These winter sensory bin ideas will surely delight you when the weather outside gets cold! We love to experiment with hands-on sensory play ideas with simple materials. Create your own winter sensory bin or winter sensory table this season for fun indoor activities for toddlers and preschoolers!
Enjoy Sensory Play This Winter Season
These winter sensory activities and ideas are simple to set up and use only a few materials. Little on supplies but big on fun and learning possibilities! Young children are still learning about how the world works!
If you’re looking for more fun and engaging winter activities that don’t require a ton of effort or expense to add to your holiday season, sensory activities are a fantastic addition!
These winter sensory bins are made to engage all of the senses. There’s a sensory bin for exploring every sense! Think colorful red and green textures, the sound of jingle bells, the smell of hot cocoa, the crinkle of shredded paper and more.
Digging your hands into a new sensory bin full of winter theme items for toddlers and preschoolers is a beautiful treat! I believe sensory play, like these winter sensory bin ideas, is crucial to early childhood development.
Simple sensory bins provide fantastic learning opportunities and promote social and emotional development! Read more about the benefits of sensory bins below and check out our best tips and tricks for putting together your own winter sensory bin!
The Benefits Of Sensory Bins
Are sensory bins or sensory tables worth it? Yes, they are worth it! The more basic you keep the sensory bin, the better off you are. Remember, you only need to create a tactile experience for your kids, not a Pinterest image. While we have fantastic pictures of sensory bins, they only stay that way for a minute!
Sensory bins are awesome hands-on tools for children to learn about their world and senses! Sensory play may calm a child, focus a child, and engage a child.
Here’s what children can learn from sensory bins:
Practical Life Skills ~ Sensory bins let a child explore, discover and create play using practical life skills (dumping, filling, scooping) and learn valuable play skills.
Play Skills {emotional development} ~ For both social play and independent play, sensory bins allow children to play cooperatively or side by side. My son has had many positive experiences with other children over a bin of rice!
Language Development ~ Sensory bins increase language development by experiencing all there is to see and do with their hands, which leads to great conversations and opportunities to model language.
Understanding 5 Senses ~ Many sensory bins include a few of the 5 senses! Imagine a bin of brightly colored rainbow rice: touch the loose grains against the skin, see the vivid colors as they mix together, and hear the sound of sprinkling over a plastic container or shaken in a plastic egg!
Helpful Sensory Bin Resources
There’s so much more to learn about sensory bins and sensory play.
- Sensory Bin Ideas and Themes
- Best Sensory Bin Fillers
- Non Food Sensory Bin Fillers
- Rice Sensory Bin Ideas
- How To Set Up A Sensory Bin
- Sensory Play Recipes You Can Use
Sensory Bin Tips and Tricks
Tip: Stand To Play
Due to various sensory needs, some kids may feel more comfortable standing to engage in the activity. Sitting on the floor or kneeling in front of a sensory bin may also be uncomfortable. My son’s sensory needs made standing the best choice for us.
Tip: Keep It Simple
When designing a themed sensory bin, consider how many items you put into the bin versus the size of the bin. Too many items may feel overwhelming. If your kid is playing happily with the sensory bin, resist the urge to add just one more thing!
Trick: How To Minimize Mess
It’s important for adults to model the appropriate use of sensory bins and to keep a close eye on young kids who may want to throw the filler and items. Keep a kid-size broom and dustpan handy to help them learn how to clean up spills.
Learn more about sensory bins here!
Hands-On Sensory Play Suggestions
Add accessories and tools that encourage fine motor practice for the young age group, which a sensory bin is designed for.
Scoop play items into a small container or basket and then transfer them into another container. For more difficulty, provide kitchen tongs to grab objects and transfer them to a container.
Add some sneaky math by rolling a die and counting how many things to scoop at a time. Or simply count the number of items put into the basket.
Get Your Free Winter Sensory Play Guide
Add a little winter sensory play to your day this season with this free winter sensory guide!
Materials You Can Use
Wondering what to put in a winter sensory bin? Starting with the sensory bin filler, here are a few ideas.
We have our own list of favorite Sensory Bin Fillers, but there are so many to choose from to put together a simple winter sensory bin. We also have a list of non-food items you can use too!
Here are a few sensory bin fillers to try! Get creative and add your own themes.
- pom poms
- water
- cloud dough
- dyed pasta
- dyed rice
- cotton balls
- playdough
- shredded paper
- kinetic sand
- fake snow
Remember to always supervise toddlers during sensory play, especially when small items are involved to prevent choking hazards.
Make Fake Snow
A fantastic winter sensory play material is our homemade fake snow recipe! It’s super easy to make and a perfect base for many winter sensory bin themes.
Winter Sensory Bin Ideas
Check out our Christmas sensory bin ideas for sensory play the whole season long!
Arctic Animals Adventure
Use fake snow or white rice as a base and add plastic arctic animals for an imaginative play.
