Looking for a fun, hands-on preschool spring sensory bin? Here’s a great idea for you! Keep reading until the end of the post for a free printable, too!
WHAT ARE SENSORY BINS?
Sensory bins are such an important part of early childhood education. They are usually a plastic tub or large container filled with materials and objects that engage the senses. I love creating different sensory bins to go along with each theme in my class to engage my little learners & keep them interested in our topic.
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.
Want to pair your sensory bin with some great spring books? Check out this post!
PRESCHOOL SPRING SENSORY BIN
For our spring sensory bin, I decided to try something messy and fun…potting soil! Potting soil has such a great texture, especially when you first open a new bag. It also has an earthy smell that will engage your preschoolers’ sense of smell.
I added plastic bugs (from the Dollar Store), rocks, and a magnifying glass to this sensory bin. I told my little ones it was time for a bug investigation!
This bin is great to practice color identification, vocabulary, counting, comparing and contrasting, facts about bugs, socializing & sharing, and more!
My own little guy doesn’t love getting his hands messy (he takes after his mama haha!), so this bin was great for him to push past his comfort zone. He did his very best to grab the bugs without touching the soil, but once he got comfortable, he began exploring the soil and was more willing to get dirty. That’s exactly what I was hoping for!
EXTEND THE LEARNING
Want to extend the learning with this preschool spring sensory bin? Try adding these FREE Flower Rhyming Cards to the soil. Your little ones will match the flower stem word family (such as -ag) with the correct flower petal pictures (such as bag & tag).
Each flower stem word family has two petals that go on top. After your students have matched the petals to the stems, talk about the beginning sound of each picture. You can also have them add the correct letter to the beginning of the word family to create a decodable word.
Looking for more spring learning activities you could add to the bin? Check out this post!
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 preschool spring sensory bin ideas? I’d love to hear them! Comment below or head over to Instagram [@littleslovelearningblog] and share there!
love these ideas? pin for later!
Looking for more ideas for sensory play? Click HERE to check out all of our SENSORY posts!
MORE SPRING SENSORY BINS
Are you interested in more spring sensory bins? Check out this post from my friend Kristina from Sweet for Kindergarten for a list of amazing sensory bins to use with your preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten students. There’s sure to be one on the list that works best for your littles!
Happy Learning!
