Open Ended Play: Sensory Bins!

Hi, friends!

I wanted to share one of my favorite toddler “hacks” with you today: sensory bins!

Have you ever spent way too much money on a toy set for your child, just for them to play with it once for fifteen minutes and then never again? (Although mysteriously the pieces keep ending up under the couch anyway?) It’s enough to make a person want to just throw it all away in the trash, am I right?

Enter: sensory bins!

The primary idea behind a sensory bin is that it incorporates items with lots of sensory feedback like squishy sand, smooth rocks, and textured twigs. A sensory bin also leaves room for open-ended play, meaning there are many potential ways to interact with the items versus a single, structured method or objective.

There are a million ways to set up a sensory bin but the basics are:

1) a base element like beans, sand or water

2) a special add-in like animal figures, blocks, sticks, etc

3) tools for scooping and pouring

That’s it! I have a sensory bin shelf in the garage and when I need to keep my toddler busy for awhile I pull a few things out, pour it in an ikea bin and let him play! It’s so much easier than keeping track of a thousand different toy sets that get played with for ten minutes and then end up scattered all over the house.

One of the benefits of sensory bins (and open ended play in general) over specific toy sets that you might buy at a store is that they keep a child’s attention for longer because there are so many ways to play. Sensory bins also provide lots of tactile feedback and encourage learning through exploration, which help to build nerve connections in the brain.

We use sensory bin activities all the time in our house. Head over to my Instagram for more inspiration and ideas for setting up your own!

That’s all for today, friends! Have the best day ☺️.