Dinosaur Water Play Sensory Bin

Looking for dinosaur sensory activities for toddlers and preschoolers? Try this simple dinosaur water play sensory soup bin!

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Two things most kids seem to love are dinosaurs and water. So, I combined the two into a super simple sensory soup, which, if you've never tried a sensory soup before, then you're going to get hooked on them!

Sensory soups require little or no prep and are super engaging. Seriously, my kids always happily play with sensory soups like this one for hours and sometimes even days!

Now, this particular dinosaur water play sensory bin falls under the "played with for days" category and eventually spawned into this dinosaur basketball sensory bin.

So, if you're looking for a quick and fun activity that's perfect for a hot summer day, then give this dinosaur themed sensory bin a try!

A version of this post originally appeared on the CBC Parents website.

Dinosaur Water Play Sensory Bin: What You'll Need

For this activity, we used:

• Water - How much you'll need depends on the size of your sensory bin container.

• Dinosaur toys - We used the Dinosaur TOOB that was sent to us by Safari Ltd.

• Liquid watercolors or food coloring - I combined green and black liquid watercolors to make a murky green swamp-like color. A few drops will do the trick.

• Kitchen utensils - We always use a big bowl, a ladle, a large spoon, and a whisk, but feel free to add whatever you'd like.

Add the water and some liquid watercolors to a large plastic container and mix well. Then add the dinosaurs and kitchen utensils. Then, it's ready for play!

Toddlers & Preschoolers Will Love this Dinosaur Sensory Bin with Water!

My boys always enjoy water sensory soup bins like this. They find them so calming and soothing. Seriously, there's just something about water sensory play and swishing your hands around in the water. (Plus, they're a great way to cool off on hot summer days.)

Including kitchen utensils is a great way to encourage some fine motor skills practice, as well as for exploring concepts like volume and measurement. They're also great for giving dinosaurs showers and baths, as my kids informed me.

Plus, this activity was really great for imaginative play and storytelling. I mean the stories my boys were telling me were absolutely delightful. My three year old was particularly attached to a brontosaurus and created an adorable high-pitched, squeaky voice for it while narrating all sorts of fun adventures. He did a similar thing with this dino-basketball sensory bin too. Here are some action shots of him narrating some stories:

What kind of stories do you think your kids will tell while playing with this dinosaur water play sensory bin? And, which dinosaur will be their favorite?

Dinosaur Basketball Sensory Bin with Water

Inspired by the children's book Dino-Basketball, this dinosaur basketball sensory bin with water is tons of fun for toddlers and preschoolers.

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My boys created this water sensory bin idea all by themselves. First, they requested non-colored water, some dinosaurs, and some basketballs, which might seem a bit unusual, but less so when you know that the book Dino-Basketball exists...a book they really like!

And it ended up being a really cute way to work on fine motor skills and engage in some imaginative play. Plus, we can make some connections to the book that inspired it all.

So, sensory, fine motor, literacy skills, and imaginative play are all rolled into one with this cute dinosaur basketball sensory bin with water.

What You'll Need for this Dinosaur Basketball Sensory Bin

I know what you're thinking...dinosaurs and basketballs seems like an odd combination. But the inspiration for this activity was the book Dino-Basketball by Lisa Wheeler. It's a fun colorful book that features dinosaurs playing basketball and my boys love it! They love it so much that they ended up creating this sensory bin themselves.

Grab a copy of the book

My boys also really love sensory soups (aka sensory bins with water, paired with spoons and other kitchen materials). So, dinos + basketball + water = this activity.

So, to make this dinosaur basketball themed sensory soup, we used:

• Water - How much you'll need depends on the size of your sensory bin container.

• Dinosaur toys - A special thanks to Safari Ltd. for sending us a Dinosaur Mega TOOB to play with.

• Foam basketball stickers or similar - I found these at the dollar store.

• Kitchen utensils - We always use a big bowl, a ladle, a large spoon, and a whisk, but feel free to add whatever you'd like.

