Spring Sensory Bin

I've seen about sensory bins online several times here and there. So when our March MOPS meeting topic was about special needs kids, I thought it would be a fun project for us moms to put together for our kiddos, since they're so great for kids of all types. Not sure about other kids, but mine love it, so much so that I think I might actually put together more themes! Here's our spring sensory bin:

Items:
 ~1 inch of dyed rice (there are many dying methods, we used vinegar and green food coloring, because it was fast drying time and we had to prepare so much for the rest of our MOPS group!)
plastic flowers (I got a cheap bouquet from the $ store and cut it apart)
plastic bugs
ladybug buttons (this was extra I added in after MOPS)
1 feather
plastic Easter egg for scooping
magnifying glass
tweezers
* perfumed spray scent

These are some activity ideas:
1. Put rice in the egg to make a shaker.
2. Use tweezers to put insects inside eggs. (I'm surprised at how well even Carter does with the tweezers!)
3. Bury and find bugs.
4. Use eggs to scoop and pour. (the kids looove this part)
5.  "Plant" flowers in "grass" or eggs filled with "grass"
6. Inspect textures w. magnifying glass (they actually used it more for scooping, but whatev)
7. Does the feather hold rice or does it fall through?
8. Do tweezers pick up rice? If so, count them into eggs.
9. Create your own fun.

 

Yes, you'll end up with some spilled rice, but my word, each of the kids have had so much fun with this, it's worth it!