This awesome Easter sensory bin is a fun way to have a great time with your kids while helping them practice their fine motor skills, and encouraging their creativity and imagination in an Easter-themed play environment.
With our free printable activity sheets that go along with this Easter sensory bin idea, you’ll have at least 6 different ways you can play! Let’s hop to it.
- Table Of Contents
How To Create An Easter Sensory Bin
Step 1)
Dye your sensory bin filler; you can use dried rice, white beans, or chickpeas. Put one cup of the filler of your choice in a plastic bag with a few drops of food coloring and half a teaspoon of vinegar.
Seal the bag and shake it until the color coats the beans. Dump out the bags onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and allow it to dry completely before playing.
Step 2)
While you’re waiting for your sensory bin filler to dry, you can print out and prepare the free printable activity sheets included in this article. I’ve included more details about each individual activity later.
Step 3)
Add your dry, colored sensory bin fillers into your sensory bin. I used white beans dyed pink, purple and blue as well as some yellow chickpeas I had leftover from this Bee-Themed Sensory Bin. You can use a large plastic container or sensory tray, whatever you have available.
Step 4)
Add plastic Easter eggs, other small Easter-themed toys from the dollar store or craft store and whichever free printable activity you choose first, to your sensory bin.
I chose the Easter Egg hunt game, so I printed out the sheets, cut out each egg and used packing tape to ‘laminate’ each egg. Then I hid them in the sensory bin under the colored beans.
Step 5)
Add sensory tools, and fine motor tools like scoops and bowls to your bin. This is a great way to encourage young kids to practice using spoons, pouring and other skills.
Materials Needed
- For the sensory bin filler:
- Bag of dried white beans
- Food coloring
- White vinegar
- Plastic bags
- Parchment paper
- Baking sheet
- For the Sensory Bin:
- Spoons
- Bowls
- Sensory tray, plastic bin, or sensory table
- Free printable sheets
- Plastic Easter eggs or other Easter items
- Colored pom poms
- Optional Fine Motor Skill Tools:
- Helping Hands Fine Motor Tool Set
- (or child-safe tongs and tweezers)
Free Printable Easter Sensory Bin Activities
Easter Egg Hunt Sensory Bin Game
This Easter egg hunt game is super simple. Just print out two copies of the Easter eggs and cut out one of the two copies.
You can hide the paper Easter eggs at the bottom of your sensory bin under the colored beans. As your child finds each egg, they can stack it on top of the matching egg on the second copy until they’ve found and matched them all.
If you want to reuse this egg hunt activity over and over, you can laminate the eggs before you cut them out. If you don’t have a laminator, you can use packing tape like I did. Just cut out each egg, stick it onto the packing tape and cover both sides. Then trim off the extra packing tape.
Easter Egg Matching Sensory Bin Game
Similar to the last game, print off a copy of the Easter eggs and cut them out. Then cut each egg in half and hide both halves in the Easter sensory bin. Your child can find all the egg pieces that are hiding in the bin and then match them together.
Just like the previous game, if you want your egg pieces to last longer you can laminate them.
Carrot Counting, Chick Counting, & Bunny Counting
There are two ways you can use these printable games.
Option 1) If you have small toy carrots, chicks or bunnies, add 10 of each into your sensory bin and print off one copy of each counting activity. As your child finds each toy, they can pull it off and add it on top of the counting sheet until they’ve found all 10 of each.
Option 2) If you don’t have small Easter toys, you can print off two copies of the counting sheets. Cut out one copy of the carrots and hide them underneath the beans in your sensory bin. As your child finds each carrot, they can lay them on top of the second carrot counting sheet until they’ve found each one. Take the opportunity to practice counting to 10 once all have been found.
Color Matching
Choose colored pom poms that match the colors of your toy, plastic, colorful Easter eggs and add both to your sensory bin. Next, ask your child to fill an Easter egg with the same color of pom pom that matches. You can count and see how many pom poms fit in each Easter egg for some extra counting practice. Use this opportunity to build vocabulary and help your child learn the names of different colors.
Benefits of this Easter Sensory Bin
Sensory Stimulation:
This sensory play activity provides a multisensory experience, engaging children’s senses of sight, touch, and sometimes even sound. The varied textures in this bin and bright colors of the dyed beans, plastic eggs, and pom poms offer rich sensory stimulation, promoting sensory exploration.
Fine Motor Skill Development:
Activities like scooping, pouring, and grasping small objects in the sensory bin help develop young children’s fine motor development and strengthen little hands. Handling the sensory tools, plastic eggs, and pom poms encourages hand-eye coordination, finger dexterity, and grip strength, which are essential for tasks like writing, drawing, and self-care activities.
Cognitive Development:
These Easter-themed sensory bin activities, such as matching games and counting exercises, stimulate cognitive skills like memory, concentration, and problem-solving. Children can enhance their cognitive abilities and math skills as they search for hidden objects, match pairs of fun items, and count items, fostering critical thinking and logical reasoning.
Language and Vocabulary Enrichment:
Engaging in sensory play with this fun Easter sensory bin encourages language development as children describe their sensory experiences, express preferences, and communicate observations. Naming colors, discussing textures, and describing the characteristics of objects in the bin promote vocabulary expansion and language fluency.
Sensory Regulation and Relaxation:
For some children, sensory activities can have a calming and regulating effect on their nervous system. Engaging in sensory play provides an outlet for sensory input, helping children regulate their emotions, reduce stress, and promote relaxation, which can be particularly beneficial for children with sensory processing differences or sensory-seeking tendencies
Final Thoughts
I hope your young kids have a lot of fun with this sensory play idea like mine did! This Easter sensory activity is a great opportunity for tactile exploration.
Feel free to add different items to your Easter bin if you have them at home. Things like Easter grass, or shredded paper can offer different textures for your kids to explore.
Stick around Crafty Kids Play for more sensory bin ideas, free printables and crafts for kids of all ages.
