Top Sensory Bin Ideas to Spark Your Toddler's Curiosity and Fun
These tips are crafted to assist parents in building sensory bins that ignite curiosity, foster exploration, and encourage creativity. Each idea is thoughtfully developed to align with toddlers.
Sensory bins are more than just a fun activity—they are a gateway to discovery, creativity, and meaningful learning for your toddler. With the right tools and guidance, you can transform everyday moments into opportunities that spark curiosity, encourage hands-on exploration, and support your child’s development in exciting ways. This page is packed with thoughtfully designed ideas and tips to help you create sensory bins that captivate your child’s imagination and nurture their growing mind and senses. Dive in to unlock a world of sensory play that will inspire engagement, inquiry, and pure joy!
Sensory Bin Ideas For 18-20 Months
Sorting
Have your child sort colorful pom-poms into different-sized containers or muffin tins using tongs or large spoons.
Extra ideas: Add colored beads or buttons for advanced sorting or incorporate color-matching cards for a fun challenge.
Painting
Offer watercolors and brushes to let your child explore freely and feel the textures of paint.
Extra ideas: Introduce sponges, stampers, or finger painting for additional sensory exploration.
Fishing Fish in Water
Let your child catch and scoop plastic fish using small nets, and add food coloring to the water for a visual twist.
Extra ideas: Include floating toys like ducks or boats and explore concepts like sinking and floating.
Scooping Up Raw Beans
Provide a variety of raw beans (three to five types) and different containers, plastic scoops, and mini ice trays to extend exploration.
Extra ideas: Mix beans with rice or other dry grains, or add measuring cups for an early math experience.
Water Bin Free Exploration
Funnels: Introduce toys like tubes, strainers, and containers with holes to demonstrate water flow.
Washing Dishes: Add plastic plates, cups, utensils, soap, sponges, and food coloring to the water.
Ice Fun: Provide colorful ice cubes for scooping and sorting using strainers.
Furniture Washing: Offer small cloths, soap, and water for washing tables or chairs.
Baby Bath: Encourage doll washing with soap, small rags, and hand towels.
Sea Animals: Create an ocean-themed bin with plastic sea animals, colored water, and water plants.
Extra ideas: Add floating letters or numbers, use washable markers for doodling on the items, or incorporate natural elements like leaves or pebbles to extend imaginative play.
Extra Fun
Rainbow Rice Exploration: Fill the bin with colorful dyed rice and add scoops, funnels, and small containers for sorting and pouring.
Extra idea: Include small animal figurines for a hide-and-seek activity.
Bubble Foam Bin: Create a bin with bubble foam using baby-safe soap and water. Add small toys like boats or rubber ducks for tactile play.
Extra idea: Introduce food coloring to make the foam vibrant.
Nature Discovery Bin: Add leaves, pinecones, small sticks, and smooth stones for a nature-inspired sensory experience.
Extra idea: Include magnifying glasses for closer exploration.
Glow-in-the-Dark Bin: Use glow-in-the-dark stars, soft balls, and textured items in a darkened room. Add a small flashlight for exploration.
Musical Bin: Fill the bin with small instruments like maracas, tambourines, and bells. Add textured items like ribbons or scarves for movement.
Edible Garden Bin: Use edible soil (crushed cookies), gummy worms, and soft, edible flowers. Include small scoops and containers for digging.
Rainbow Water Exploration: Fill the bin with water dyed in multiple colors using food coloring. Add floating toys, small cups, and funnels for pouring and mixing.
Texture Discovery Bin: Include items with varied textures, such as soft fabric scraps, rough sandpaper pieces, squishy foam blocks, and smooth stones.
Bubble Wrap Stomp Bin: Lay bubble wrap at the bottom of the bin and add lightweight toys for stomping or pressing.
Mirror Play Bin: Place small unbreakable mirrors at the bottom of the bin and add colorful objects like pom-poms, ribbons, and translucent blocks. Toddlers can explore reflections and light.
Sound Exploration Bin: Fill the bin with items that make different sounds, such as crinkly paper, bells, shakers, and small drums.
Edible Sensory Bin: Use edible materials like whipped cream, mashed bananas, or yogurt for safe tactile exploration. Add spoons and small containers for scooping.
Sensory Bin Ideas For 21-30 Months
Planting
Use fake or real flowers with tools such as shovels, soil, safe garden tools, garden gloves, flower pots, and a watering can with a bit of water.
Extra ideas: Include seed packets for your child to explore or small labels for identifying plants. For added fun, introduce small toy insects to the bin.
Water Bin-Free Exploration
Juice Making: Let your child squeeze orange slices into a small glass to create juice.
Plant Watering: Use spray bottles or small cans to water plants, encouraging focus and control.
Jewel Rush: Wash and collect stones or large jewels in water using strainers, containers, and sand shakers.
Sponge Fun: Explore the textures by squeezing water out of sponges in a water bin.
Baby Bath: Engage in imaginative play by washing baby dolls using soap, bubble solution, and shampoo. Include hairbrushes or miniature bath toys for added fun.
Hands: Wash hands in soap and water, using small towels and visual handwashing steps to educate.
Laundry: Wash small pieces of fabric with soap, then hang them on a mini clothing line.
Furniture Washing: Clean chairs and tables with water, soap, and cloths—turning chores into play.
Funnels: Experiment with water flow using funnels, tubes, water animals, water mills, containers with various hole sizes, and sponges.
