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This fun and exploratory Coral Reef Sensory Bin was a blast to make for my toddler. Her favorite part was eating the blue gelatin and playing with the sand. She also was a big fan of the sea animals and shells in this exciting DIY sensory bin. The sand or the “beachfront” is my edible kinetic sand recipe, from one of the first blogs I ever posted! I still love this kinetic sand when I made it three years ago and so does my daughter who is now five.
The DIY Coral Reef Sensory Bin is a great educational and learning opportunity to teach kids about coral reefs, underwater ecosystems, the ocean, sea animals, and the globe as they’re presented with an Invitation to Play! My sensory bin craft contains blue gelatin, seashells, sea creatures, and a bin to house all the fun, and is super easy to make. Read below for my easy step-by-step tutorial that walks you through how to make your very own Coral Reef Sensory Bin! It’s such a fun activity for young children, particularly toddlers and preschoolers, kindergarteners, even older kids!
Sensory play is beneficial for toddlers and preschoolers, even older kids! Sensory bins stimulate multiple senses at the same time—including touch, sight, smell, and sound. They also improve fine motor skills as kids dig, scoop, squeeze, and grasp objects in the sensory bins. Sensory bins promote social skills such as taking turns, teamwork, cooperation with their peers, and communication among their friends, family, and parents.
They don’t need to be expensive or fancy. All that is needed is a sensory bin base such as rice, beans, birdseed, or “sand,” and a few items to pour, pinch, or grasp (i.e., cups, spoons, jumbo scoopers, and large tweezers). This one did cost a bit to buy the sea animals and shells, but aside from that, I already had the pantry staples to make the kinetic sand and the blue gelatin was cheap. There are plenty of other sensory bins you can make for next to nothing.
According to Salus University Health’s article, sensory activities support cognitive development as kids can sort hidden items by size and color. Placing letters and numbers inside the bin (like this alphabet sensory bin) can help kids learn the alphabet and numbers. Sensory bins are calming activities and provide a quite environment for children to play independently and calmly. They also allow kids to play with a specific theme, such as a coral reef, in a small, confined area.
Toss in some tongs, handy scoopers, or bowls, and this is one fantastic fine motor activity that toddlers and preschoolers love! Kids will need to use the small muscles in their hands and fingers to squeeze scoopers to pick up the gelatin and sand, thereby improving their fine motor skills. My toddler girl was motivated to see a bright blue ocean stuffed with sea creatures that were trapped inside alongside a beautiful sandy kinetic sand beachfront!
Sensory bins are open-ended which means kids can play in any way that they choose to with the sensory bin. Kids use their senses to explore and play in a sensory bin without meeting any expectations. It’s a meaningful experience to a kid as there is no defined outcome with exploring and discovering the sensory bin.
Sensory bins teach kids how to cooperate and play well with peers. It’s a great opportunity to teach toddlers about sharing and playing well together. Sensory bins encourage socialization and language development as there are many objects in a sensory bin to talk about. You can even hide items in the bin and challenge your preschool aged children or toddlers to find the hidden items.
According to Lumiere Child’s article, kids can enhance fine motor skills by grasping, pinching, stirring, and pouring—all within the sensory bin. Kids can sort items by color and categorize them by shape and size, improving their cognitive skills. Clear bins work best for a sensory bin so that kids can see through them while playing.
Sensory play is beneficial for toddlers and preschoolers, even older kids! Sensory bins stimulate multiple senses at the same time – including touch, sight, smell, and sound. They also improve fine motor skills as kids dig, scoop, squeeze, and grasp objects in the sensory bins. Sensory bins promote social skills such as taking turns, teamwork, cooperation with their peers, and communication among their friends, family, and parents.
According to Salus University Health’s article, they also support cognitive development as kids can sort hidden items by size and color. Placing letters and numbers inside the bin (like this alphabet sensory bin) can help kids learn the alphabet and numbers. Sensory bins are calming activities and provide a quite environment for children to play independently and calmly.
Starburst Blue Raspberry gelatin. We use this Starburst Blue Raspberry gelatin but you can also use JELLO or any other brand of blue gelatin.
Shells. I bought these seashells on Amazon.
Sea creatures. I found these toy sea animals on Amazon.
Storage bin. A storage bin is needed to house the coral reef toys.
STEP 1: To make this fun fine motor and sensory activity, you’ll first need to prepare either Starburst Blue Raspberry gelatin or blue JELLO. When you pour the gelatin into the baking dish, carefully place the sea animals. The point of this activity is to have children use a spatula or tongs to scoop out the sea animals, using fine motor skills to help accomplish tasks.
You probably already know this, but the gelatin will only last an hour or two, at most. If your kids are anything like mine, they’ll be eating the blue gelatin with the utensil or with their fingers! It’s a completely edible sensory bin except for the sea creatures and shells.
STEP 2: To prepare the kinetic sand, you may want to stir all the kinetic sand ingredients around in your bin, which is what I did. At least that will eliminate any extra dish when it comes time to do the dishes! If the recipe is too dry, try adding more oil until it reaches the desired consistency. The edible kinetic sand recipe includes all-purpose flour, cornmeal, any type of oil, and corn syrup. I doubled the recipe to obtain the amount of sand in the coral reef sensory bin.
