This vibrant and engaging Butterfly Sensory Bin is a great addition to a butterfly theme or spring unit. It’s a hands-on way for kids to have a rich learning experience that targets fine motor skills, sensory development, and so much more!
RELATED: Butterfly Yarn Activity
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Butterfly Sensory Bin
Kids absolutely love sensory bins! Many studies by occupational therapists found that sensory bins are a great way for children to reach developmental milestones. They help kids to engage their senses and play in a hands-on way which is beneficial for cognitive development.
Here are the Top Three Benefits:
- Encourages sensory exploration and curiosity
- Develops fine motor skills: These bins implore children to use their hands by digging, pouring, scooping, or stirring. Their hand muscles develop as well as their hand-eye coordination. This is important for many tasks from dressing themselves to holding a pen.
- Stress-relieving: This activity helps children to calm down, self-soothe, or simply have a few moments of quiet time. The hands-on tasks will soothe them and allow them to self-regulate.
Supplies
Here is what we used to create the butterfly sensory bin.
Supplies Used:
- Sensory Bin
- Colored Butterflies
- Butterfly Life Cycle pieces
- Tongs
- Magnifying Glass
- Logs
- Food Coloring
- We purchased a ‘fish catching net’ from Wal-mart for $1.
- Flowers were from the Dollar tree
- Leaves from the yard
TIP: You can add and omit items according to your preferences. Sensory Bins can be adjusted to suit any theme, holiday, or preference. It’s such an adaptable activity!
How to Make Colored Rice
This is the first step, and the colored rice will be used as the base. I prefer using rice because it is sensory-rich and affordable.
Directions:
- First, add 2.5 pounds of rice into a gallon bag.
- Add a few drops of green liquid gel food coloring.
- Then add 10 pumps of hand sanitizer and a few tablespoons of vinegar.
- Seal the bag and give it a good shake to ensure the colors and ingredients are evenly distributed. Then, let it sit for around 15 minutes to allow the colors to settle.
- After the wait, give it another gentle mix and allow the colored rice to rest in the bag a bit longer.
Notes:
- Adjust the quantity of rice based on the size of the container you’re using.
- For my sensory bin, I used 10 pounds of rice in total (I use expired rice that I get from discount stores.)
- You could add more drops of food coloring to achieve a more vibrant color.
The idea is to make the rice resemble green grass. Color your rice in advance because it requires some prep and resting time.
How to Set Up the Sensory Bin
STEP 1: Add the filler
Add the colored rice to your sensory bin. Let it cover the entire base of the container.
STEP 2: Add themed items
Here we’ve added butterflies and cards of the different printable butterfly life cycle stages, plus items that represent each stage.
Add leaves, twigs, flowers, or anything else that you have that fits the theme.
You could also make the butterflies yourself. Here are some cool crafts you can try:
- Butterfly Craft Coffee Filter Butterflies
- Folded Butterfly and Caterpillar
STEP 3: Add fine motor tools
Add all sorts of fine motor tools or manipulatives. We added a fish-catching net, magnifying glasses, coffee filter butterflies, and tweezers.
Other items you can use are tongs, scoops, or measuring cups.
STEP 4: Discuss the life cycle stages and explore
We added toys to match each life cycle. You could use them as a matching activity and ask the kids to place the corresponding toy next to the card. If you don’t have matching toys, just print two sets of the life cycle cards.
You can also find similar life cycle cards in the Life Cycle of a Butterfly Printable Pack. This pack is also great for discussing the stages and helping kids understand these fascinating creatures.
Kids can use the tools to explore what they find hidden in the sensory bin. Ask the kids to describe what they see. For example, they can describe the colors, patterns, and shape of the caterpillar. This also helps with vocabulary and language development.
Butterfly Sensory Bin Sorting Activity
This is a second type of bin that you can use. I wanted to incorporate color-themed and sorting activities, so I added butterfly toys to my original butterfly sensory bin.
If you choose to add the plastic butterflies, you can extend the activity by asking kids to sort by:
- Color
- Numbers/counting
- Colors and numbers
This butterfly STEM toy is a great addition to your sensory bin. 7 sorting petals make up a flower which can be used with toddlers for math games, and with kindergarten or PreK children too!
Kids will learn how to count, sort, and match with this fun toy. Simply add it to the original sensory bin.
8 different colored butterflies are included in the set, with 8 different shapes. Kids can sort the butterflies by color, shape, or BOTH.
There are also number cards included that can be used to create simple equations or kids’ games. For example, kids can add a specific number of butterflies to each flower petal.
The activity can be used in so many different ways depending on your children’s learning needs or the skill that you want to target.
How to Use the Butterfly Sensory Bin
Wondering how to get the most out of the activity? Target a specific theme and modify the activity to suit it. Here are some examples:
- Fine Motor: Hide small butterfly toys or cutouts within the rice and let your little explorers hunt for them. Kids can count how many they find or identify the different colors and patterns on each butterfly.
- Science: Introduce the life cycle of a butterfly to the classroom. Discuss the various stages and add cards with each stage to the sensory bin. You can give the kids a magnifying glass to simulate a science experiment and allow them to explore.
- Math: Ask the students to count various items. Add counting cards or sorting cards and allow them to carry out the activity. The kids can even sort the items in different manners: according to shape, size, and pattern. This is a great trick to get them used to number patterns or word problems.
- Fine motor: Give the kids additional tools like tweezers, tongs, spoons, or scoops. They can even transfer items from the sensory bin into another container. They can do this by pouring, carrying, or scooping.
- Art: Add various materials like pipe cleaners, yarn, and pom poms. Then encourage the kids to create their butterflies like the ones found in the sensory bin.
Tip: To extend the fun experience, do other butterfly-themed activities, read butterfly books or go on nature walks.
More Butterfly Activities
Have your little ones’ imaginations take flight with more butterfly-themed activities:
- Letter B Crafts B is for Butterfly
- Colored Salt Butterfly
- Finger Paint Butterfly Craft
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar Activities + Printables
- Crunching Munching Caterpillar: Butterfly Activities For Preschoolers
