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!
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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!
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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.
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!
Playing with the Car Themed Sensor Bin
Both Lucy and Theo were so excited to dive right in and start playing!
Theo immediately ran his hands through the beans over and over.
He loved filling the cardboard tubes with beans and then watching them spill out.
The cardboard tubes also made great tunnels for the cars!
Theo also enjoyed making the cars go through the tunnels way up high and then watching them fall into the sensory bin.
And sometimes the cars had to travel though bean filled tunnels.
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!)
Our car themed sensory bin got a lot of action the first day!
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
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What a fun idea for a sensory box!! My 2.5 year old son will love this.
This is a wonderful sensory bin for transportation themes and exploration. TY so much for sharing via FB today! Awesome!
My son would love this!
Fantastic! Great materials too. I adore the tubes for filling and pouring. Thank you for sharing. Pinned.
Thanks so much, Heather!
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.
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.
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!!!
How scary, Bianca! Definitely a good reminder for us all to not leave the kids unattended with small parts!
My son would love this sensory bin!
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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
I made this sensory bin for my son this morning. I think he will love it!