STEP 3: Pour the sand into one half of your sensory bin, taking your hands to push the sand to one side. Using a spatula, scrape out the gelatin and sea creatures and neatly stack them next to the kinetic sand, in the other half of your sensory bin. Add the shells down the middle to separate the ocean from the sand, creating a seashore.
STEP 4: If you make this, don’t forget to leave a rating and comment to help other readers!
When you're done with the gelatin, separate it from the kinetic sand. Pour the kinetic sand into a clean bin and let the kids have a blast playing with the seashells and sea animals in the remainder of the kinetic sand!
How to Dye Rainbow Beans for Sensory Bins
Baking Soda, Vinegar & Food Coloring Experiment
Fourth of July Patriotic Sensory Bin
DIY Spring Easter Grass Sensory Bin
Easy Brown Bag Easter Bunny Craft
Easy DIY Handmade Mother's Day Cards
Finally, if you make this Coral Reef Sensory Bin, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this craft a rating! I love to hear from everyone who makes this sensory bin craft and always do my best to respond to all comments.
If you do make this craft, don’t forget to tag #elisemccollister on Instagram! It makes me so happy to see your DIY sensory bin photos!
Sensory activities are trending and for valid reasons! Sensory play is beneficial for toddlers and young children as it teaches kids about the five senses and prepares them for the real world by performing real life skills and tasks such as pouring, stirring, grasping, and pinching. My toddler loves all my easy DIY sensory bins and she adores playing with the rainbow colored white beans. If you like this sensory bin idea, then you'll love my ABC Rainbow Sensory Bin as it uses the rainbow beans you dye as you make this kid's craft.
My simple rainbow beans craft contains dry white beans, food coloring, and rubbing alcohol or white vinegar. You’ll need large gallon-sized freezer bags, baking sheets, and foil to make this easy kid’s craft.
All you need is a freezer bag per color of dye and beans. For example, I made the rainbow colors, so I used 6 freezer bags and about 15-20 drops of each color of food coloring per freezer bag. I started with red and dumped 3 cups of white beans inside, followed by about 15 drops of red food coloring. For the orange beans, I used yellow and red food coloring. The green and purple beans used food coloring from a neon food coloring package.
After you add the food coloring and beans to the freezer bag, add ½ teaspoon rubbing alcohol or white vinegar to each bag to prevent the color from bleeding onto hands. Mix well and let them dry on a foil-lined baking sheet for an hour or two—or overnight. I let them all dry out for two hours and they turned out just right.
Sensory bins are open-ended which means kids can play in any way that they choose to with the sensory bin. Kids use their senses to explore and play in a sensory bin without meeting any expectations. It’s a meaningful experience to a kid as there is no defined outcome with exploring and discovering the sensory bin.
Sensory bins teach kids how to cooperate and play well with peers. It’s a great opportunity to teach toddlers about sharing and playing well together. Sensory bins encourage socialization and language development as there are many objects in a sensory bin to talk about. You can even hide items in the bin and challenge your preschool aged children or toddlers to find the hidden items.
According to Lumiere Child’s article, kids can enhance fine motor skills by grasping, pinching, stirring, and pouring—all within the sensory bin. Kids can sort items by color and categorize them by shape and size, improving their cognitive skills. Clear bins work best for a sensory bin so that kids can see through them while playing.
Sensory play is beneficial for toddlers and preschoolers, even older kids! Sensory bins stimulate multiple senses at the same time – including touch, sight, smell, and sound. They also improve fine motor skills as kids dig, scoop, squeeze, and grasp objects in the sensory bins. Sensory bins promote social skills such as taking turns, teamwork, cooperation with their peers, and communication among their friends, family, and parents.
According to Salus University Health’s article, they also support cognitive development as kids can sort hidden items by size and color. Placing letters and numbers inside the bin (like this alphabet sensory bin) can help kids learn the alphabet and numbers. Sensory bins are calming activities and provide a quite environment for children to play independently and calmly.
White beans. Any kind of dry white beans will work.
Food coloring. Use your favorite colors of food coloring or create a rainbow using rainbow colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.
Rubbing alcohol. Rubbing alcohol or white vinegar is needed.
STEP 1: Pour the beans into as many freezer bags as you want colors. We used 6 bags for the following six colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.
STEP 2: Add food coloring to each freezer bag. We added about 15-20 drops of each color. Pour in the rubbing alcohol and mix well.
STEP 3: Pour the dyed beans onto foil-lined baking sheets and let dry for at least 2 hours.
STEP 4: If you make this craft, don’t forget to leave a rating and comment!
Toss is some toys such as handy scoopers, jumbo tweezers, cups and or bowls and make this is one fantastic fine motor activity that toddlers and preschoolers love! Kids will need to use the small muscles in their hands and fingers to squeeze scoopers to pick up the beans, thereby improving their fine motor skills. My toddler daughter was motivated to make the beans act like rain as they “rained” on the sensory bin, so she continued to fill up handy scoopers repeatedly, which was a terrific fine motor activity.
