When you need an activity that comes together in seconds, a button sensory bin is just what you’re looking for. Plus, once it’s ready to go, you can use it for a week (or more!) of learning and play.
A button sensory bin reminds me of a crock-pot recipe
Hear me out. 😂
Who doesn’t love a crock-pot recipe where you just dump all the ingredients in? Quick, easy, and perfect for busy days.
Making a button sensory bin follows the same steps: dump the “ingredients” into a shallow container and ta-da. Quick, easy, and perfect for busy days.
And just like any good recipe, I have easy swaps for you if you don’t have buttons on hand.
Let’s get cooking – er, I mean, playing!
🌟 Related: A giant coloring poster is the ultimate ready-in-seconds activity, and you can use any of your favorite art supplies.
Materials
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- Buttons – if you don’t have buttons, you could swap them out for beads, cut-up straws, or unifix cubes
- Pipe cleaners
- Colored rice – making dyed rice is quick, easy, and inexpensive (plus, you can keep it and use it for years)
- Cups, bowls, spoons – optional
- Shallow container
Let’s make a button sensory bin
First, add all of your materials into your shallow container.
Next, invite your child to explore the materials freely.
Watching how your child uses the open-ended materials is the very best part.
💡 Teacher Tip: When we set out a sensory bin like this in our preschool classroom, we leave it out for at least one week. How children use the materials on Monday might be completely different by Thursday. Leaving the materials out is also an excellent opportunity for children to return to what they have worked on the previous days.
Don’t let the simplicity of a button sensory bin fool you into thinking it’s “too easy” or “too young”
This is the perfect type of activity for preschoolers because there are layers and layers of learning through play.
While playing with our button sensory bin, preschoolers practice:
- Fine motor skills: lacing buttons on pipe cleaners
- Hand-eye coordination skills: making bracelets and necklaces with the buttons on pipe cleaners
- Imagination skills: whipping up a batch of pretend “button soup” to serve to their friends
- Social skills: sharing tools and materials
- Color recognition: naming colors of buttons
- Math skills: sorting buttons by size or color
- Long-term play: using the same materials in new, creative ways over several days
So, yes, the setup is simple and might look basic, but the learning and play are anything but.
What age are sensory bins appropriate?
All of the sensory bins we share on our website, including button sensory bins, are ones we have made in our in-person preschool with just under 3 to 6 year old preschoolers (all of our students are past the age of putting things in their mouths).
Safety note: Appropriate adult supervision is required when using any sensory bin. Buttons can be a choking risk, so use your best judgment to decide if your child is ready for this activity.
We LOVE sensory bins!
Check out these fabulous sensory bin ideas:
Frequently Asked Questions
Any that can safely use the materials.
Try beads, cut-up straws, or unifix cubes.
Check out our tutorial (it’s incredibly easy).
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