Extra ideas: Add toy measuring cups for fun learning or introduce floating vs. sinking experiments.
Treasure Hunt
Pretend to dig for dinosaur fossils or treasures hidden in the sand. Include golden plastic coins, jewels, and plastic dinosaur bones for discovery. Add tools like shovels, spoons, brushes, and buckets.
Extra ideas: Swap sand for sensory-friendly substitutes such as colored pasta, kinetic sand, or play foam for variety.
Construction Site
Set up a pretend construction site with sand, rocks, wood chips, blocks, trucks, and toy figures.
Extra ideas: Add traffic signs or cones for more imaginative role-playing, or use toy drills and hammers for added realism.
Extra Fun
Space Exploration Bin: Use black sand or rice as the base and add glow-in-the-dark stars, planets, and astronaut figurines.
Extra idea: Include small flashlights for a "night sky" effect.
Farmyard Fun Bin: Fill the bin with dried corn kernels and add toy farm animals, tractors, and fences for imaginative play.
Extra idea: Include small hay bundles for added texture.
Ocean Adventure Bin: Use blue water beads as the base and add toy sea creatures, shells, and plastic plants to mimic an underwater scene.
Extra idea: Add a small net for "fishing."
Glow Water Bin: Add glow sticks or LED lights with floating toys and translucent beads to a water bin.
Mini STEM Science Lab Bin: Include baking soda, vinegar, droppers, and small containers for safe chemical reactions. Add food coloring for colorful experiments.
Adventure Map Bin: Create a mini treasure hunt with a map, sand, tiny treasures like coins and jewels, and tools like brushes and scoops.
Glow-in-the-Dark Adventure Bin: Use glow-in-the-dark stars, planets, and figurines in a darkened room. Add black sand or rice as the base and small flashlights for exploration.
Weather Exploration Bin: Create a weather-themed bin with cotton balls (clouds), blue gel beads (rain), and small fans (wind). Add toy umbrellas and laminated weather cards for role play.
Mini Bakery Bin: Use flour, oats, and sprinkles as the base. Add small rolling pins, cookie cutters, and toy baking tools for pretend play.
Outer Space Adventure Bin: Use black kinetic sand as the base and add small astronaut figurines, foam planets, and glow-in-the-dark stars. Include a small rocket toy for pretend play.
Mini Construction Zone Bin: Use crushed cereal as "gravel" and add toy construction vehicles, small cones, and blocks. Include a mini scoop for digging and building.
Mirror Play Bin: Place small unbreakable mirrors at the bottom of the bin and add colorful objects like pom-poms, ribbons, and translucent blocks. Toddlers can explore reflections and light.
Sensory Bin Reminders
1. Creating Sensory Bins That Spark Exploration
Create sensory bins using themes and topics that your child is interested in.
Create sensory bins that teach new concepts and ideas.
Create sensory bins with different textures to touch.
Sensory bins are an excellent gateway for children to develop other developmental skills.
Messy sensory bins are great fun for exploration, inquiry testing and creativity.
Create sensory bins that your child can test out all their sense.
Sometimes, use uncooked foods such as coffee beans, coloured rice, oats, beans, pasta or cornmeal, but please watch your toddler.
Putting things that have different temperatures can be interesting, such as snow, ice or warm cooked spaghetti.
2. Sensory Bins with Versatile Toy Options
Have a variety of small and medium toys.
Create sensory bins that toys can be added to or taken out of but are still interesting.
Toys such as cars, trucks, plastic animals and shovels can be added.
Add tool materials such as different-sized spoons, scoops, buckets, cups, ice trays or muffin tins.
Add a few Math concept items such as funnels and measuring cups.
3. Sensory Bins That Combine Fun and Learning
Use themes and topics that capture your child's interest, such as animals, transportation, or nature.
For gentle learning opportunities, incorporate educational elements like letters, numbers, or shapes.
Include a range of textures (e.g., soft, rough, squishy, smooth) for tactile exploration.
Sensory bins can promote language development by encouraging descriptive words like “sticky” or “bumpy.”
For creative and sensory-rich play, experiment with messy materials like shaving cream, slime, or wet sand.
Introduce scents (e.g., lavender, cinnamon, or peppermint) by adding essential oils to rice or playdough—great for engaging the sense of smell.
Reminder: Supervise when using uncooked foods or small items to ensure safe play.
4. Make Visually Pleasing Bins
Create colourful and inviting bins to attract your child's attention instantly.
Use color themes, such as a “rainbow bin” with matching toys and materials.
Include visually dynamic elements like glittery water, translucent beads, or shiny stones.
Try to create a good-looking sensory bin to draw your child to it.
Use bright colours in the sensory bins.
Use a square, clean, medium-sized plastic container.
Use a mixture of colourful toys and materials.
Layer materials like colored rice or pasta for added visual interest before mixing.
Extra Tip: Rotate themes seasonally, such as snow and pinecones in winter or leaves and acorns in fall.
5. Make Bins That Allow for Added Toys
Stock bins with a base material (e.g., kinetic sand, dry rice, or pasta) so toys can be added for variety.
Use thematic small toys, such as farm animals for a barnyard scene or construction vehicles for a building site.
Introduce tools like tweezers or scoops to develop fine motor skills.
Add DIY elements like cardboard tunnels, popsicle stick ramps, or small cups for stacking.
Consider including natural items, like shells, pebbles, or leaves, for sensory play inspired by nature.
Extra Reminder: Clean toys and materials regularly to maintain hygiene.