I’ve been seeing sensory bins for awhile now and they always look amazing! They have a lot of benefits for kids but it seemed like a big task. From putting together something cute to teaching them it’s not for eating or throwing sounded daunting.
I finally made up my mind and I decided I was going to try it! This was our first one sensory bin. I decided to use edible materials, oats and marshmallows. We would do a lot of oatmeal baths but had recently stopped doing it as often so we have a ton of oatmeal, which I thought would make a good base. I then added in cute Lucky Charm marshmallows. We had a random set of measuring cups that I threw in and then I put it out for the boys to play with.
Supplies
- Trays
- Scoopers (we used measuring cups and spoons)
- Containers (silicone cupcake liners)
- Oatmeal
- Colorful Marshmallows
I haven’t bought a big bin so I used these individual Target containers and made one for each boy. It was interesting to see how each of them played with it. The younger two loved it! They played separately then stopped and played with other things and came back to play with it together!
Tips
If this is your first time doing it I suggested you use edible/taste safe items. It makes things a little more relaxed since you don’t have to worry about them choking on anything. It also gives you an opportunity to teach them without the extra stress if they taste test the items. In my case Jake (2yo) ate some marshmallows. Zack (4yo) wanted to eat the marshmallows but we talked about this being a toy and that it was yucky. In the end he decided not to eat them!
Since we haven’t done this before and Blake (6yo) is a little older. He wanted some directions on what to do. I asked him to sort the marshmallows out at first. He then started to play on his own after he finished his task! Hopefully the more we do it the more he’ll start to use his imagination and just play!
Since it was our first sensory bin we did it outside. This way I didn’t have to worry about the mess that they made. Although I could of put a mat out in the house I wanted to see how it went. I noticed that having the trays were good but they also liked working outside of the trays. Next time I’ll try putting a tray in a tray to see if the mess stays in the bigger tray!
It was a fun and interesting learning experience. Now that I know what to expect, I hope to do more soon in the future. It wasn’t as big and scary as I originally thought it was!