7 Super Simple Space Sensory Bin Ideas Your Kids Will Love!

Is your little one obsessed with space right now? Or perhaps you’re planning to teach on space and looking for themed sensory activities to help you. Whatever your reason, I believe these outer space sensory bin ideas will give you lots of inspiration to get started! Sensory play is so good for our little one’s development, and these activities will get them excited to learn about space!

I have included a mixture of space sensory play activities here, including easy 5 minute set-ups, a counting sensory bin, edible sensory bins, and a painting activity. I hope you find lots of inspiration here for your space sensory play!

Pin text reads, simple diy space sensory activities and image shows 2 of them, one with black rice and stars and tweezers picking up stars and the other with glow in the dark stars and planets hidden in black rice.

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Pin text reads (space thened) fine motor activities for kids and image shows fingers with tweezers picking up tiny star from a sensory bin of black rice and stars.

Fine Motor Space Sensory Bin

Looking for an easy way to teach fine motor skills during space week?

Then this easy sensory bin is for you! It took me less than 2 minutes to create it (as well as a couple hours of drying time overnight!)

To make this, I got some rice and dyed it black. To do this, I mixed rice with black paint in a tub until it was completely coated in paint. Then I spread out the dyed rice on some baking parchment on top of a baking tray to dry. It took a few hours, so I did it in an evening so it could dry overnight. That also kept little fingers out of it while it was wet!

Alternatively, instead of paint, you could use black food coloring to dye your rice, following the same method as above. I added a drop of water to it if the food coloring wasn’t completely covering all the rice.

Although eating dry rice is not advisable, if your little one is likely to pop a few pieces in their mouth while they play, you will want to use the food coloring method, rather than the paint method.

Pin text reads, super easy space sensory bin ideas and the image is of black spaghetti and stars and circles sprinkles mixed in.

Edible Space Sensory Bin

Have a little person who still likes to taste-test everything they play with? If so, this is a great option for them! It took me 5 minutes to create this fun, edible, space sensory bin.

To make this edible sensory bin, I cooked spaghetti to nearly the consistency you want when eating it. Then I rinsed it thoroughly to stop it being too sticky. To dye it black, mix the spaghetti with black food coloring in a bag until it is completely covered.

Next, I spread it out on some baking parchment, on a baking tray, as thinly as possible to let it dry. This will take an hour or two depending on how wet it is. Then it’s ready to play with!

If your spaghetti starts to go a little dry, you can rub a few drops of water into it. This can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days if your little one wants to play with it again another day.

Pin text reads, diy space activities preschool and image shows black rice, a spaceship toy and astronaut toys and space probe.

Astronaut and Rocket Sensory Bin

I set this up on the lid of my sensory bin to make it easier to photograph! However, you’ll probably want to pop it in your sensory bin, so it’s easier and less messy to play with!

To create this easy sensory bin, I dyed some rice black and then added in the astronauts, rocket, and probe toys. You could also add stars and planets to this, especially if you have a bigger sensory bin to fill.

To dye the rice, I mixed uncooked rice with black paint until it was completely covered. I then spread it out over some baking parchment, on top of a baking tray, and left it to dry overnight. It usually dries within an hour or two.

Instead of paint, you can use food coloring for this. I just used paint this time because I didn’t have any food coloring in the house and the paint worked just as well.

Pin text reads, low-prep super space sensory bin ideas and shows one with red moon sand and a rocket and astronaut toys.

Exploring Mars

I created this fun ‘exploring Mars’ sensory bin using red moon sand and my little one’s space figures. It was super quick and simple to make and led to hours of fun!

To make the Red Moon Sand, I mixed cornflour and vegetable oil together until I got the desired consistency. You can use flour instead of cornflour if that’s what you have. You want it to feel soft and malleable, but also be able to hold it’s shape if you were to make a sandcastle with it, for example.

Then I added the red food coloring to my moon sand and mixed it all together. At this point, you may need to add a spot more flour just to keep your consistency right.

Moon Sand is such a lovely material to play with. I rather enjoy sitting down with my kids and joining in with this one!

Pin text reads, easy space sensory bin and shows image of black rice and glow in the dark stars and planets.

Easy Glow in the Dark Sensory Bin

Probably the simplest activity on this list, this one is great if you can dim the lights and hunt through the dark for your stars and planets!

It can really help to develop those fine motor skills for toddlers, as well as observation skills. If you want to make it slightly more challenging, you could add a pair of tweezers or a teaspoon for them to use when picking up the stars and planets.

To make the rice for this one, I simply mixed some uncooked rice with black paint until all the rice was completely covered. Then I spread it out thinly on some baking parchment, on top of a baking tray, to dry for a couple of hours.

Pin text reads, low-prep space activities preschool and image is of tuff tray set up with black card, paint and stars and planets to use as stamps.

Painting Space Sensory Bin

Most toddlers and preschoolers love a spot of painting! This space themed painting activity is even easier than potato stamps and just as fun!

I spread out some black card, along with a plate of different colors of paint and some brushes. Then I added the plastic stars and planets.

The little one’s chose to either paint the starts and planets with their brushes before making a print with them, or just dunk them straight into the paint and then print onto the paper.

This was great fine motor skills practice, as well as creative fun, with a space themed twist to it! I’m planning to try it with glow-in-the-dark paint next time!

Pin text reads, easy peasy space math activities and image is of black rice with stars hidden in it with numbers from 1-10 written on them

Number Space Sensory Play

Teaching numbers up to 10? Looking for a way to include some simple math or number recognition into your space theme? This is the one for you!

Firstly, dye your rice black. I’ve included details about how to do this in the sections above. Once my rice had dried, I wrote numbers (with a white board marker so it would come off at the end) onto my glow-in-the-dark stars and hid them in the rice to be found.

You could use this one for toddlers who are just beginning to recognise numbers, or for older kids learning addition or subtraction. For example, you could challenge your kid to take out the number of pieces of rice as the number on the star they find, or to do a mental math question and then find the answer in the tub!

Alternatively, you could ask them to find all the numbers in the tub and line them up in order. Lots of fun math options with this simple set-up.

I hope these Space Sensory Bins have given you loads of ideas to get started on your own Space Sensory Play! Let me know how you get on.

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Easy Sensory Play Ideas

Process Art Painting Ideas

Low-Prep Fine Motor Skills Activities