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You are here: Home / By Age / Preschool / Car Themed Sensory Bin for Toddlers and Preschoolers

February 9, 2014 By Chelsey 22 Comments

Car Themed Sensory Bin for Toddlers and Preschoolers

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Sensory bins are one of my favorite toddler and preschooler activities! They really are so fun to put together and always seem to provide hours of play for children. Our latest sensory bin is car themed for all the car-loving children out there!

Are you following our Sensory Box & Small World Inspiration Pinterest Board?

 

Car Themed Sensory Box~ Buggy and Buddy

My two year old is madly in love with car play!  My purse and jacket pockets always contain a few Hot Wheels for wherever we may be, and Theo has even been known to go to sleep at night cuddling his toy monster truck!

I decided to focus on Theo’s love of cars for our latest car themed sensory bin. And although I focused on Theo’s love of cars when putting it together, my five year old joined right in the sensory play too! (This post contains affiliate links to Amazon.)

Car Themed Sensory Bin

 Materials for the Sensory Bin

  • Plastic Box or other container to hold the materials
  • Black beans
  • Yellow straws
  • Scissors
  • Red, green, and yellow pom poms
  • Toilet paper rolls
  • Toy cars

Disclaimer: Beans pose a choking hazard to children under age 3. Use a larger loose part that is not a choking hazard in place of the beans if you’re child is still mouthing items. (Here is a link to a choking hazard tester you can purchase.) Never leave your child unattended.

Setting up the Sensory Bin

While the kids were resting, I assembled this simple car themed sensory bin.

Car Themed Sensory Bin

I pulled out our trusty 28 quart plastic box that we usually use for sensory bin play and poured in some dry black beans. (When you are done with the beans, be sure to keep them for future bins and crafts! I have a big plastic bin where I keep all my sensory bin materials like pastas, beans, and lentils to be used again.)

Then I cut up some yellow straws and placed them on top of the beans representing lines on a road. I also added some red, yellow, and green pom poms to resemble traffic lights. The final touch was a few empty toilet paper rolls which I stuck right into the beans.

And of course the cars!

Cars in the sensory bin

Playing with the Car Themed Sensor Bin

Both Lucy and Theo were so excited to dive right in and start playing!

Car sensory bin for a variety of ages

 

Theo immediately ran his hands through the beans over and over.

Car Themed Sensory Bin for Toddlers

 

He loved filling the cardboard tubes with beans and then watching them spill out.

Filling the cardboard tubes with beans from the sensory bin

 

The cardboard tubes also made great tunnels for the cars!

Cars traveling through cardboard tubes in the car themed sensory bin

 

Theo also enjoyed making the cars go through the tunnels way up high and then watching them fall into the sensory bin.

Playing with the car themed sensory bin

And sometimes the cars had to travel though bean filled tunnels.

Car Themed Sensory Bin

 

Lucy took a different approach with the sensory bin. She used the straws to make candles for a cake! (She added her little toy mouse to the sensory bin to play… and eat lots of cakes!)

Making a 'cake' in the sensory bin

Our car themed sensory bin got a lot of action the first day!

Car Themed Sensory Bin

 

The kids have been playing with it over five consecutive days now. It’s so interesting to watch how their play changes and becomes more complex as the days go by!

Be sure not to miss these other toy car posts on Buggy and Buddy:

  • Indoor ‘Snowy’ Car Ramp
  • The Ultimate Hot Wheels and Toy Car Activity Roundup
  • How to Make Wooden Ramps and Roads for Toy Cars

 
 

Filed Under: Preschool, Sensory Play, toddler, Transportation Tagged With: cars, sensory box, toddler play

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Comments

  1. Malia {Playdough to Plato} says

    February 11, 2014 at 2:22 pm

    What a fun idea for a sensory box!! My 2.5 year old son will love this.

    Reply
    • smiles says

      February 29, 2020 at 2:34 pm

      We used a large under the bed storage box and filled it with 2 bags of aquarium rocks. That way I didn’t have to worry about roaches etc with food. Boys have played with it every week for the last 4 years. We put cheap excavator and dump trucks in there. They love it.

      Reply
  2. The Preschool Toolbox says

    February 11, 2014 at 3:51 pm

    This is a wonderful sensory bin for transportation themes and exploration. TY so much for sharing via FB today! Awesome!

