Sensory bins are very popular right now. They’re great for eliciting language or to hide artic cards in for some covert articulation therapy. Making a sensory bin is easy. You can grab a cheap storage bin from the dollar store and throw whatever you can find in there!
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This winter, I’m going to be using “Instant Snow”. You just add water and voila! Snow! The package came with some helpful hints, one of which I thought was awesome for a sensory bin. It said to add ice chips/crushed ice so that the snow feels cold. It also adds texture. What a great idea!
The instant snow lasts weeks! If it needs a little fluffing up, just add a little bit of water. Keep the lid on your sensory bin and it will stay awesome and snowy for a really long time. It’s very clean, too. It wipes off hands surprisingly easily.
I’m making this sensory bin to support my “Ten on the Sled” unit, so I also bought a “Toob” of arctic animals. Most of the animals correspond with the ones in the book.
One of my favorite books to use during the winter is “Ten on the Sled”. It’s got simple, repetitive text; supports the preschool curriculum; has a familiar, nursery rhyme pattern; and is great for vocabulary development!
My book companion targets sequencing, basic concepts (quantity and location), grammar (pronouns, sentence formulation, and -ing verbs), features of animals, and categories.
I love using magnet boards with my preschoolers. I use the color sequencing mat as the background and students add and remove the animal pieces (which have magnet tape on the back!) as we read the book.
If you prefer a black and white option, print the black-ink only version and use dot markers to sequence the story. This is great to send home for review also.
You can also target quantity concepts (all/some/none) and location concepts. The animals in the sensory bin would be great for working on location concepts, as well.
This book usually lasts my students at least a week, sometimes two!
