Farm Themed Sensory Bin

Howdy Folks!

As we start gearing up for the summer and our exciting Ranch Roundups that are just around the corner, we wanted to celebrate with a whole week dedicated to education!

So, to kick things off, here is one of our favorite farm-themed activity that you can do with your kiddos.  Plus, it can be made for only a few dollars!

A Faulkner's Ranch Farm Themed Sensory Bin

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 Hold up there pardner! What exactly is a sensory bin?

A sensory bin is a bunch of fun contained to one small bin or plastic tub.  

Sensory bins touch on all of the senses.  They are… 

• Visually appealing (Most are so colorful that you just want to dive right in!) 
• Texturally appealing (From soft fur to grainy corn, there is a wide variety of things to feel)
• Audibly appealing (the crunch-crunch of objects being buried into the grain or the soothing sound of fabric leaves rubbing together)

Sensory bins appeal to a child’s senses in a fun way and on many different levels.  However, they do more than just provide imaginative play.  While sensory activities are achieved with these fun bins, a great deal of learning and developmental activities are encountered with sensory bins as well!  From toddlers to school aged children, a sensory bin can develop skills such as…

• Fine Motor (placing small objects into small areas, using tongs or tweezers to pick up objects)
• Transferring (moving objects from one container to another, i.e. pouring, scooping)
• Matching (colors, shapes, objects, etc.)
• Patterns (big, small, big, small or flower, butterfly, flower, butterfly, etc.)
• Counting (how many of certain items do you see?)
• Sorting and Classifying (into other objects such as ice cube trays, small buckets, egg platters)
• Specific skill recognition & reinforcement (colors, letters, shapes, themes, etc.)

The possibilities are truly endless!

(Information on sensory bins from A Purpose Driven Home.)

To Make a Sensory Bin Like the One Pictured Above You Will Need:

• A Plastic Tote - You can get these at the dollar store, Target, or Walmart
• A Base Filler - This can be wood pellets, hay, corn kernels, bird seed, etc.
•  Farmed Themed Objects - Examples include plastic farm animals, toy tractors, fake apples, etc.
• Tools to Play With - Scoops, Tongs, Cups, etc.

Be as creative as your little heart desires! In fact, here are some more adorable farmed themed sensory bins to get ideas from:

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We love the mason jars in this one! They also included a wooden bowl and colored beads! Very fun!

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 This adorable bin from Counting Coconuts cost under $2 to make! 

 Some of our favorite things in this bin were the feathers, raffia for hay, the sugar spoon, and the plastic eggs left over from Easter.

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 We love the feed scoops and tongs used in this sensory bin! Plus, the noodles add for lots of extra fun!

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 This sensory bin from Pre-School Play took a different take on the sensory bin by dividing it into sections like  a real farm.  Our favorite was the pig pen, where chocolate playdough became the mud for the piggies!

Of course, parental supervision is always recommended (otherwise you might have chicken feed covering the floor of your house before you know it!)

Be sure to tag pictures of your sensory bins on our Facebook page! We'd love to see them!

Have a Happy Monday,

Your Friends at Faulkner's

PS - If you are interested in learning more about our Ranch Round-Ups, click here!