I love sensory bins for scaffolding children’s learning.
I love that they can have so many experiences and touch across so many studies such as nature, math, language, science and imagination.
I like that sensory bins can be tailored to multiple learning levels at once to meet the individual needs of students.
- Sensory boxes are designed to solidify learning through meaningful and stimulating experiences.
- Sensory boxes do not get boring. They are engaging for children young and old. They are good for solitary play and group play.
- They can be used for home play and for classrooms. Children learn through play!
- Sensory bins/boxes should contain a mix of items that differ in texture, size, shape and more.
- Sensory bins should include items that can be experienced with the 5 senses.
- Sensory bins/boxes should stimulate language, mathematics, higher level thinking, social/emotional skills and more.
- Sensory bins/boxes should include some natural elements such as grains, wood, shells, rock and more.
Remembering that every moment is a teachable moment, sensory boxes afford the teacher the ability to introduce specific learning goals through play! This could be letter recognition, safety rules, social emotional goals, patterns, size, and so much more for preschool through elementary grades.
For babies it can be appropriate sensory learning and exposure to their world in ways that might not come otherwise.
Search “Sensory Bins” on this site for a ton more ideas for themes, how to make your own colored rice and how to use sensory bins/Sensory boxes for teaching and learning.
