Our brand new Valentine's Day Sensory Bin is a fantastic way to spend Valentine's Day for little ones. Let your kids kick boredom to the curb and practice some of those fine motor skills while they're at it!
Exploring the world through our senses when we're little is a wonderful way to discover and develop skills actively in an interactive way. And that is one of the many reasons why we love sensory bins.
All of our kids have different favourite topics, obviously. Yet all of them have had tons of fun with their sensory bins. And that's is one of the magical things about these bins. You can easily customise sensory bins to fit your toddler's latest obsession.
Which is a huge advantage when you're trying to find easy and budget-friendly activities for toddlers that don't include screens or digital devices!
On this occasion, we went with Valentine's Day-themed sensory bin. We've put our adorable Valentine's Day printables to good use (click
here to check them out!)
These bins are a fool-proof play activity for kids, so don't worry if you haven't made one yet. It's super simple!
If you're wondering how to make your own sensory bin at home, read on!
Valentine's Day Sensory Bin
Valentine Sensory Bin - Supplies:
- Small Tray
- Red rice (follow our rainbow rice recipe!)
- Valentines Day sensory bin printables
- Cut out hearts, red and pink pom poms, feathers, gems, and other valentine's Day themed items.
- Fine motor tools like scoops and tweezers
- Optional - empty chocolate boxes, heart-shaped trays, small cups.
Valentines Day Sensory Bin - Directions:
STEP 1: Set up Valentine's Day sensory bin
Let's begin! Prepare your red rice and start filling up your tray with it. Colouring rice is easy, you just need to add a few drops of food colouring to dry rice along with a squirt of white wine vinegar. (Full directions on colouring rice here)
Once your tray has been filled with red rice, pick all the items for this Valentine's day themed bin and add them on top of the rice. You can add things such as hearts, red and pink items (like pom poms, feathers, and gems).
Include a selection of scoops for pouring and items to fill like small plastic cups. An empty chocolate box is great for extra pouring practice!
If you want to use our sensory bin printables to set up a matching activity you will need to print out and laminate a sheet with all the images on. We also have a page with black outlines of the Valentine's Day pictures on that you can colour as an alternative option.
STEP 2: Valentine's Day Sensory Bin Playtime
Now your Valentines sensory bin has been set up it is time to invite your toddler or preschooler to play! Encourage them to hunt for Valentine's Day themed images in the sensory bin and match them to corresponding images on your Valentine's day printable.
Encourage your child to pick them up with fingers or tweezers.
Show him how he can scoop, tip, pour and fill the empty chocolate box and small cups with rice. Let him explore the rice's texture with his fingers.
He can also play with printable shapes in the rice or stack cups and make towers! There are so many ways to play with this Valentine's Day sensory bin. Follow your toddlers lead and see where their play takes them!
EXTRA TIPS!
You could also use our alphabet tracing printables and have a go at tracing letters in the rice.
Although sensory bins are one of the safest options for hands-on playtime when you have young ones, we still recommend keeping an eye on the activity to avoid choking hazards.
Now that you know how to put together your own easy sensory bin at home, it's time to play!
We hope you have a wonderful time with your little ones and enjoy this Valentine's Day sensory bin for toddlers and preschoolers. Happy Valentine's Day!
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