• Dino-Basketball by Lisa Wheeler - To read before or after playing.

To set up the sensory bin, simply add the water, dinosaurs, foam basketballs, and kitchen utensils to a large plastic container. Then it's ready to go!

Playing with the Dino-Basketball Sensory Bin

The addition of scoops and spoons to water sensory bins like this always allows for lots of fine motor practice. My boys enjoy scooping up the water (or whatever items we add to the water!) and dumping them into the bowl. Scoop, pour, repeat. Over and over.

This particular sensory soup encouraged a lot of storytelling for K, who became particularly fond of a brontosaurus. He even came up with a super cute squeaky voice for the brontosaurus and spent lots of time playing with it one on one. You can see his little connection with it in the photos below. (PS: This brings back memories of grade two where I got to adopt a long-necked dinosaur. I, of course, named it Little Foot like the good 80s child that I am.)

This activity kept both of my boys busy and playing for quite some time. Unsurprising, given how much they love water sensory play ideas!

This Dino-Basketball inspired water sensory soup is part of a water play for kids blog hop, which was organized by Heather from Crayon Box Chronicles. Unfortunately, she couldn't participate at the last minute, so instead, I've included one of her water play ideas below, alongside the other ideas from this blog hop.

Tutti Fruity Watercolors from Crayon Box Chronicles

LEGO Water Bin from Mamas Like Me

Rose Petal Water Play from Frogs Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

Bird Bath Pretend Play from My Nearest and Dearest

Glowing Galaxy Water Bin from Fun-A-Day!

Will you be giving this dinosaur basketball sensory bin a try? And have you read the book that inspired it?

Dinosaur Count and Stamp

J has become quite interested in dinosaurs lately, so I planned a bunch of dinosaur themed ideas for the boys to explore.  I really wanted to incorporate dinosaurs into a math related activity since J is obsessed with all things number related.  The end result was this dinosaur count and stamp activity.

Materials

• 10 paper plates
• Dinosaur stamps
• Stamp pad
• Permanent marker

Write the numbers 1-10 on the paper plates with the permanent marker.

The invitation to stamp and count dinosaurs.

The Invitation to Play

I chose to set up this activity for J while K had his afternoon nap.  The object is to practice counting (not that J needs any practice with that) while stamping the corresponding number of dinosaurs on the plate.  

J excelled at this activity, as I knew he would.  However, I found it extremely interesting how, as he progressed through the numbers, he would grab the corresponding number of alphabet blocks from his wooden ABC puzzle and lay them next to the plate.  If you look closely in the pictures, you should be able to see what I am talking about.

A close up of two stamped dinosaurs.

Getting ready to stamp.

"Oooh, a pteranodon."
Lately, J has been calling all dinosaurs (other than a T-Rex) a pteranodon.

Looking closer at the dinosaur stamps.

Once he was finished stamping, J engaged in some other types of play using the paper plates.  First, he laid all the plates on the floor, saying the number names as he saw them.

Laying out the paper plates.

Then he lined them up in numerical order.

Nice line!

Then he saw a block from a cube puzzle and started rolling it onto the plate.  He was really hilarious to listen to at this point.  He kept cheering himself on and saying things like, "Aw, I missed it.  Try again."  It was a delight to watch.

"I got it, mom!"

Finally, he lined up the plates to form a hopscotch (he does love hopscotch!) and placed a block from the cube puzzle on each plate.

Hopscotch formation.

This activity lasted way longer than I could have possibly anticipated.  And I plan on recycling the paper plates for a craft in the future.

Dinosaur Dig Sensory Bin

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

We have been exploring dinosaurs a lot lately, so why not do a sensory bin too?

