Babies and toddlers love sensory bins! They are super simple to create and make great activities for toddlers to explore different textures, develop language, and improve fine motor skills.
This Easter sensory bin incorporates auditory, visual, and tactile stimulation. There are bright colors, soft and hard objects, and squeaky toys that make noise when squeezing.
You can make a sensory bin for any holiday or just everyday use. You can even do this activity several times using the same objects/toys, but different sensory materials. It can then become a whole new activity!
Even common household items are great to throw in there. Try using rocks, sand, cotton balls, cooked or uncooked rice, cooked or uncooked pasta noodles, cooked beans, etc. The possibilities are endless. Your toddler will love the opportunity to explore all the different textures- soft, hard, wet, dry, cold, etc.
Related Post: Easter Egg Water Scoop Activity for Babies and Toddlers
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
- Medium-Large Bin or Tupperware
- Easter grass
- Plastic Easter eggs
- Other manipulatives, ie. small rubber/plastic Easter bunnies, small rubber ducky’s, colorful pom poms, candy, etc.
All of these items can be found at the dollar store so this is a very inexpensive activity!
WHAT TO DO
- Fill a medium-large size bin with a few colorful, plastic Easter eggs. I used a 5-quart bin.
- Throw in some colorful, fun items of different sizes, shapes, and textures.
- Mix everything together and really hide all the objects in the grass.
- Watch them run their hands through the grass and be so excited to find all the hidden objects.
If your child still puts things in their mouth, make sure you are watching them closely because they can be a choking hazard.
SKILLS THAT THIS ACTIVITY WORKS ON
Our children are constantly learning every day by just observing their surroundings. Play is the primary way that babies and toddlers learn about the world around them.
They can learn language, problem-solving, cause and effect, shapes, sizes, colors, animals, and soooo many more skills through everyday play.
You can pretty much find skills that will be worked on through any playtime activity. For this Easter sensory bin activity, the following skills are being strengthened for both babies and toddlers:
- Language/Vocabulary: Hearing and talking about different objects
- Cognition: Learning and understanding new objects and concepts
- Fine motor skills: Strengthening the muscles of their hands by using them to pick up and manipulate small objects
- Sensory play: Feeling and seeing different textures can be calming or stimulating for a child
WAYS TO INCORPORATE COGNITION AND LANGUAGE
You really can and SHOULD incorporate cognition (knowledge) and language into any activity you are doing with your little one. Just merely talking through the steps that they are performing will help build their vocabulary and understanding of new words and concepts.
Remember your baby or toddler is constantly listening and absorbing everything around them, including language.
Here are a few ways to build cognition and language during this activity:
- Pick up an object and ask, What color is this?
- Pick up an object and ask, What is this?
- Ask them how the objects and grass feel, hard, soft, dry, wet?
- Ask them to point to or hand you the green egg, pink egg, etc.
- Work on concepts like in, out, on top, under, hard, soft, above, below, open, close, big, and small
- Vocabulary words such as eggs, bin/container, grass, bunny, duck, quack, take out, pick up, put in,etc.
Related Post: 21 Calming Sensory Activities for your Overstimulated Toddler
WAYS TO WORK ON FINE MOTOR SKILLS
Have your child explore all the textures and materials in the bin with their hands. They can run the grass through their fingers or rub and bury their hands in the bin.
Fine motor skills allow us to use the small muscles of our hands and fingers. They enable us to grab, manipulate, turn, twist, and hold objects.
Bilateral coordination also allows us to use both hands together in a coordinated manner usually to transfer objects and stabilize with one hand to manipulate with the other. Also, make sure they’re using their thumb & pointer finger (pincer grasp) to pick up the small objects.
This activity can help develop these skills in a variety of ways.
- Have your child open and close the eggs
- Run their hands in the Easter grass
- Have them pick up the eggs and take them out of the container
- Take all the small pieces of grass off each object as she pulls them out.
- Have them squeeze the eggs open
- Have them transfer egg from one hand to the other
Related Post: Easter Egg Water Scoop Activity for Babies and Toddlers
Do you have any other ways that your children love to explore their world through different sensory experiences?
