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I love sensory boxes, you know that much for sure. This one is such a favorite of children who enjoy imaginary play about food. This one is fun because it smells like pizza too and has a lot of fun measurement, sorting and creative play involved. I am going to give you some ideas of how you can create your own pizza themed sensory bin for your little ones to learn through play.
I used rice for the base because it is great for pouring and measuring in small amounts, it vacuums up well and holds the herbs and spices really well. I made yellow, green and red and mixed it with plain white. You can read my post about how to Make Easy DIY Colored Rice at Home for Cheap. Add a container of pizza spices to the rice to your desired scent. I used about 12 cups of rice top one bottle of Italian Spices.
You will also need a pizza and the one I think is lest is natural wood from Melissa and Doug that you can see and purchase on amazon. (Click the pic for info)
Items to add to Your Pizza Themed Sensory Bin:
- Measuring Spoons and Measuring Cups
- A baking/cutting Board
- Shredded paper to represent crust (brown), sauce (red) and cheese (yellow)
- letters that spell related words such as “pizza”
- related food containers like sauce and spices
TIP: Parents and teachers often complain that sensory boxes and bins can be messy. I say that when you guide and supervise little ones in their learning and play, part of that is teaching them to be respectful in their play and responsible for the care for their sensory bins.
Children can use the various components to explore texture. They can build a pizza with the paper as well as with the wooden pizza toys.
Sample Questions to Guide Your Child’s Sensory Box Learning:
Do you see four round items? Something that rhymes with ______?
Can you find things that match by beginning sound, color, etc?
How many 1 TBS cup scoops of rice do you estimate it would take to fill the cup?
How many items can you stack and balance before they fall?
Try sorting the pizza toppings into the cups with the tongs?
Will you tell me a story about these items?
Can you make a pattern?
Can you copy the pattern I just made?
Have you used sensory bins for learning?
You can see more here on my blog by clicking the “Sensory Bin” tab in the menu bar at the top of the page.