Materials

• Large plastic bin
• Coffee grounds
• Gravel rocks
• Paint brushes
• Safari Ltd. Dinosaur Skulls TOOB

I buried the dinosaur skulls in the "dirt" for the boys to do some digging for dinosaurs.  I even included paint brushes.  I attempted to read a dinosaur book to the boys to kind of prepare them for this activity.  However, they wanted nothing to do with it.  K kept insisting that I read an ABC book.  That's really the only types of books he wants to read...like ever.

Anyway, I just explained to the boys that we were going to dig for dinosaur skulls and talked a little bit about fossils.

The invitation to play.  I apologize for the poor picture.
I thought I had taken a better picture, but apparently not.

Both boys reached for the paint brushes first.

"Oooh, paint brushes."

Clearing away some "dirt" to find some dinosaur skulls.  Also, note the socks on the floor by J.
He starts every sensory bin off by removing his socks.

The only logical thing to do next would be to paint the floor with coffee grounds...at least according to J.  What can I say.  The kid loves to paint!

J painting the floor.

K tried painting with the coffee grounds too, but he mostly painted the top of his head.  Instead, he was more interested in the gravel rocks and the coffee grounds.

K picking up a rock.

Then, of course, the only logical thing for a toddler to do, would be to dip the rock in some coffee grounds and give it a taste.  Mmmmm.

What is this stuff, mom?!

And I am happy to report that even after sampling some coffee grounds, K slept a delightful 9 hour stretch that night.  That hasn't happened in, well...a very long time...  

Perhaps coffee = better sleep?

Hahaha...I only kid.

Anyway, the bin was partially successful.  We decided to cut it short, though, when coffee started being dragged into our dining room on the white carpets.  I wasn't up for stain removal, especially with company coming over later that day, so we put the bin away.

And as much as the coffee grounds worked as a good dirt base, I still can't stand the smell of the stuff.  So I think next time I will just stick to plain old regular dirt.

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Three Dinosaur Themed Play Dough Activities

We love play dough in our house.  We always make our own and the best recipe we have tried (and absolutely LOVED) is this no bake play dough from The Imagination Tree.  It is honestly the easiest and best homemade play dough ever.  It lasts forever too.  Usually one batch of this play dough will last us many months.  The particular batch of play dough in the pictures below has been stored in our refrigerator since before St. Patrick's Day and is still as fresh as the day we made it (and it has glitter in it too because it's more awesome that way!).  

Now having said all of that, you can always use store bought play dough for these activities.

Activity #1: Making Dinosaur Tracks

Materials

• Play dough
• Dinosaur figures
• Rolling pin

The invitation to make some dinosaur tracks.

K was the first to check out this invitation.  He figured out what to do right away.  Although, he didn't always stamp using the dinosaur's feet...

K making tracks with a dinosaur head.

Making more dinosaur "tracks."

Time to roll it out for some more track making.

Stegosaurus' turn to make tracks

J eventually joined us, even sporting a dinosaur shirt!

Rolling out the dough!

Making some dinosaur tracks.

Making lots of tracks!

ROAR!

A close up of the dinosaur tracks.

J also spent some time counting the dinosaur tracks.  He even practiced some skip counting when he used a two-legged dinosaur.  He also described the different shapes of the dinosaur footprints.  

Both boys LOVED this dinosaur activity.

Activity #2: Cutting Out Dinosaur Shapes

Materials

• Play dough
• Dinosaur shaped cookie cutters
• Rolling pin

The invitation to cut out dinosaur shapes.

K showed absolutely no interest in this activity.  J, however, checked it out for a bit.

J cutting out a "ty-anno-aurus rex."

Voila!

Activity #3: Dinosaur Stamping

Materials

• Play dough
• Dinosaur stamps - Ours were a gift from my parents when they went to Drumheller last year.
• Rolling pin

The invitation to do some dinosaur stamping.

At this point, K was totally bored with the play dough activities.  So once again, only J tried it out.

Stamping a dinosaur.

A close up of one of the dinosaurs stamped in the play dough.

 Then J decided to use the stamps to make more "footprints."

Making some more dinosaur tracks, but with the stamps instead.