DIY Sensory Bin
Sensory bins are great tools that allow your child to explore their environment and give them an opportunity to stimulate the following senses: hearing, smell, taste, sight, and touch. Not only that, but they are a great way to target fine motor skills necessary for participation in daily life activities. Sensory play in a bin provides your child an opportunity for open-ended play to promote hands-on exploration.
How to make a DIY sensory bin:
1. Choose a bin.
Clear storage containers are a great option as they allow the child to see more of what is inside the bin.
2. Choose a filler.
Below are a few ideas to add to your child’s sensory bin:
- Dried rice, pasta, beans
- Water beads
- Pom poms
- Shredded paper
- Dry oats
- Kinetic sand
- Bird seeds
- Buttons
- Potting soil
- Shaving cream
If you are concerned that your child may eat the items in the sensory bin, consider making a sensory bin with edible items such as:
- Cooked pasta
- Dry cereal such as Rice Crispies, Chex, or Cheerios
- Water (with or without ice)
3. Add tools
- Tongs or child tweezers– Engaging with tongs or tweezers to pick up items in the bin challenges a child’s visual motor skills and fine motor skills.
- Cups– Any tool that can be used for scooping and pouring is a must in a sensory bin. Using these items repetitively helps to strengthen muscles in the wrist and hands needed for skills such as writing.
- Spoons– Incorporating spoons is a great way to help your child explore and learn the best way to scoop. This will help them as they continue to use their spoon skills for feeding.
4. Add objects
Take a look around the house and see what you can find. Adding items to find and name is a great way to challenge visual skills and support language development. Here are a few ideas:
- Toys– Adding animals, dump trucks, cars, or other toys is a great way to tap into those imaginative play skills.
- Magnetic alphabets or numbers– These provide your child an opportunity to find and identify letters and numbers.
Eyas Landing is a therapy clinic with a mission to provide evidence-based and family-centered therapy services for children, adolescents, and their families. The primary goal is to deliver relationship-based interventions within the most natural environments and to empower families to reach their full potential. To achieve this goal, our highly educated, compassionate staff dedicates time and expertise to create experiences that maximize therapeutic outcomes. The strength, determination, and perseverance of our clients are evident as they succeed in therapy, and ultimately in their daily lives.
Eyas Landing offers a wide range of comprehensive services including Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, ABA Therapy, Social Work, Family Therapy, and Neuropsych testing. Services are provided throughout the Chicagoland area via Telehealth, In-Home, and in our state of the art clinic.
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