INSIDE: Create this easy and fun Hot Chocolate Sensory Bin for a winter themed sensory bin for your kids for a wonderful indoor activity this winter! So fun and simple to create! Let your child pretend to make hot cocoa for you, their siblings or all their stuffed animals! All my kids had a blast with this fun sensory bin and I’m sure yours will love it too!
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.
Looking for more Fun Winter Activities? Check out these fun ideas:
- 50+ Low Prep Winter Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers
- 30+ Snow Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers
- Snowflake Activities & Crafts
- Amazing Winter Sticky Wall Activities
- How to Make Fake Snow with 2 ingredients
Hot Chocolate Sensory Bin
Grab your sensory bin and fill it cold water. Add a single drop of brown food coloring and mix. Test to make sure that it won’t stain your child’s hands by dipping your finger in first. If your fingers gets stained add more water or remove some of the coloured water you have and add more water without adding any more brown food colouring. The small amount of food colouring and lots of water mix did not stain my children’s clothing.
Add some pretend play tea cups and mugs or some travel mugs for scooping and pouring. Also add a few pretend play spoons or real tea spoons for scooping.
Next, add mini marshmallows. Don’t add the marshmallows until right before your child is ready to play. They will eventually dissolve in the water even if the water is cold.
Invite your child over to their own hot chocolate stand! Let your little ones play and pretend to make steaming cups of pretend hot chocolate for you, their siblings or stuffy animals.!
How they Played with the Hot Chocolate Sensory Bin
My kids absolutely loved this sensory bin and although I told them not to eat the marshmallows until the end they simply couldn’t resist. One took a bite and then another and then before you knew it they were all gone. I don’t think this would be as much of an issue if you are doing this activity with one child. But with three, the competition to eat their fair share of the marshmallows over took their will power. But the good news is that the sensory bin was no less fun without the marshmallows. They started to call it coffee and continue to play for quite a while. Allowing me time to finish my actual coffee.
Don’t want to use marshmallows? I hear you, neither did I. I tried putting in white Pom Poms or cotton balls and they all sank immediately and turned brown. Then I tried using white packing peanuts and they started to dissolve in the water faster than the marshmallows. I would rather a taste safe option over the alternative so I stuck with marshmallows and let my kids have a little bit more sugar than they normally get in a regular day. And guess what… they survived and had a blast! And did I mention that I got to drink my own coffee hot!!!!
Age Suitability for Hot Chocolate Sensory Bin
This activity is great for kids 3 years and up. My kids are 3.5, 3.5, and 7.5 year old.
Supplies for Hot Chocolate Sensory Bin
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- Water
- Brown food colouring
- Sensory Bin
- Play or real mug or tea cups
- Mini marshmallows
- Play or real tea spoons
Make quiet time their favourite time!
Play is at the core of learning during the early years and it can take many forms. One of the most important of these is sensory play because it engages all of a child’s senses (taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing) and has a enoumous positive impact on brain development.
My Sensory Play Kits are a fun and easy way to keep your child engaged while at the same time capitalizing on the benefits of sensory play to nurture their mind!
Shop my ready made sensory play kits here.
STEAM Activity Book
Looking for a fun activity book for your preschooler this summer? Check out my new book Super STEAM Activity Book: Launch Learning with Fun Mazes, Dot-to-Dots, Search-the-Page Puzzles, and More! ! Click here to learn more or order it now!
WILL YOU MAKE THIS HOT CHOCOLATE SENSORY BIN WITH YOUR CHILD? PIN IT FOR LATER!
I mixed instant hot chocolate with sand, used mugs, cups, spoons and small white pompoms. My two year olds loved it.