Christmas Sensory Bin

Christmas is my most favorite holiday. To help Logan get into the holiday spirit, I created a Christmas sensory bin for him to play with. I have been able to get quite a bit of mileage out of this bin. The first week I just presented him with the red and green rice along with different types of scoops, funnels, and cupcake tins. He had a great time just running his hands through it and playing with the different sized funnels, which are new to our sensory play. 

Once the novelty started to wear off and the bin wasn't getting as much use, I added in some new, interesting items. Suddenly, the old was new again! In this bin, I added glittery tree table scatter, pom poms, tiny spiky balls, pretend candy canes, plastic ice cubes, and a wind up penguin. I had everything on hand, or I purchased it at the dollar store.

Logan enjoyed sorting the items and then played with them another way by creating a small world for his penguin. "I'm making a ice home for the penguin. The trees will be the forest. He is going to find the perfect one for his Christmas tree," he tells me. Soon, the funnel is a "dark mountain" and the pom poms become the penguin's "fish shaped house." 

I have a lid for this bin and it makes it easy to store under a bed and out of sight when not in use. I pull it out occasionally during play time to give Logan the option to play with it through out the day. I will separate the items and store them once I decide to create a new one. I'm thinking something involving "snow" for January!