Snowy Farmyard
Use shredded white paper or kinetic sand as snow, including small farm animal toys.
Frozen Ice Castle
Make layers of ice with gems, jewels, sequins, glitter, snowflakes added in. Place your frozen ice castle in a large tray and use eye droppers, squeeze bottle and basters to find the hidden treasure. Also add a bowl of warm water.
Penguin Paradise
Use shredded white paper, white rice, or fake snow to represent the icy environment. Include small plastic or plush penguins of various sizes and colors. Cut out large iceberg shapes from white foam or cardboard and place them in the bin for the penguins to stand on.
Winter Ice Melt
Fill the bin with black beans as a base. Add penguin toys and blue colored rice for the water. Cut out large iceberg shapes from white foam or cardboard and place them in the bin for the penguins to stand on.
Winter Wonderland Rice Bin
Dye rice blue and white for a snowy effect, including winter-themed toys like snowflakes and mittens.
Hot Cocoa Sensory Bin
Hot chocolate cloud dough for sensory play is super easy and quick to make! Set out your cloud dough with cookie cutters and baking tools for winter theme fun.
Snowy Construction Zone
Use white playdough as snow and include small construction vehicles and tools.
Icy Ocean Adventure
Make icy ocean bricks with layers of ocean creatures. Set out a bowl of warm water and a choice of “tools” for melting the ice. We always love the classic meat baster from the dollar store. Eyedroppers and squeeze bottles work well too!
Ski Resort Sensation
Use cotton balls or fake snow and add miniature skiers, snowboarders, and a small slope.
Frosty Alphabet Hunt
Bury letter-shaped objects or alphabet cards in fake snow and have kids dig for letters and match them. Alternatively, you can use alphabet puzzle pieces.
Melting Snowmen
Set up a tray of baking soda snowmen for cool sensory science. While the snowmen are not really melting, you can see a fun chemical reaction at work that will be use up all the baking soda and change it into fizzing bubbles.
Gingerbread Man Hunt
Hide small gingerbread man toys in a bin of shredded brown paper or scented cinnamon rice and kids can hunt for the gingerbread men.
Winter Fruits and Veggies
Use a base of dried split peas or lentils, including plastic fruits and vegetables associated with winter. Add a basket, small containers, and scoops for fun play!
Snowflake Oobleck
Make up a batch of 2 ingredient oobleck, and add plastic snowflakes to it. Add a pair of tweezers and a container for retrieving the snowflakes!
Frosty Dinosaur World
Cover the bin with fake snow or cotton balls and add toy dinosaurs for a prehistoric winter scene.
Snowy Math Bin
Use cotton balls or fake snow, including numbered objects or foam puzzle pieces for counting practice.
Ice Castle Play
Fill the bin with kinetic sand, and add some trees and construction blocks to make your own “ice castles.”
Ice Cream Shop in Winter
Create this sensory bin with colorful pom poms or kinetic sand, plastic cones and an ice cream scoop for serving up your ice creams.
Winter Colors Sorting
Fill the bin with colored rice or pom-poms, and include containers for sorting by color.
Winter Clothing Exploration
Make up a batch of playdough and use our printable playdough mats to make winter clothing.
More Sensory Bin Ideas For Preschoolers
You can find all our sensory bin ideas here. A few of our favorites…
- Make a Space Sensory Bin with galactic-colored rice, glow-in-the-dark stars, and mini astronauts.
- Dinosaur Volcano Sensory Bin complete with erupting ‘lava’ made from a simple baking soda and vinegar reaction!
- Dive into a simple Icy Ocean Sensory Bin or this squishy blue Ocean Sensory Bin.
More Fun Winter Activities for Preschoolers
We have even more activities with winter themes for kids of all ages to enjoy, from younger kids to older children!
Explore winter science experiments, build winter LEGO ideas, make winter crafts, play with winter slime, and more.
- Play Winter Bingo with free printable bingo cards.
- Explore the fascinating world of penguins.
- Craft a festive Yule Log for the winter solstice.
- Make this fun polar bear craft.
- Play with free winter playdough mats.
- Printable penguin activities are fun for kids.
- Enjoy snowflake painting.
- Try snow painting.
- Make a winter handprint art activity.
Printable Preschool Winter Pack
Perfect for 3-to 6-year-olds in a preschool classroom, learning center, or home. Easy to set up and use with one kiddo or a classroom. This themed pack includes a book and supply list to help you easily set up the activities.
⭐️ Tip: Grab the Preschool Themes Growing Bundle and save money! ⭐️
Activities Include:
- Flip Books
- Dot Mittens
- Sensory Bin
- Sequencing
- Geoboard Templates
- Writing Center
- Tracing Cards
- Board Game
- Cover Up Game
- Matching Game
- Puzzles
- Playdough Mats
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