollar store! This was so fun!
This space themed sensory bin was so fun to throw together. With black dyed rice for the base, black macaroni noodles, black crinkled paper, silver and black foam stars from Dollar Tree, and space themed cutouts to add a little razzle dazzle!
One of our non-food sensory play bins today! This was literally the easiest sensory bin I have ever made. Just throwing some cotton balls in a bin, water in jars, and droppers. Let your little one paint the clouds with the dropper...or fill the jars with the cotton balls like my little ones preferred to do!
With black beans and navy beans that I colored with yellow paint, a few printouts, and bees from the Dollar Tree. This was a pretty fun sensory bin to throw together.
I whipped up this cool sensory bin using black beans and navy beans that I dyed yellow, tossed in some printouts, and added Dollar Tree bees. It was a blast putting it all together!
Not only was this the first time we used popcorn kernels but also the first time I've dyed kernels and with the same method used to color rice, it was really easy and a different texture for the boys to explore! Popped in some sealife foam pieces from Dollar Tree and some jumbo tweezers and called it a day!
So happy I finally was able to put together a sensory bin using these toy soldiers. This bin has split peas, popcorn kernels, brown crinkle paper, and black beans spreaded throughout.
More creepy crawling play with this sensory bin. With our homemade moon sand, blue gems for water, leaves flowers and pinceones from our nature walk, and toy bugs to complete the look!
The ants go marching one by one in this fun sensory bin! With oatmeal mixed with a bit of cocoa powder, green colored rice, with fake leaves and ants to complete our look. Add a magnify glass to add more fun too!
Some last minute water play with ducks, blue gems at the bottom, a bit of fake moss and of course some nets to catch outer ducks in!
Everything Blue with this quick sensory sensory bin. I whipped this up while we were working on the letter B. Blue crinkle paper and any blue toy I could get my hands on!
Capture the bunnies with this cool sensory bin! With Green colored rice, fake flowers, bunnies and this cool scooper, this was pretty easy to throw together.
Perfect for Spring or Easter. Withsplit peasnon one side, blue gems to divide the green crinkle paper on the other. The boys had a ball mixing this all together!
My 2 year old loves cars and he loved this sensory bin a Tom's! With black colored rice, orange pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, and a few signs I found at dollar tree, this was a blast!
The best thing about sensory play is that there are so many things you can include. We're always adding to this list so please be sure to check back here for more fun ideas and check down below for more activities to try with your little one!
تعليقات