5 Amazing Spring Sensory Bins for Preschoolers to Develop Skills

Your child will love developing important skills while having fun with these spring sensory bins for preschoolers.

If you have a preschooler, you know how much they love observing and learning. Sensory bins make great learning tools that are fun for your preschooler yet simple to create. Keep reading below for five great spring sensory bins for preschoolers that help them develop important skills.

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Sensory bins are amazing for teaching preschoolers necessary skills. They are inexpensive to make and are quite versatile. So many preschool skills can be practiced using sensory bins. Add small letters to practice matching uppercase and lowercase letters. Sensory bins are amazing for practicing counting because you can add in lots of fun themed objects to count. Shapes, colors, and creating patterns are also fun skills to practice with sensory bins.

5 Fun Spring Sensory Bins for Preschoolers

Sensory bins are so versatile! I love creating new ones each month that match holidays, seasons, or themes with my preschooler’s interests. These spring sensory bins are perfect for your preschooler to develop important skills.

Be aware that many of the materials mentioned in the sensory bins below are choking hazards. Be careful using them with young children.

1. Rainbow Sensory Bin

A rainbow sensory bin is perfect for springtime. In March it pairs nicely with St. Patrick’s Day. Additionally, it makes a perfect bin when studying weather, rainbows, and clouds. You can help your preschooler practice several skills with a rainbow sensory bin.

First, start with a base of rainbow-colored items. In my bins above, I dyed dry chickpeas with some food coloring and vinegar. I had difficulty with purple (it came out way too dark), but the other colors were pretty easy to get. I added them in rainbow order, but of course as soon as my preschooler started playing with it the colors got all mixed up. It looks pretty good all mixed up too.

For very young children, you could simply add a scoop and perhaps a small bowl for your child to explore with. However, I chose to add some pompoms to mine. In one example above, I added three sizes of white pompoms to represent clouds and three bowls. My preschooler scoops out pompoms with a small scoop and separates them into small, medium, and large sizes into the bowls. Alternatively, you can add colored pompoms and have your child separate into colors instead. Sorting is an important preschool skill, and this bin makes it a fun skill to practice.

2. Counting Carrots Sensory Bin

Another fun way to develop preschool skills is with this counting carrots sensory bin. Dry black beans are the base. I found a package of carrots in the spring/Easter section of Hobby Lobby and added them to the black beans. This makes it look like the carrots are growing in dirt.

One way to use this bin to practice counting is by simply adding a die or pair of dice. Preschoolers can roll the die (or dice) and count out that many carrots. Instead of dice, you could add number cards to the bin. You can get carrot-themed number cards free in my store. You can also find nine hands-on preschool activities your preschooler will love in this spring preschool sensory activities product. Using the number cards, your preschooler can spread the cards out and put the correct number of carrots underneath the card. It’s a fun way to practice counting and fits a spring or garden theme.

3. Spring Eggs Sensory Bin

This sensory bin using plastic eggs in pretty pastels is perfect for any spring or Easter theme. The base is simply shredded colored paper, which can be found in the party or giftwrap section of many stores. I found the plastic eggs, bird nests, and carrot popper at Hobby Lobby. Tongs will help your preschooler develop fine motor strength while picking up the eggs.

This spring sensory bin can be adapted to teach different preschool skills. First, add several bird’s nests to the bin along with the eggs. Children can sort the eggs into different colored baskets. Additionally, use the carrot popper for counting practice to twenty.

4. Spring Patterns Sensory Bin

Completing and creating patterns is another important skill to practice. This spring sensory bin for preschoolers makes it easy to do that. I created this bin with a base of dry lentils. The wooden spring pieces came from Hobby Lobby in their spring section. The package contains six pieces of nine different spring objects, such as birds, butterflies, and flowers. I created some pattern strips to match the wooden objects. Tongs can be added to pick up objects.

Preschoolers can find objects to complete the patterns in the pattern strips. Additionally, they can create their own patterns with the wooden pieces. Instead of making patterns, your child can group the objects and count them. This builds on sorting and counting skills.

5. Letter Matching Sensory Bin

The final bin is great for practicing important letter identification and matching skills. It’s also very versatile and easy to create. I used a base of shredded green paper that is easily found in the party section of stores. Plastic insects that we already had at home were included. I then added lowercase magnetic letters and a pair of tongs. Any kind of letters would work: magnetic letters, wooden letters, or letters from an alphabet puzzle.

Using an alphabet match and cover mat, preschoolers can choose a letter and find its match on the mat. They’ll then cover it up and choose another letter. They can match uppercase to uppercase, lowercase to lowercase, or uppercase and lowercase. Instead of using a mat, children can pull a letter from a basket. Then they can find the opposite case of the letter in the bin. More advanced preschoolers could work on building words with the letters as well.

As you can see, creating spring sensory bins for preschoolers is a fun and inexpensive way to practice important skills. Using these bins, preschoolers practice counting, patterns, sorting colors, and the alphabet. Sensory bins keep your preschoolers busy learning while you homeschool older kids, work from home, or attend to household duties. They are simple and inexpensive to put together, and they make great learning tools. Give one a try today!