Welcome to our buzzing and brilliant world of sensory play! Here we’ll be exploring an exciting and educational activity that will have your little ones joyfully counting, exploring textures, and thinking about bees. Get ready to create a bee counting sensory bin for kids aged 3 to 5 using vibrant colored rice, soft pom poms, and cardboard tubes. This delightful hands-on experience will not only engage your child’s senses but also provide valuable learning opportunities.
There’s something truly magical about sensory bins that captivates young minds and fosters their creativity and cognitive development. Our bee counting sensory bin is designed to entertain and educate, making it the perfect activity for preschoolers. By combining colored rice, pom poms, and cardboard tubes, we’ll create an immersive environment that mirrors a buzzing beehive. Children will have the opportunity to touch, scoop, and explore the different textures, enhancing their fine motor skills and tactile awareness. As they engage with the sensory materials, we’ll also incorporate counting exercises, where they can sort and count the pom pom bees using the cardboard tubes as their honey-filled homes. This interactive play ensures that learning is woven seamlessly into the playtime, nurturing a love for numbers and problem-solving from a young age. So, get ready to witness your child’s face light up as they dive into this bee-licious adventure!
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How to Make Yellow Coloured Rice
Creating yellow colored rice for a bee counting sensory bin is a simple and delightful process that will add a vibrant touch to your playtime. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to make this buzzing yellow rice:
Step 1: Gather Your Materials
To start, you’ll need the following materials:
- White rice (uncooked)
- Yellow liquid food coloring
- White vinegar
- Ziplock bags or containers with lids
- Baking sheet or parchment paper
Step 2: Prepare the Rice
Measure 6 cups of uncooked white rice that you’ll need for your sensory bin. Place the rice in a large ziplock bag.
Step 3: Add the Yellow Food Coloring
Add few drops of yellow liquid food coloring to the bag and a soap full of white vinegar. The number of drops will depend on how vibrant you want the yellow color to be. Start with a few drops and add more if needed.
Step 4: Mix the Rice and Food Coloring
Carefully seal the ziplock bag and mix to coat the rice thoroughly with the food coloring. Continue mixing until all the rice is evenly colored and reaches the desired shade of yellow.
Step 5: Set the Rice to Dry
Spread the colored rice evenly on a baking sheet or parchment paper, ensuring it’s in a single layer. Allow the rice to dry for a few hours or overnight. This step is crucial to avoid any color transfer during sensory play.
Step 6: Store for Later Use
Once the yellow rice is completely dry, transfer it into a ziplock bag or a container with a lid for storage. It will be ready to use whenever you’re ready to set up your bee counting sensory bin.
Make the Bee Counting Sensory Bin
Materials
- Cardboard tubes
- Black Pom poms
- Black Washi Tape
- Wooden numbers or black marker
- Glue
- Bee toys
- Bowls
- Scoopers
- Fake flowers
- Tongs
Instructions
- Fill your sensory bin with the yellow rice.
- Add black pom poms.
- Grab 5-10 toilet paper rolls and decorate them with black washi tape, if available. Either write on each tube the numbers 1-5 or 1-10. Or if you have available glue on wooden numbers.
- Place the cardboard tubes in the sensory bin, in the rice sothat they stand up.
- Add the tongs, scoopers, bowls.
- Add bee toys or pictures of bees.
- Add fake flowers.
- Invite your child to identify they number of one of the tubes and then count that number of pompoms and then use the tongs or their fingers to place them in hte correct tube.
Age Suitability
This activity is good for toddlers aged children 18 years old and up with adult assistance.
Mess Level
The mess level for this activity is low.
Difficulty to Create
Low.
Skills Developed
Language development, shape recognition, color recognition, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, imaginative play, creativity.
Toddler and Preschooler Curriculums, Books & TV Show!
Play2Learn Toddler & Preschool Programs for Curious Toddlers
There is no limit to your toddler’s energy and curiosity. That energy and curiosity although a joy can be challenging at times. Their interest in just about everything around them is what makes them great learners. One and two year olds can soak up so much just from their senses!
But as a teacher or parent that thirst for learning can be exhausting. That is why I created this toddler and preschooler program. To help you get the most out of this time with your curious toddler without having to come up with creative ways to play and interact with them.
Play2Learn for Toddlers includes 20 Units for toddlers. Each 2-week toddler unit has 20 super easy to set up and engaging activities for toddlers 18 months to 3 years.
Play2Learn Preschool which includes 20 Units for preschoolers. Each 2-week preschoolers unit has 20 unique and easy to set up and engaging activities for preschoolers 3 years to 5 years. That’s over 800 learning activities for your toddler and preschooler at your fingertips! So many ideas you and your child will never be bored again!
These toddler and preschool lesson plans and activities will definitely keep you and your toddler and preschooler busy playing and learning!
Click here for more information: Play2Learn
Designed for toddlers 18 months and up.
Book: Exciting Sensory Bins for Curious Kids
Did you know I wrote a book of sensory bins? Click here for more information Exciting Sensory Bin for Curious Kids. Or grab your copy at Amazon.
Boring afternoons are made exciting with awesome animal-based bins, like Salty Shark Bay or Yarn Farm. Pretend play bins like Birthday Cake Sensory Play or Bubble Tea Party encourage creativity and imagination. And your kids will have so much fun they won’t even know they’re getting smarter with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) activities like Sink or Float Soup, Magnetic Letter Hunt or Ice Cream Scoop and Count.
Designed for toddlers 18 months and up.
Book: Super STEAM Activity Book for Kids
Learning all about science, technology, engineering, art, and math sets kids up for scholastic success―and it can be so much fun! Watch kids enjoy building STEAM skills as they color friendly fish, help water find its way to tree roots, solve math problems with mazes, and more.
Find out more and grab your copy here.
Designed for preschoolers 3 years old and up.
Book: Big Book of Riddles for Kids
Riddle me this: What’s an exciting way to practice critical thinking while having a blast? The Big Riddle Book for Kids, of course! From hilarious puns to tough brain teasers, kids can build problem-solving skills with hundreds of riddles tha. t show them how to think outside the box.
- 350 riddles for kids—Have hours of fun with riddles, puns and jokes, and math and logic puzzles that’ll get their wheels turning!
- Level up their skills—Riddles get trickier as kids progress through the book, challenging them as they get better at solving puzzles!
- Double-check their work—Kids can check their answers in the back of the book with a handy answer key.
Help children expand their minds while having fun with this puzzle book for kids!
Designed for kids ages 6 years old and up.
TV Show: Curious Crafting
I’m so excited to share my crafting TV show Curious Crafting which launched in July 2022 on TVOkids and TVOkids YouTube! Season 2 airs in the summer of 2023! We were also nominated in 2023 for Best Live Action Preschool Series by the Youth Media Alliance Awards of Excellence.
Set in the ultimate crafting space, Curious Crafting is a short form pre-school age series about the joy of making crafts. I lead a rotating cast of adorable little preschoolers (including my own) making magic out of common household objects.
In each episode we transform recycled items into magical crafts like a milk carton school bus, paper bag puppet or cotton pad turtle. The crafters learn and laugh their way through each activity while demonstrating what their young imaginations can create.
Curious Crafting shares the adventure and joy of making art with takeaway lessons for creating crafts at home.
This show designed for toddlers and preschoolers 2.5 years old and up.
WILL YOU TRY MAKING A BEE COUNTING SENSORY BIN FOR YOUR CHILD? Pin it for later!
