Easter Sensory Bin for Preschoolers – I’ve been looking for a reason to get the blue tray out again for a little while. Having quite a few small polystyrene decoration eggs left from making my Easter Wreath. It gave me just the excuse to put together an easy Easter sensory bin. This is one of our favourite Easter sensory activities. A great way to introduce some playful learning, fine motor practice and sensory experiences to our Easter fun. The best bit is that it doesn’t need to cost much money and can be made with small items you are likely to have around the house.
Easter Sensory Bin for Preschoolers
I wanted to keep the mess very low, as I have already given myself lots to prepare on the run-up to the Easter Weekend and the impending Easter Egg Hunt. Monkey makes reference to this several times a day at the moment. It’s not the chocolate it’s the little plastic eggs!! So I didn’t want to add to the workload or the cleanup. Plus if I kept to dry materials depending on my mood I may even leave it out until Friday, for the other little ones to enjoy.
Therefore I was very selective with the items I choose. Again I set up three distinct areas. Monkeys favourite rainbow rice which had a nest, chicks and small polystyrene eggs placed strategically around it.
Items I included in our Easter Sensory Activities
These are the items we chose but you can include anything you have to hand for this open ended play idea. It does not have to be complicated, just a simple sensory bin.
- Plastic Easter eggs
- Green shredded paper used for gift boxes and wrapping to make Easter grass
- Egg carton
- Rainbow rice from rice bins
- Easter basket or nest
- Polystyrene eggs in various shapes and sizes
- Easter chicks
- Pom poms
- Pipe cleaners
If you do not have these things to hand then aim for different objects and craft supplies that have an Easter theme. Anything which will appeal to young children, in bright colors. That covers a wide range of different textures and different materials. The more Easter items the better. If you do not have a tuff spot then you can use little bins, a plastic tub or make a sensory bag.
How we played with our Easter Sensory Bins
A grassy area made from shredded green cellophane, with little pom pom bunnies, silk leaves and flowers and the third area predominately formed of raffia with plastic eggs of various sizes and more pom poms in pastel colours. It took under 10 minutes to set up. Our rainbow rice is now about 12 months old, considering this it has held its colour well. But I don’t think it will be long before I need to make a new batch.
I also made available some salad servers which I had picked up in the 99p shop and some scissor scoops. On reflection, the salad servers are really too big for little hands but they were his preference. Yet both helped to develop his fine motor skills.
I only had one wicker nest which I brought from Hobbycraft and far too many eggs to fill it. Especially once Charlie had acquired the other leftover ones from his small part play area… This led to making more nests out of the raffia and discussion around which ones should go in the nest first. This sort of imaginative play makes a lovely Easter activity. And the best bit is that it is helping his language development while we were playing as we discussed the different shapes.
Easter Sensory Activities
In his eyes, only some of them had chicks in. The existing chicks were not allowed in the nests, so we put them in the plastic eggs instead. Although once in the eggs they were not allowed to hatch!! It fitted well with a project they are going to be running at his nursery. Where they are going to have fertilised eggs in the next week or so to observe.
He spent most of the time using the salad servers to put the eggs into the nests. Then burying the eggs with the rainbow rice. The only way I could get him to leave it for bedtime was to promise not to put it away, so I will take that as a success! He has so much fun playing with his fun sensory bin.
Have you made a fun Easter sensory bin for your little ones? What easter activities do yours enjoy?
Related Blog posts – Easter Activities
If you have enjoyed this post about our quick Easter sensory bin, then you may enjoy these other great ideas:
- Sand Covered Easter Eggs
- Marbled Egg Hanging Decorations
- Make your own Yarn Easter Eggs
- Egg Shaker Sound Match
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Easter Sensory Tuff Spot
35 Responses
What a fab idea and sounds like Monkey really enjoys playing with it #bloggersclubuk
Wow, this looks like great fun. Where did you get the blue tray from?I really want one for doing messy play at home. Looks like Monkey really enjoyed this, the rainbow rice is amazing xx #BloggerClubUK
This looks adorable and such a lovely idea at Easter #Bloggerclub
What a fun idea and I particularly loved the cellophane grass.
