Spring Sensory Bins 101

If you’re new around here at Simply Special Ed, there is one thing you need to know: we love sensory bins! We also love a good seasonal theme! The below blog is all about the things you need to know about creating spring sensory bins for your students!

Spring-Specific Sensory Bins

Easter

Easter grass is always a fun sensory bin! This one ended up more on the floor than in the bin, but I love to hide things in the plastic Easter eggs for students to get some bilateral fine motor practice in while playing in the bin. This one is an easy, low prep crowd pleaser! This year, I plan to add the FREE Easter Colors File Folders resource to a similar bin!

April Showers

SSE blogger, Erica, blogs about weather-themed sensory bins and has a ton of great ideas! Rainy vs. sunny bins is a great idea for spring! This is a great time to get some temperature sensory experiences involved as well! Consider freezing water beads [affiliate link] or warming materials before putting them in the bin for a new sensory experience.

Nature

My district worked on a sensory garden for students last spring/summer. While one could argue that the garden itself is one big “sensory bin”, you don’t have to have a full garden to make this into a classroom-sized sensory bin idea! Here are some things to add to a nature/garden-based sensory bin:

• Dirt/mud
• Rocks/pebbles
• Water
• Herbs/plants with a smell [ex: lavender]
• Seeds
• Plants with textures [ex: lamb’s ear]
• Fake or real flowers with bright colors
• Gummy worms/fake bugs
• Gardening gloves
• Shovels and/or tweezers

Activities & Academic Tie-Ins

Sensory bins can work on any academic skill that you’d like! While I often seek to target fine motor skills or sensory processing skills with my sensory bins, I also typically throw in some academic content. Typically, for me, that looks like adding letters into the bin! Many of my students have goal related to handwriting, so this can be a fun way to target different letters!

I love this FREE file folder resource [pictured above] for spring sensory bins! Have students identify letters, match upper/lowercase, trace [see multi-sensory ideas in this blog], copy/write, etc. the letters they find in the bin! SSE blogger, Whitney, incorporates academics similarly to how I do [see her blog here], but in her classroom setting instead of occupational therapy (OT) sessions!

Safe Sensory Bins Fillers

Safety is key when we are thinking about sensory bin fillers! Even though we love a good theme, if we are working with students who may put the filler in their mouth, we need to consider the size and toxicity of the filler [Reminder: NO kidney beans!]. As always, please check with families for allergies. I always practice hand washing before and after sensory bin use [especially if it is a shared bin].

Here are some of my favorite editable/safe fillers to consider:

• Cooked spaghetti or other noodle [you can food dye it too!]
• Rice [easy to dye in large quantities – try scenting it!]
• Dry pasta, cereal, beans, seeds, oatmeal
• Holiday sprinkles or cake decorations
• Cool Whip or whipped cream [same ideas as shaving cream]
• Water or snow [make your own snow with SSE Sensory Visual Recipes]
• Ice cubes [you can freeze in different shapes or hide something in a frozen mold!]
• Frozen foods [ex: peas, blueberries]
• Easter grass or tissue paper [or shredded/crumbled/hole-punched paper – have students do this!]
• Homemade play dough [this is great to scent too – blog on peppermint sensory bins here!]
• Cotton balls or pom poms
• Gift wrap bows [see my Holiday Sensory Bins]

There are millions of ways to engage all types of learns working on a variety of different skills through sensory bins! Find more budget-friendly sensory bins on this blog! Share your favorite ideas below in the comments!