Fresh flowers can make even the darkest days brighter. It’s not often that we have them in the house, but my sweet husband – I mean children, wink, wink – got me a beautiful bouquet of flowers for Mother’s Day. Surprisingly, they lasted for 2 weeks! Once they started to go, I couldn’t bear to just throw them away. So, I thought about it for a while and decided to create an activity for my kiddos.
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This Flower Sensory Bin is one of my favorites because it is so simple to set up! And the kids just loved it! It was a gorgeous day out, so we took it to the yard and enjoyed the sunshine while playing. I brought out a few bowls, tongs, scoops and some water and let their imaginations do the rest!
I love it when we can take play outside. It adds another element that you just can’t get inside. They had the flowers in the sensory bin, in the play house, in the kiddie wheelbarrow, going down the slide and so much more! They came up with so many more uses than I could ever have thought of!
Related: Are you looking for some amazing sensory bins that will not only hold your children’s attention, but will also teach them something? Check these out!
My kids have always enjoyed collecting fallen leaves and such in the yard, so having a tub of flowers ready to go was like hitting the jackpot! Even better, the baby got to play too! He squated right beside the tub and moved the flowers to a bowl and back again. Such a great activity for developing those – ever so important – fine motor muscles.
Now that he is walking, his play has become so much more complex. He watches his brothers and repeats much of what he sees them do. He carried his bowl of flowers to the play house and used a scoop to mix (or bang) it around. It was adorable and just filled my heart. To watch him copy his bothers in a way like that is one of the most rewarding things a Mommy could hope for.
The kids enjoyed it so much, we definitely plan on creating a flower bin again this summer. If we have a chance, we might go pick wild flowers, or even plant some of our own to use. So many options! The beauty of a bin like this is that there is no wrong way to put it together. Use leaves, pine cones, rocks or twigs. The options really are endless when it comes to nature. Here is what we used in ours:
Materials
Other Ideas
- Twigs
- Rocks
- Pine cones
- Leaves
- Grass
- Feathers
- Soil
- Wood chips or mulch
- Dandelions (we could probably fill the entire tub with just these, haha!)
- You could even add some backyard friends for additional play possibilities!
How To
It was really easy to set up! The most time consuming part was snipping the flowers off of their stems. Looking back, I could have just put them in with the stems and had my kiddos take the petals off; but I enjoyed the whole flower look of the bin, minus stems. Once all of the flowers were in the bin, I poured water in a few small bowls and added some tongs and scoops for play.
My middle kiddo went right over, grabbed the tongs and got to creating. He put each flower into the bowl so carefully and then took it to the play house to ‘make soup’. I just love listening to their big imaginations. The play that they dream up is absolutely fabulous. I will never get tired of it!
And if you are having a tired kind of day where you just want to relax, a flower bin is perfect for you! The beautiful colors, lovely smells and peaceful play of your littles will have you kicking your feet up and enjoying the day in no time. What is your favorite sensory bin?
Looking for more engaging ideas? Check out a time consuming (for the kiddos, that is!) and rewarding activity for kids of all ages that will give Mommy some time to drink her coffee!
