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Valentine’s Day isn’t just about chocolates and roses; it’s also a fabulous opportunity for sensory exploration and learning fun with your little one! Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and what better way to celebrate than by engaging your toddler in a hands-on sensory activity, by creating a Valentine’s Day Sensory Bin?
A Valentine’s Day sensory bin is not only a delightful way to explore the holiday’s themes, but also a fantastic opportunity for learning and development. Let this post guide you through creating a sensory bin that’s bursting with love, color, and playful textures – perfect for engaging your toddler’s senses and developing essential skills. Filled with with pom poms, shovels, heart dishes, and cups, this Valentine’s Day Sensory Bin will enhance multiple learning objectives and help develop fine motor skills.
Here’s What You’ll Need for your Valentine’s Day Sensory Bin:
- Large bin or container:
- Choose a size that comfortably fits your toddler like this one, and allows for plenty of exploration space. This is the exact bin we used and it comes in a 2 pack with lids!
- Large Pom Poms:
- Choose Valentine’s Day Colors like red, pink, and white pom poms, or pastel colored pom poms like these. These fluffy balls add a whimsical, tactile experience and encourage color sorting.
- Heart-shaped dishes, cups, and/or small bowls:
- Embrace the Valentine’s Day theme with adorable heart-shaped containers like these for scooping and pouring. You can add multiple sizes to add another dimension of play. Check out these heart shaped bowls. You can also add cups like this set of stacking cups.
- Colorful plastic shovels, spoons, or tongs:
- Provide various tools to encourage different fine motor skills, like these colorful silicone shovels, or this sensory scoop set.
- Optional extras:
- Add in other Valentine’s Day-themed items like these felt hearts, fabric hearts, a felt envelope like the one I used, or this 2 pack of felt envelopes for more sensory exploration. Also consider baskets like these, for transfering the pom poms in and out of the bin for another level of play.
Setting Up the Valentine’s Day Sensory Bin:
- Set up the bin:
- Start by choosing a spacious container that is safe and easy for your toddler to explore. Place it on a flat surface, such as a table or the floor, and gather all your materials.
- Add the Pom Poms:
- Pour a generous amount of pom poms into your bin or container, ensuring there’s enough for scooping and pouring fun. Mix and spread the pom poms evenly to create a colorful and inviting base for exploration. Pom poms are tactile and visually stimulating, perfect for sensory play.
- Introdice the Heart Shaped Dishes:
- Arrange the heart-shaped dishes, cups, and bowls in the sensory bin, creating an inviting and visiually appealing setup. These items add a thematic touch to the activity and provide opportunities for sorting, stacking, and imaginative play.
- Add in the Tools:
- Add the small shovels or scoops to the sensory bin. These tools encourage your toddler to experiment with scooping, pouring, and transferring the pom poms, promoting hand-eye coordination and fine motor skill development.
- Add any optional extras you have:
- Add any extras you have like the felt or gabric hearts and envelopes to the Valentine’s Day Sensory Bin. Add any baskets or extra containers atound the sensory bin. You can tailor this sensory experience to your toddler’s interests.
Let the Exploration Begin!
Now comes the best part – watching your toddler play, explore, and have a blast in their new Valentine’s Day Sensory Bin! Guide them through the different activities, and encourage them to manipulate all of the materials. Demonstrate how to use the tools and the different ways they can play. This will encouraging them to explore and experiment. (ALWAYS SUPERVISE your child when playing with this sensory bin because of the small pom poms!)
Here are some playful prompts to help get you started:
- Can you scoop up the pom poms with the shovel?
- Let’s fill the heart-shaped cup with pom poms!
- Can you use the cup to pour these pom poms into that container?
- Let’s count the pom poms in this bowl.
- Can you open the envelope? Let’s put the hearts in.
- Can you close the envelope. Now let’s take the hearts out!
Valentine’s Day Sensory Bin Learning Objectives:
Fine Motor Skills Development:
- Through activities like scooping, pouring, and transferring pom poms using the shovels and cups, toddlers will enhance their hand-eye coordination. Scooping, pouring, and transferring pom poms with different tools also strengthens their grasp, and dexterity.
- What are the Benefits of Fine Motor Skill Development? Fine motor skills are an important skill for your toddler to develop as they lay a solid foundation for later academic success and independence in daily activities. Fine motor skills involve the coordination of small muscles in the hands and fingers. Engaging in activities like the Valentine’s Day sensory bin helps toddlers strengthen these muscles, which are crucial for tasks like writing, self-feeding, and manipulating objects.
Cognitive Development:
- Sorting pom poms by color introduces basic color concepts and encourages problem-solving skills.
- Stacking heart-shaped dishes, and imaginative play with the cups, promotes cognitive skills such as categorization, problem-solving, and creativity.
Sensory exploration:
- Toddlers will engage their senses by touching, feeling, and exploring different textures, shapes, and colors within the Valentine’s Day sensory bin. The different textures of pom poms and the smooth surfaces of the dishes engage the sense of touch, promoting sensory development.
Language Development:
- As toddlers engage with the Valentine’s Day Sensory Bin through play, they have opportunities to describe their experiences using words related to textures, colors, shapes, and actions. Encourage your toddler to repeat action words while you play like in, out, open, close, again, and more. This will help expand their vocabulary and understanding of words.
Important Things to Remember:
- Supervision is key: ALWAYS supervise your toddler while playing with this Valentine’s Day Sensory Bin! You have to be very careful with small objects like pom poms.
- Tailor the experience: Adjust the difficulty level based on your toddler’s age and developmental level. You can try adding in tongs for a more difficult dexterity level.
- Embrace the mess: Sensory play can get messy, so relax and enjoy the creative process with your little one. I like to do this activity on a clean surface rather than in a pile of toys already on the floor. This helps your toddler focus and makes cleanup easier.
- Have fun! This Valentine’s Day sensory table is a chance to connect, learn, and create lasting memories with your precious little Valentine. A Valentine’s Day sensory bin is not only a super fun way to celebrate the holiday but also a valuable educational experience for your little love.
By incorporating sensory play you’re providing your child with a fun and enriching opportunity for growth and development. So, spread some love, sprinkle some pom poms, and watch your toddler’s imagination blossom with this delightful Valentine’s Day sensory bin!
Happy Mommying!
