Earth Day is coming up! Do you know what you’re putting in your Earth Day sensory bin yet? Here’s a great idea for preschoolers that is easy & fun…plus there’s a freebie included at the end of this post!
WHY USE SENSORY BINS?
Sensory bins are such an important part of early childhood education. The amount of learning that little ones experience through sensory play cannot be overstated! We know our little ones learn best when they can touch and feel something, and sensory bins allow them to have this hands-on experience while still practicing academic skills.
Setting up sensory bins to go along with each holiday is a great way to change things up, spark some imagination & creativity, and get your little learners playing!
Want to pair your sensory bin with some great Earth Day books? Check out this post!
EARTH DAY SENSORY BIN
For our Earth Day sensory bin, I decided to use a classic filler that is relatively inexpensive and great to use over and over again…colored rice!
Dyeing rice is super easy! You can dye your rice any color you want. For this bin, I chose green & blue to go along with our Earth Day theme! Just make sure you give your rice a few hours to dry. I like to dye mine in the evening and let it dry overnight.
Here are the steps for dyeing rice:
- Put 1 cup of rice in a gallon-sized Ziploc bag
- Add in 8-10 drops of food coloring (more will result in a darker color)
- Add in 1 teaspoon of vinegar
Seal the bag and mix it all up! Once you’re happy with the color, spread out your rice on a baking sheet and let it dry. Easy peasy!
EARTH DAY SYMMETRY MATS
Once our rice was dry, I added in this FREE Earth Day Symmetry activity to our Earth Day sensory bin.
Teaching preschoolers about symmetry will help them form a solid foundation for future math skills, and this activity is a fun way to introduce this concept!
This freebie includes two Earth Day mats that are partially completed. Have your students add the correct pictures to the other side of the mat to make the sides symmetrical.
There is also a blank mat included, along with more pictures, for students to create their own symmetry mats! They can use this time to be creative and unique!
You can laminate these mats and have your students use them over and over again. Or you can have students glue the pictures down, cut the mats in half, and use them as posters or Earth Day cards.
Students could hang them up around their houses or send them to their families/friends to remind them about the importance of taking care of our Earth!
This activity (along with all of our freebies!) can be downloaded from the Free Activity Library. If you’re already a member of our email community, you can click HERE to head to the Free Activity Library, enter your password (it’s on your most current email from me), and download your copy!
If you’d like to join our email community & receive the password as my way of saying THANK YOU for joining, you can click HERE to subscribe. Once you enter your information, the password will be emailed to you within minutes.
Do your littles love playing with sensory bins? Do you have any Earth Day sensory bin ideas you do with your preschoolers? I’d love to hear them! Comment below or head over to Instagram [@littleslovelearningblog] and share there!
love these ideas? pin them for later!
Looking for more ideas for sensory play? Click HERE to check out all of our SENSORY posts!
Happy Learning!
