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Set up a cute winter snowman sensory bin for toddlers - it's a great busy play activity!
It’s chilly outside, but play doesn’t need to stop inside! To keep little ones busy, set up this cute snowman sensory bin for toddlers.
Sensory bins are a great hands-on activity. They are quick to make, you can store them to be used again, and they foster some great pretend play.
This snowman sensory bin for toddlers brings the winter fun inside, just without the cold and the mess.
Cute Wintery Snowman Sensory Bin for Toddlers
There is a little prep needed for this simple and safe activity and the supplies needed are common household items.
To set up your own cute snowman sensory bin for toddlers, you’ll need:
- Plastic bin or storage container
- One to two bags of cotton balls
- Plastic bottle
- Two googly eyes
- Piece of orange construction paper
- Three buttons
- Piece of Ribbon
- Hot glue gun
- Fine motor tools (i.e. chopsticks, grabber, clothespin, etc…)
- Winter figurines or toys
For more snowman fun, check out these 24 super cute snowman crafts.
Once your supplies are gathered, your next step is to make the snowman.
DIY a Snowman for Your Toddler’s Winter Play
It’s all about using what you have at home, so get creative and make a snowman that works best for you.
With the hot glue gun, I added the two googly eyes at the top. We tore a little orange triangle for the nose and added on three buttons for the mouth. Last, we glued on a blue ribbon as a bow-tie.
If you’d rather skip this step, it’s 100% okay. You can also just permanent markers to draw on the snowman’s face.
It’s nothing fancy, but it works.
The bottle I used has a small opening for the top and it’s a bit hard to get the cotton balls back out. So if you have a bottle with a larger opening, that might be better for smaller fingers.
DIY another simple sensory bin for fall with buttons!
As you’re putting together the sensory bin, it might be fun for your kids to name the snowman and play with it to spark their imagination. Our snowman’s name is Joe.
Build a Snowy Sensory Bin for Toddlers
This snowman sensory bin is super quick to put together once you make the snowman. And things that are fast to setup are wonderful in a pinch.
Literally, just dump everything into a big bin. Yup, it’s that simple!
If you don’t have polar animals on hand, use LEGO people, cars, or other small animals.
For the fine motor tools, they are really anything that can be used for scooping, pinching, or grabbing. You could use a measuring cup, a sand shovel, a spoon, plastic cups, funnels, or tongs.
Last, but not least, pop the snowman bottle into your sensory bin for toddlers. Leave the cap off though – you’ll see why in a sec.
Playing in the “Snow” Inside!
You can approach using this sensory bin in tons of different ways.
My favorite is to just give my kids the bin, no explanation, and see what happens. This usually leads to lots of creative pretend play!
They moved all the different polar animals through the “snow” and told a little story about it.
Next, we made the sensory bin into a game – a race to fill up the snowman! They needed to use the fine motor tools to add as many cotton balls as possible, using a timer to track things.
Keep on using timers with these 3 easy egg timer activities!
Or hunt through all the “snow” for the animals with the fine motor tools.
The options are endless!
For a focus on sensory play, your kids could enjoy feeling the soft cotton balls and building little snowmen or igloos. They could use the tools to move around the cotton balls and hide the animals underneath them.
The options for play are endless and up to your kids’ imagination.
Check out these 25 sensory activities for more toddler fun!
Why Sensory Bins are Awesome for Busy Play
My favorite thing about sensory bins is that they can be stored and saved for the future. They’re perfect for when you need something fast and easy.
I like to store this sensory bin for toddlers in a ziplock baggie. Everything fit neatly into a big gallon bag.
To make it fit more compactly, I squeezed the air out a little. That made it simple to stick this into a big plastic bin with other baggies of sensory bin supplies.
Keep your little ones busy with simple busy bins for independent play!
But this is also something that I think my kids might want to pull out for a few days. To keep it all put together and ready to go ASAP, I picked a bin with a lid for easy storage.
Mostly, I love how quick this activity came together and how many different ways my kids can play with the sensory bin for toddlers.
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