Playing with water is always a hit for my boys. And the boys particularly love when I set up water sensory soup bins for them.
I personally like water based sensory bins because they're super easy to set up (simply dump and play) and are extremely versatile. We've done sensory soup bins with apples, fall leaves, buttons, LEGO bricks...the list goes on and on. Sometimes we add color or scents and sometimes we don't.
In this particular case, we add some natural materials (i.e., pinecones) and a scent (i.e., cinnamon) to our water base. The colored water came naturally from these two materials.
The end result is this lovely cinnamon scented pinecone sensory bin. And goodness did it smell good!
What You'll Need for this Pinecone Sensory Bin
You don't need much to put this cinnamon and pinecone sensory bin together. We simply used:
- Pinecones - How many you need will depend on how big your container is. We used the same pinecones that we used for this Reggio math tray.
- Ground cinnamon - A couple of sprinkles should do the trick, but it will, again, depend on the size of your container. You could also toss in a cinnamon stick or two, if you'd like.
- Water - You want enough for the pinecones to be partially covered.
- Kitchen utensils - I added some plastic cups and bowls, a whisk, a ladle, and a large plastic spoon. Other items to consider adding: measuring cups, measuring spoons, or a funnel.
Start by mixing some cinnamon into the water. Then add the pinecones. You can keep the kitchen utensils to the side of the container or add them if you'd prefer.
I know the water appears dirty, but I prefer to call it rustic. And when I showed my husband the pictures, he described it as "definitely fall colored." Ha! But here's how the sensory bin should look when you have everything added to the container.
And now for some close ups of the pinecones. Don't they look lovely?!
Toddlers & Preschoolers Love this Pinecone Sensory Soup Bin!
As with our other sensory soups, the boys loved scooping and pouring using the big spoon and ladle. They'd scoop up a pinecone...
Add it to the bowl...
And top it off with more water.
They also loved to mix up their concoction with the whisk. As you can see, adding real kitchen utensils like these to sensory bins are such a simple way to work on fine motor skills. And they make sensory bins much more engaging! That's why I like to include them with water sensory bins, in particular.
Anyway, continuing on...Once their bowl of pinecone soup was full and/or thoroughly mixed, the boys would dump their soupy mixture out so that they could make a new batch. Sensory soup bins like these are always dump and pour on repeat. My boys love doing that (as do most kids, I'm guessing).
So, that's it. I love how this cinnamon scented pinecone sensory bin turned out. It was so simple to put together, smelled great, and the kids loved it. Will you be giving it a try?
