• About
  • Shop
  • Work with Me
    • Guest Post on Views!
    • Policies and Disclosure
    • Sponsored Work
  • Tri-State Family Fun
  • The Mommy View
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

Views From a Step Stool

Open Minds & Messy Hands

  • Home
  • Learn Through Play
    • Fine Motor Activities
    • Arts & Crafts
      • Toddler Arts & Crafts
      • Preschool Arts& Crafts
    • Sensory
      • Ultimate Collection of Sensory Bins for Kids
      • Toddler Sensory Play
      • Preschool/Early Elementary Sensory Play
      • Mess-Free Sensory Play
    • STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)
      • Indoor and Outdoor STEM Challenges for Kids
    • Babies
      • 60+ Awesome Activities for 1 Year Olds! {Tested and Loved}
    • Toddlers
      • Activities for 2 Year Olds
    • Preschoolers
      • Activities for 3 Year Olds
      • 65+ Fun Activities for 4 Year Olds
    • Elementary
      • 55+ Activities for 5 Year Olds
    • Want to Teach Your Kids Through Play?
  • Holidays
    • Valentine’s Day Activities for Kids
      • Free Printable Valentines Cards
    • St. Patrick’s Day Activities for Kids
    • Easter Activities for Kids
    • Memorial Day/4th of July
    • Halloween Activities for Kids
      • Monster Activities for Kids
      • Pumpkin Activities for Kids: Crafts, Science and Sensory Play
    • Thanksgiving Crafts,Sensory Play and Printables for Toddlers and Up
      • Pumpkin Activities for Kids: Crafts, Science and Sensory Play
    • Christmas
      • 30+ Christmas Activities for 1 and 2 Year Olds
      • Christmas Printables for Kids
      • Ornament Crafts for Kids
    • New Years
  • Seasons
    • Spring Activities for Kids
      • March Activities for Kids
      • St. Patrick’s Day Activities for Kids
      • Easter Activities for Kids
    • Summer Activities for Kids
      • 4th of July Activities for Kids
    • Tons of Fall Kids Activities for All Ages
      • Fall Printables for Kids
      • Apple Themed Kids Activities
      • Apple Crafts for Kids
      • Pumpkin Activities for Kids: Crafts, Science and Sensory Play
    • Winter
      • Valentine’s Day Activities for Kids
      • February Activities for Toddlers
  • Sensory Bins
  • Printables
    • Seasonal Printables for Kids
      • Spring Printables for Kids
      • Summer Printables for Kids
      • Fall Printables for Kids
      • Winter Printables for Kids
    • Holiday Printables for Kids
      • Valentine’s Day Printables for Kids
        • Free Printable Valentines Cards
      • St. Patrick’s Day Printables for Kids
      • Easter Printables for Kids
      • 4th of July Printables for Kids
      • Halloween Printables for Kids
      • Thanksgiving Printables for Kids
      • Christmas Printables for Kids
    • Free Printable Board Games for Kids
      • Printable Camping Games for Kids
    • Printable Bookmarks for Kids
    • Free Printable Playdough Mats for Kids
    • Book Lists
    • Printable Lego Challenges for Kids
  • Exclusive Content for Subscribers
Garden Sensory Bin for Outdoor or Indoor Play

Garden Sensory Bin for Outdoor or Indoor Play

May 7, 2014 By Katie Chiavarone 1 Comment

Sharing is caring!

674shares
  • Facebook1
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • Pinterest673

This garden sensory bin is perfect for discussing the importance of gardening and fresh fruits and veggies with kids. What a way to celebrate Spring!


One of my favorite activities to do with my kids are monthly, themed sensory bins. I think the value of sensory play is highly underrated, kids can learn SO much by simply engaging all of their senses when exploring the world around them. This garden sensory bin definitely prompted some tasting of vegetables! I don’t think there is a mom in the world that would argue with the importance of that!

 
This garden sensory bin is perfect for discussing the importance of gardening and fresh fruits and veggies with kids. What a way to celebrate Spring!
 

Garden Sensory Bin

I like to start with bases such as rice, lentils, beans etc. Whatever material you think would feel good running between your little one’s fingers you go ahead and use! I wanted our base for this bin to resemble dirt so I started with brown-colored rice.

This garden sensory bin is perfect for discussing the importance of gardening and fresh fruits and veggies with kids. What a way to celebrate Spring!

Making colored rice is so easy and fun for kids to do so it is always a good starting point. M loves color mixing so was thrilled when we got to mix green and red to make brown rice. There is a variety of ways to color rice but we like to use a couple pumps of hand sanitizer with some drops of food coloring.