    Reply
  3. Georgina @ Craftulate says

    February 12, 2014 at 7:50 am

    My son would love this!

    Reply
  4. Heather @ Crayon Box Chronicles says

    February 12, 2014 at 8:13 am

    Fantastic! Great materials too. I adore the tubes for filling and pouring. Thank you for sharing. Pinned.

    Reply
    • Chelsey says

      February 12, 2014 at 9:38 am

      Thanks so much, Heather!

      Reply
  5. JAF says

    February 13, 2014 at 11:15 pm

    Perhaps it’s just me, but I would use pebbles or some kind of non-food in my sensory table. It is insensitive to use food as a toy when so many people in your own community even may be hungry…? You could use small pebbles or sand or the list goes on.

    Reply
    • Chelsey says

      February 14, 2014 at 8:27 am

      Thanks so much for sharing your opinion on food use in the home or classroom, JAF. It’s always a controversial topic where each person needs to make their own decisions based on their beliefs and life experiences. For me, I am okay with using sensory bins in my home, especially since we save the sensory bin materials to reuse. I would invite any readers on the fence with this topic to read Teach Preschool’s post on using food in the classroom. She shares some valuable points on both sides.

      Reply
  6. Bianca says

    February 15, 2014 at 12:19 am

    Hi Chelsey,
    It’s funny last week in my preschool room I set up something similar to this but with small black pebbles, natural materials and matchbox construction machines. The children loved it and played continuously for 4 days sorting, counting, estimating and pouring rocks.That was until one of my mums arrived at school with the horror story that her son had put a bean sized pebble in his ear!!! Luckily they were able to get it out with the help of gravity and some olive oil but the story horrified me. We used this incident as a learning opportunity but will be cautious next time!!!

    Reply
    • Chelsey says

      February 15, 2014 at 9:49 pm

      How scary, Bianca! Definitely a good reminder for us all to not leave the kids unattended with small parts!

      Reply
  7. Jill says

    February 16, 2014 at 7:08 pm

    My son would love this sensory bin!
    Thank you for stopping by the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop this week. We hope to see you drop by our neck of the woods next week!

    Reply
  8. Rebecca says

    February 23, 2014 at 10:33 am

    This looks so much fun. I love the black beans for the road.

    I have featured this on The Sunday Showcase: http://www.herecomethegirlsblog.com/2014/02/23/prepare-for-school.html

    Reply
  9. Christina says

    April 30, 2014 at 6:30 am

    I made this sensory bin for my son this morning. I think he will love it!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 13 sensory play ideas for preschoolers {Weekly Kids' Co-op} » Gift of Curiosity says:
    February 19, 2014 at 9:01 pm

    […] Car themed sensory bin from Buggy and Buddy […]

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  2. Fun activities to prepare for school - Here Come the Girls says:
    February 23, 2014 at 10:21 am

    […] Car Themed Sensory Bin from Buggy and Buddy […]

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  3. Fun Transportation Activities for Kids {Discover & Explore} - Buggy and Buddy says:
    March 26, 2014 at 4:02 pm

    […] Sensory bins are one of my favorite toddler activities! They really are so fun to put together and always seem to provide hours of play for children. Kids will love playing with this Car Themed Sensory Bin!  […]

    Reply
  4. Spring Themed Sensory Bin - Buggy and Buddy says:
    March 31, 2014 at 8:30 pm

    […] always love sensory bin play, and I hadn’t put together a new sensory bin for them since our car themed sensory box from a few months ago. I went through my giant plastic bin of sensory materials and pulled out some […]

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    April 2, 2014 at 2:00 am

    […] Stoplight Car Sensory Bin from Buggy & Buddy […]

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    December 1, 2014 at 2:11 am

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    February 5, 2015 at 10:00 am

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  9. 10 Fun Transport Activities | Playful Learners says:
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    […] Traffic Lights  Shape Sorter Bikes Tin Boats Counting with diggers Tyre printing Car Themed sensory bin from buggy and buddy Mark making with cars Junk modelling vehicles  Walnut boats Posted on August 18, […]

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Welcome to Buggy and Buddy! I'm Chelsey, a former teacher and parent living on the central coast of California. I love sharing crafts, science, STEM and STEAM activities, free printables and more! Read More…

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