My two would love this and so many fab materials we’ve yet to explore – definitely need to try the rainbow rice! #BloggerClubUK
This is fab, I love the rainbow rice and the shredded cellophane – I can just imagine how this would feel to play with 🙂 It’s great they have hatching eggs at school, its such a brilliant thing to watch – I once managed to stay up the entire night watching eggs hatch in our incubator – not to be advised when you have young kids, makes for a very knackered mummy the next day!
It looks great! A really good idea as we approach Easter. Thanks for hosting #bloggerclubuk
What a great idea, fantastic to combine sensory play with an Easter theme. Sounds like he’s enjoyed it too. #BloggerClubUK
This looks like so much fun! My daughter will love this, but first I think I have to make sure I have the polystyrene eggs first 😉 #BloggersUKClub.
That looks amazing! Love the look of the rainbow rice, so creative! My creative ideas are never very good or turn out how I want! #bloggerclubuk
Such a fantastic idea. Sensory play has really come a long way since my Munchkins were little! You have really great ideas to keep Monkey happy – such a lucky boy?
Meant to say I swung by from #BloggersUKClub?
This is so cute! My son has never been keen on messy play, but he is slowly coming round to it, so this looks like something we could try as it doesn’t look too messy, if you see what I mean! #bloggerclubuk
Fabulous, artsy and crafty. Full of creativity while keeping the core festivity celebration intact. Wonderful –am sure this is going to be helpful to many moms for many years to come. #bloggerclubuk
Amazing! I love the all dry ideas, it makes sensory play seem far less scary! I love the big blue tray, I need to find one, it looks like it will work a lot better than my current solution, a shower curtain I bought from the 99p store and just lay out on the floor, it keeps things clean but means I usually go for a fold a dump afterwards which puts me off as I dislike the waste. #BloggerClubUK
This looks fab! I love the little bunnies, and the rainbow rice looks amazing! x #bloggerclubuk
I love this, what a fab idea! I’m really not crafty at all but this looks simple and do effective. ? x
#BloggerClubUK
I love you kids activity posts! Your kiddies are very lucky. This one looks like fun x #BloggerClubUK
That looks like lots of fun! Such an amazing densely idea. I’m not surprised the little one didn’t want to leave it .
Ups was supposed to write *sensory idea and not densely . Typo error
That’s definitely a success! You always come up with such good ideas for sensory play 🙂 I love the pom-pom chicks. Thanks for hosting #BloggerClubUK
Debbie
Love this idea. Josh is really enjoying sensory at the minute so I’d def like to have a go at recreating some of these. Thanks for sharing and hosting xx #BloggerClubUK
What a lovely activity! We have a builders tray but I’ve not been as imaginative with it as I’d planned and we mainly just do playdough in it (and it was an indoor puddle the other day when i was desperate!) You’ve definitely inspired me to start making more of an effort to set up some sensory play. Im really impressed that you’ve managed to keep the same rainbow rice for 12 months!!! Whenever I’ve made it it ends up getting spread across the entire house before I have to hoover it up.
awww I love this! I loved your other small world play too! such a cool and thoughtful idea! and great for incorporating and teaching about easter too! where did you get the blue tray from? #BloggerClubUK
I love this!! Especially as its all dry, I find it difficult to find sensory ideas that involve mainly dry products so this is perfect! Thank you!! x #BloggerClubUK
What a crafty idea for Easter. Thank you for sharing.
#BloggerClubUK
Honestly, your play projects are always so impressive and inspiring to me x #bloggerclubuk
This is such a good idea. I think Mini R would like this. How do you make rainbow rice? #BloggersClubUK
This looks so much fun and I don’t usually like messy play truth be told but with all the items being dry I think this is something I could cope with lol. My son doesn’t like getting messy (sensory issues) so this could definitely be one for him as well and I know that my two year old would love this. How on earth or where do you get rainbow rice from though?
#BloggersClubUK
Wow! This is really impressive. I also only like non-messy play – so some great ideas. Such a nice thing to do with your ‘monkey’. Thumbs up good mum-ing! #BloggerClubUK
This looks beautiful and so inviting. I have been stocking up on Eatser goodies for our Sensory tray next month 🙂 #BloggerClubUK
This looks fun – another great idea! And how cool they are actually looking at the real thing in nursery! xx #Bloggerclubuk
This is such a lovely play set. The salad scoop makes a really great addition to the play & helps with motor skills. It’s definitely a good sign that he wanted it left out for the morning. The rainbow rice is a lovely idea & really brightened up the set. x