It’s easiest to mix all of that in a large ziploc bag and have your child shake it like crazy! The results are instant and never get old! I also happen to love the clean smell that the saniziter gives the rice. For more detailed instructions check out Not Just Cute’s basics of coloring rice.

 

For the basics of this bin I used our colored rice, some coffee beans (for fantastic smell), biodegradable plant pots and kid-friendly shovels and rakes. The only things I needed to purchase for this bin were the pots and a new shovel and rake, all of which were in the dollar section at Target…so outside of normal pantry items and things I had in my sensory stash I only spent $3, not bad for a month’s worth of imaginative sensory play!

IMG_8807
 

I found these great little foam flowers (I think they are technically for scrapbooking) in my closet that I thought M would enjoy planting. I like to peruse the clearance aisles of craft stores and stock up on these types of things. They seem to always come in handy! We also used them for our Spring sticky wall.

 

To the pots I added some fresh carrots and radishes that we purchased on a trip to our local orchard! M had SO much fun ‘planting’ these, they really took the bin to another level.

 
This garden sensory bin is perfect for discussing the importance of gardening and fresh fruits and veggies with kids. What a way to celebrate Spring!
 

I also added the rest of the beans and corn seeds that we had leftover from our egg carton garden starters.

 
 
This garden sensory bin is perfect for discussing the importance of gardening and fresh fruits and veggies with kids. What a way to celebrate Spring!
 

The kids LOVED playing with this garden sensory bin!

IMG_8814

IMG_8821

Another bonus of this bin is that is can be played with outdoors! I love that I can just sweep the rice away! I have also seen some great outdoor bins that include items such as bird seed from My Nearest and Dearest and Frogs, Snails and Puppy Dog Tails, genius!

 
 

My only hesitation for adding these beautiful veggies to our bin was that they would somehow be wasted…not the case! M munched on and played with the carrots until there were only greens left. And he did try a radish but learned that it was too spicy for him, so I ate those 🙂

 
 

I just love seeing their little minds at work…and watching them play together 🙂

 
 
 
 

For more sensory ideas follow my Sensory Play board on Pinterest and check out these ways to start seeds indoors from recycled materials!

 
 
 
 

 

Sharing is caring!

674shares
  • Facebook1
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • Pinterest673

Filed Under: Sensory, Spring, Uncategorized Tagged With: garden, kids, moms, outdoors, Sensory, spring

Invitation to Create: Cinco de Mayo Maracas
8 Indoor Painter’s Tape Activities: Rainy Day Fun

Trackbacks

  1. Easter Sensory Bin with Colored Rice - Views From a Step Stool says:
    March 21, 2017 at 2:38 pm

    […] of our favorite ways to celebrate the holidays is by making a themed sensory bin! This Easter sensory bin is such a fun one, with colored rice, easter grass, plastic eggs, little […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Welcome to Views From a Step Stool!

Welcome to Views From a Step Stool!

I am a mom to three little ones and love to create and explore every day with them! We have open minds and messy hands, come join in our adventures!

Search the Site

What’s New

  • Summer Olympics Bingo Game Printable
  • Constellations for Kids: Constellation Coloring Pages, Flashcards and Science Experiment Printable
  • St. Patrick’s Day Scavenger Hunt Printable
  • St. Patrick’s Day Printable Favor Toppers
  • Drawing Garden Game to Print for Kids: Roll and Draw!
  • Printable Valentine’s Day Lunchbox Jokes

What’s New:

  • Summer Olympics Bingo Game Printable
  • Constellations for Kids: Constellation Coloring Pages, Flashcards and Science Experiment Printable
  • St. Patrick’s Day Scavenger Hunt Printable
  • St. Patrick’s Day Printable Favor Toppers
  • Drawing Garden Game to Print for Kids: Roll and Draw!
  • Printable Valentine’s Day Lunchbox Jokes
  • Valentine’s Day Color by Number Printables
  • Pin the Carrot on the Snowman Printable Game
  • Printable Christmas Puzzles for Toddlers
  • Christmas Tic Tac Toe Printable Game
  • Christmas Charades Printable Game
  • Printable Coffee Gift Card Holder for Christmas
  • The Gift of Christmas Printable Board Game
  • Christmas Countdown Printable
  • Santa Says Printable Christmas Game
  • Christmas Tree I Spy Printable for Kids
  • Thanksgiving Picture Charades Printable Game for Young Kids
  • Christmas Countdown Dollar Store Craft
  • Roll a Gingerbread Man Christmas Board Game
  • Winter Color by Number Printables

Copyright © 2023 · Hello Sweets by Hello You Designs

Copyright © 2023 · Hello Sweets On Genesis Framework