2 years old

Earth Day Sensory Bin

11:50

It is almost Earth Day and we've made a really simple sensory bin to play with and explore.  It was so easy to put together and can be used in a variety of different ways!


What you'll need:

  • dried chickpeas (I used 1 bag, but the more the better!)
  • blue paint
  • green paint
  • zip bags
  • large bin or tray
  • assorted sticks and rocks to play with

It was so easy to dye the chickpeas, I couldn't even believe it.  We split the bag of chickpeas into two small ziplock bags then put a squirt of green paint in one and a squirt of blue paint in the other.  Then we zipped up the bags and gave them a good shake.


We spread the chickpeas out on some greaseproof paper to dry, which didn't take very long at all.  We probably could have played with them almost right away!


To look like the Earth I then poured our green and blue chickpeas into a round shallow bucket for the kids to play with and explore.  


First I encouraged them to keep the colours together, moving groups of green chickpeas around to look like different countries.  But then they just went wild mixing the colours together.  They enjoyed just playing with the chickpeas on their own in the round bin.


Then we added sticks and rocks, I really wanted to use natural materials for our Earth Day play.  They stacked the rocks up around the Earth and used the sticks to rake through the chickpeas making patterns through them.  This would also be great as a sensory writing tray using a stick to write letters and numbers in the chickpeas.


We are loving playing with our Earth Day sensory bin and have been bringing it out lots for some simple play.  It's a great starting point for talking about the earth and how important it is to take care of it.



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8 comments

  1. What a fab simple and affordable sensory bin. Love it. Pinned

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  2. I love sensory play and what a great idea for earth day

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  3. That's such a cool idea - simple and really effective x

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  4. This was a great idea for Earth day and so effective!

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  5. What a great idea to incorporate earth day into sensory play! Love it! x

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  6. Such an easy and beautiful way to introduce Earth Day as a concept to small children!

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  7. Really love the idea, I wish I had done more sensory play when mine were younger, so many amazing ideas like yours out there x

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  8. What a brilliant idea! Would never had thought of using chickpeas x

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