10+ Easy Summer Sensory Bin Ideas to Try Right Now!
Summer is pretty much here now and if you’re anything like me, you’re frantically searching for some easy and low-prep summer activities for your toddler or preschooler! That’s where these quick and easy Summer Sensory Bin Ideas come in!
The following Summer Sensory Bins I’m sharing with you took me about 5 minutes to create and yet kept my little one’s happy and entertained for ages! They’re all low-prep and use items that are commonly found in a family home.
This is an ever-growing list, so be sure to pin this post to come back to each year for new ideas!
While there are a few summer sensory bin ideas that require a 5 minute prep the evening before (to allow for setting or drying time), many of these fun summer activities can be set up right now!
I’ve included some taste-safe options as my own son used to love to taste-test everything he played with! I know how hard that can be as a parent!
However, I still advise full supervision of your little one’s while they play with these sensory bins. So, why not put your feet up, with a nice cool drink, for 20 minutes or so while they play away happily beside you!
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Edible Ocean Sensory Bin Idea for Summer
I just love this edible ocean sensory bin! It’s such fun, looks just beautiful, and took so little time to create! It’s great for exploring an ocean theme, learning about the beach, and sea creatures!
To create this ocean and beach, I simply set some blue jelly the evening before. Then in the morning, I made some of my 5 minute diy edible sand (see link to recipe below) and popped it at one end. Then we found some sea creatures and beach critters to add to it.
You can find more details and my sand recipe here: Edible Ocean Sensory Bin.
Water Play Summer Sensory Bin Ideas
A lovely taste-safe, colorful, summer sensory bin! This yellow water play is created with a few drops of yellow food coloring and some cut-up summer fruits. I used peaches, oranges, lemons, and strawberries for mine.
Not only does it taste summery, but it also uses those beautifully bright summer colors: yellow, orange, and red!
This one can be great for slowly introducing fussy-eaters to new fruits in a playful, non-pressured way. Alternatively, you could add in a few cups, bowls, and spoons and make it into a little cafe!
If you’re interested in more Water Play Activities, check these out!
Ice Sensory Bin Idea
Looking for something creative for a hot summer’s day?
This fun ice-painting activity is perfect. So long as you remember to pop some tubs of water in your freezer the night before, it will take just 5 minutes to set up on the day!
Flower Sensory Bin
If your little one likes playing chef, they’re going to love this colorful, flower soup idea!
I just added a few drops of food dye (or paint) to some water and put out a little bowls and a soup ladle. Then my kids and I picked some flowers and leaves from around the garden to add to it.
A lovely creative, imaginative, play idea for those sunny days in the garden.
Muddy Dinosaur Bath!
Is your little one obsessed with dinosaurs? How about trying this muddy dino sensory bin?
I made the ‘mud’ using some flour, cocoa powder, and water mixed together. I just added the water slowly while mixing until I got the consistency I wanted.
You could also add leaves and bits of grass and flowers into this one to add different textures and smells. Then I popped a bowl of soapy water and some cloths next to it so the dinos could have a bath when they’d finished playing!
Baby Bath Sensory Bin
Baby doll washing has to be one of the oldest sensory bin ideas around, right? I remember bathing my babies when I was a little kid! However, there is definitely a reason this activity has become a classic!
Little kids just love this kind of role play activity! And, it’s great for their fine motor skills development too! They’re squeezing the soap bottles, making bubbles in the water, wringing out the wet cloths, and pouring water onto the dolls heads to rinse them off. It’s all great for working on the finger strength and control they need for writing later on!
Beach Sensory Bin
Fancy a day at the beach, without the drive to get there? If you live a long way from the beach, this could be the ideal sensory bin for you!
Grab some sand, pebbles, shells, bucket, and spade and you’re all sorted! If you can manage to get your hands on some dried seaweed and driftwood too, even better!
This is a lovely little one to explore the beach and talk about looking after our oceans. You could even hide some old wrappers and bottle tops in here for them to do a ‘beach clean-up’. A great way to start a conversation about the harmful affects of littering on wildlife.
Taste-Safe Ocean Sensory Bin
A pretty taste-safe ocean sensory bin to keep them cool in the sun!
To create this one, I added a few drops of food coloring to the water, along with some ice cubes. You could add some bigger blocks of ice too if you wanted. Then I popped in some pebbles and some penguins, polar bear, and little boy figure.
Easy Farm Sensory Play
Is your little one interested in farming or farm animals? If so, this one could be for them!
My daughter actually helped me set this one up! We grabbed her plastic farm animals and then got to work building them a farm! We got some grass for the fields, pebbles and water for the pond, mud for the pigs, some flowers, and some sticks. Then we used some Weetabix for the fences.
Great fun to create as well as to play with! Prep time was 5 minutes but I’m not sure it even counts as prep time if your kids are joining in!
Ice Skating Sensory Bin
What fun this summer sensory bin was!
The evening before, I popped some people and animal figures into some tubs of water and put them in the freezer. Be careful when shutting the door as you’ll want the figures up-right when they set.
And that’s it! In the morning, we just popped the ice boats out of their tubs and put them onto our sensory table to slide about. They had races with each other and skated about trying to avoid being caught by the sharks!
To add to this one, you could make little slides for them to race down! We had some old piping lying about that my husband was able to cut lengthwise to make little slides for the ice boats. A great addition to this activity!
Fairy Potion Sensory Bin
If you’re looking for something a bit educational, this one has loads to teach!
Fairy potions are not only fun, creative, and great for the imagination, but also incorporate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) learning too.
Kid’s can pretend to be scientists as they use mini syringes and medicine pots to create. They can measure how much of each color they want in their potions, test out theories of what happens when they mix certain colors, whether the glitter (or flower petals) will, mix, float to the top, or sink to the bottom. There’s so much to experiment with here!
For full instructions and more Potion Station Ideas, take a look here!
Ice Summer Sensory Bin Ideas
Another lovely cool activity for those hot summer days!
I found various shaped ice cube trays and containers and popped water in them. Then I added various items to them for the kids to ‘rescue’! I froze some ocean creature toys, pom poms, feathers, glitter, leaves, and flowers. Some of them looked so pretty!
It was interesting for the kids to see which melted quickest: the bigger blocks of ice or the smaller, and whether pouring some warm water on them helped, or gently knocking them with a spoon.
A fun STEM activity for little learners!
I hope you enjoyed this list of easy summer sensory bin ideas and are leaving with lots of inspiration to create your own now.
Remember to save this post if you’d like to see some new ideas next year!