We are well into our Wild Summer School. We are having fun bringing the animal world to life for the kids. The babies are learning so much and we love that we can adapt it to work for the big kids as well. Even the baby gets in on the learning. We have been tossing together easy sensory bins and trays for the youngest in the crew to enjoy while older kids do more advanced things. This zoo sensory bin and play ideas will rock your summer.
Sensory trays do not have to be fancy. Just some odds and end for your child to explore, build fine motor skills and experience new things. You only need a small tactile base, a few toys, scoops, and odds and ends around the home.
Build your own Zoo Sensory bin
For this bin we used some really cute zoo animal shaped pasta for the base of our tray. Then I tossed in several different animal math counters found in some of our Mother Goose Time boxes this year, grabbed some of the babies well loved measuring cups and set them loose.
They pick up the pieces of pasta, sort by shape animal, and color. Little Bear loves to fill her measuring cups and dump them over and over again. The sound of all the small pieces of pasta hitting the tray brings her a little bit of joy. Because I always wonder what trays people are using I have to share ours with you. We love to use this breakfast tray with legs and handles for sensory trays and activities when we drag them outside.
Sometimes the best way to help your child learn it to give them small opportunities to just explore and play with freedom. These simple toys put together like this and our space sensory bin are so easy for us and give the young kids plenty of sensory stimulation. While we are all tempted to aim for elaborate Pinterest perfect sensory activities the truth is kids can get so much value out of the simplest little things in life and there is no reason to run ourselves into the ground trying to go above and beyond for every play activity.
[…] 30. Easy Zoo Sensory Play by Simple at Home […]