Sensory Bin

I am trying to keep my little one away from screens or any gadgets after reading all the harmful effects of too much screentime to a child's development. (You can read all about it here)

Upon researching online, I came across a nice idea that will keep children entertained and at the same time help develop their senses. SENSORY BINS!

Sensory bin is a simple container filled with materials and objects which can help stimulate the senses (sight, smell, taste, hearing, touch). 

DIY colored beans. I used white beans and munggo bean for size variation.

There are a lot of ideas you can find online on what fillers and objects to use. It's so easy to do and the items are readily available on the hardware/grocery/market. Below are the bins I personally prepared.

Beans, soil and plastic toys. Teaching her what animals live in the land and sea.

Water animals on water beads.

Cups and shovel to practice her scooping skills

Materials Used:

• under-bed storage (hardware, this one is recycled)
• Filler
• white beans
• water beads
• soil
• food colors
• Shovel toy (toy store)
• Plastic Animal toys (toy store)

Since my daughter is getting more curious and excited to play outside, I also decided to make an outdoor sensory bin station. This is for all the activities that could get super messy. This way, it'll be easier for me to clean.

Outdoor station

Sensory bins can really get them occupied and entertained. It's up to you on how to turn it into an open-ended play. For example, one play my daughter loved is filling up her cups with her beans by using the shovel. Simple as it seems but that activity helps develop a child's fine motor skills as well as hand-eye coordination. Another type of play is putting the same colors together on a cup. This helped us introduce colors to her when she was 20 months old. Ideas are endless!

Other fillers you can use:

• cotton
• shredded paper
• uncooked pasta
• pebbles
• water

It was also very fulfilling to see her very happy and excited every time I present to her our activity/bin. Not only that, she was also learning while playing.

Note: Though the objects I used is non-toxic, I would still advise parents of younger children to supervise their children while playing as they may place it on their mouth.