My 4 year-old is obsessed with powdered laundry detergent. We keep it on our highest shelves and he finds a tall chair to reach it. We made cookies the other day and I left the sugar bag on the counter. He managed to distribute about a lb of sugar around the kitchen before I discovered him. He doesn’t want to eat any of it. He wants to scoop, touch, sift, and discover. Yesterday I decided it was time for a DIY sensory bin.
What is a DIY Sensory Bin?
A sensory bin is a hands-on experience for your child in a “don’t touch” world. These bins hold a variety of objects that engage the sense and encourage children to explore and investigate. Sensory bins can be small containers, buckets, or tables. They can be messy or relatively clean. They don’t replace finger painting, play dough, or building toys; they are a complementary sensory experience. 
Why Sensory Bins?
Sensory bins help children develop fine motor skills in a fun, engaging way. They also allow kids to move objects from one thing to another, match, count, sort, make patterns, and classify. Sensory bins engage the five senses and make little scientists our of children. Plus, they are fun for kids and adults!
My son and I loved digging through our new bin together, burying and finding objects, and even racing them. Plus, he continued playing on his own when I moved on to other activities.
DIY Sensory Bin
I used only supplies I already had on hand for my Sensory Bin, so it cost me nothing. Water and sand tables start at around $35 without the sand. Depending on what you want to add in, what you have already, and what you can re-purpose, Sensory Bins should cost between $0 and $20 (The high end includes purchasing a bin).
Step 1: The Bin
I found an old Sterilite 32 Quart storage container with a lid for our bin. This was big enough to enjoy, but easy to store. It also has handles that clip down, so it is baby-proof when not in use. You could use a small storage container from the dollar store, a bucket, an under-the-bed box, or anything in between. Just make sure it is easy to reach into.
Step 2: The Base
Imagine different textures and smells that would be fun to sift and sort. I prefer dry items that can be used multiple times and don’t go in the mouth. Our bin contains a couple lbs of rice and four types of $1 1lb bags of different types of dried beans.
Mess-Free Ideas
- Rice
- Dried Beans
- Buttons
- Water Beads
- Popcorn Kernals
- Barley
- Pasta
- Beads
- Marbles
- Cotton Balls
- Puzzle Pieces
- Pom Poms
- Shredded Paper
- Sunflower Seeds
- Broken Crayons
Messier and Edible Ideas
- Shaving Cream
- Whipped Cream
- Pudding
- Jello
- Cereal
- Cooked Pasta
- Dirt
- Sand
- Crushed Cookies
- Chocolate Chips
- Marshmallows
- Flour
- Sprinkles
- Crushed Graham Crackers
Step 3: Add Ins
Add-ins are toys or objects you keep on hand to change up your DIY sensory table. You can adapt them for a specific story book, a themed lesson, or a holiday. Be creative!
- Letters
- Numbers
- Toy Dinosaurs
- Toy Cars
- Wire Cleaners
- Toy Animals
- Dice
- Blocks
- Felt People
- Sequins
- Feathers
- Holiday Themed
- Animal Crackers
Step 4: Explore With
We mainly explored with our hands yesterday, but the possibilities for scooping, sifting, and sorting are endless. Just look around the kitchen and toy room
- Hands
- Tweezers
- Shovels
- Cups
- Whisk
- Tongs
- Spoon
- Potato Masher
- Construction Toys
- Sieve
- Funnel
- Magnifying Glass
- Cookie Cutters
Step 5: Anticipate Mess
You can always take the mess outside if the weather’s nice. I think the beauty of a DIY Sensory Bin is that it can entertain rain or shine. It also needs adult supervision, so it’s great to have in the kitchen while a parent completes the dishes, cooking, etc. You can use a plastic tablecloth from the dollar store, an old sheet, or a Booginhead Splat Mat. Just teach the kids to keep it in the bin, over the mat, or at the table. This is also a good time to engage them in sweeping up messes!
Caution
All Sensory Bins should be age-appropriate and supervised. A child should always be supervised when using a Sensory Bin. Smaller children enjoy these bins, but please be aware of any choking hazards.
Disclosure: Affiliate links are contained in this post. I make a small profit from any purchases made from my links, which helps to support my blog.
I love these ideas. I think I will try the rice for my grand daughter. She loves to touch and feel different textures of almost everything. Is the rice in the photo colored with food coloring? I do not have a water table but I have an old kitchen sink that my husband built a frame for, put a water faucet on and hooked a water hose to the faucet. That way, she has her own working sink and faucet outside so she can wash her hands and toys whenever she wants to. She loves it.
The rice is not colored in our bin, but you could definitely add some with color. I think that colored dry pasta could be really fun.
I have really fond memories of the rice table at my preschools when I was a kid! I filled a bin with rice and different kitchen gadgets for my toddler and let him play with it whenever I was cooking!
Oh my goodness! I am definitely going to try that! My grand daughter loves to “help” in the kitchen. It might could keep her busy for me while I cook certain things.