This Find the Hearts Sensory Bin is a fun twist on a sensory bin. Objects (in this case, hearts) are hidden underneath the rice rather than putting them on top. This was so easy to put together and it was so fun for Goose! She loved finding all the different hearts.
Supplies Used:
- Plastic bin
- Colored rice
- Heart gel clings
- Various heart stickers
- Heart buttons
- Plastic heart containers
- Foam heart stamps
- Wooden heart block
There are lots of textures to explore here: Squishy gel, hard plastic, foam, felt and the sparkly hearts shown on the right in the picture below are smooth on the outside but soft and puffy too.
I put most of the hearts on the bottom of the bin then covered them with pink colored rice. I left the plastic containers on top and let some of the hearts peek out of the rice. I didn’t specifically tell her to find all the hearts or that any were hidden in the rice. I just set the bin out and let her have at it. She quickly discovered that there were hidden treasures.
I learned the hard way that when set on a white kitchen table for 2 seconds, the gel clings will stain the table. That was a bummer. I still let Goose play with them though. She did a good job of keeping them off the table.
She was super excited to find the wooden heart block. She wasn’t expecting anything that big to be under the rice. And she was very proud of her masterpiece.
Adding some flare to the plastic bin.
Ripping up a gel cling, which I think was her favorite part of this activity.
After she found all the heart shaped items, she had fun playing with the rice. Here she is making “rain.”
Goose really enjoyed the element of surprise that came with this bin. It was something a little different. And she LOVED that there were so many hearts. This is one of the shapes we’re focusing on in preschool this month so this heart themed sensory bin was a great addition to our activities.
If you’ve done any heart themed activities, I’d love for you to share them in the comments!