Baking Soda, Vinegar & Food Coloring Experiment
Fourth of July Patriotic Sensory Bin
St. Patrick's Day Rainbow Sensory Bin
DIY Spring Easter Grass Sensory Bin
Simple Fourth of July Kid's Crafts
Easy Brown Bag Easter Bunny Craft
Easy DIY Handmade Mother's Day Cards
Finally, if you make these rainbow beans, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this craft a rating! I love to hear from everyone who makes this craft and always do my best to respond to all comments.
If you do make this craft, don’t forget to tag #elisemccollister on Instagram! It makes me so happy to see your craft photos!
These two-ingredient salt dough handprint and footprint crafts make the perfect Christmas gifts for grandparents, godparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends! For my baby's second Christmas, we made these and gave both sets of grandparents a set of handprints because they're only little once and we need to preserve the memory of them being so tiny and little. These crafts are a beautiful and classic craft to celebrate and always remember baby’s first (or second or third) Christmas! If you like handprint crafts, then you'll love my Handprint Keepsake Ornament, Handprint Ornaments, and Clay Handprint Bowls!
Let your kids explore their hand and feet with these fun DIY salt dough handprints and footprints. All you need is flour and salt—and some water. We also used paint brushes to paint them once they dried. After the paint dried, we sprayed Mod Podge acrylic varnish to seal the paint. Finally, we tied a ribbon in the hole and hung up our beautiful baby handprint and footprint in our kitchen. Fast forward five years later and we still have them hanging in our kitchen! It’s one way we’ll always remember how tiny our daughter was when she was born.
This super simple and cheap craft is perfect for preschool, kindergarten, at daycare, even at homeschool or homeschool preschool. I love how you can make these charming handprints and footprints using just salt, flour, and water!
Flour. Use all-purpose flour to make your salt dough handprint and footprint craft.
Salt. Salt blends with flour to form the handprint and footprint dough.
Water. Water is needed to thin out the dough.
Acrylic paint. As an option, you can paint your finished salt dough handprint and footprint with acrylic paint.
Paint brush. Grab a few paint brushes and get ready to paint.
Mod Podge spray. Mod Podge varnish spray seals the acrylic paint and prevents long-term cracking.
Ribbon. Use any color ribbon you like to hang your salt dough handprint and or footprint craft on a wall.
STEP 1: Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl until combined. Add the ½ cup water and slowly add 1 tablespoon of water at a time, until desired consistency is reached. The ideal consistently should resemble play dough. When you knead the dough make sure to coat your hands in flour as this will help to prevent hands from sticking. If you skip this step, the dough sticks to your fingers and hands, making it much more difficult to knead. Make sure to use a pen to make a hole in the top to hang from.
STEP 2: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the handprint/footprint on the lined baking sheet and into the oven. Depending on your oven, you may need to flip them and cook for additional time after the 3 hours is up. Bake at 200° F for 3 hours. If they’re moist on the bottom after 3 hours, consider flipping them and watching them closely until they’re completely baked and dry.
When they’re done baking and have cooled off, feel free to use acrylic paint to paint them. I painted 3 coats of magenta and creme acrylic paint on each. On the backs, I painted my daughter’s name and the year. After they dried, I sprayed 2-3 coats of Mod Podge all over both sides them. Mod Podge is a varnish that protects the paint. Finish by hanging with a ribbon.
STEP 3: If you make this craft, don’t forget to leave a rating and comment!
Baking Soda, Vinegar & Food Coloring Experiment
Fourth of July Patriotic Sensory Bin
DIY Spring Easter Grass Sensory Bin
Simple Fourth of July Kid's Crafts
Easy Brown Bag Easter Bunny Craft
Easy DIY Handmade Mother's Day Cards
Finally, if you make this Two-Ingredient Salt Dough Handprint and Footprint craft, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this craft a rating! I love to hear from everyone who makes this craft and always do my best to respond to all comments.
If you do make this craft, don’t forget to tag #elisemccollister on Instagram! It makes me so happy to see your craft photos!
If you’ve read the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, then you’ll understand that this is a rainbow alphabet themed sensory bin for a reason! My good friend (who is also a toddler mom) made a sensory bin similar to this but used rainbow colored rice instead of rainbow beans. I loved her idea and knew I needed to re-create it in my own way. If you like rainbow sensory bins, then you'll love my St. Patrick's Day Rainbow Sensory Bin!
I really wanted to do something different for a sensory bin base. I’ve made 10+ sensory bins using different colored rice and my toddler was growing tired of rice in her sensory bins. I feel like they were boring her. She wasn’t as interested in them because each one had rice.
I changed it up and bought three two-pound bags of Great Northern beans. I finally got around to dying them with food coloring and realized I had way too many and only really needed two bags. I ended up dying way too many beans for this sensory bin, but now I am set and have a lot of different colored beans.
My three-year-old girl loved the rainbow beans and the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom board book as we read it daily—once before her afternoon nap and once at bedtime. We also used the alphabet letters from my girl’s wooden alphabet puzzle. She’s in preschool and is learning the letters so this is perfect for her age. At preschool, they learn one letter per week. I was pleasantly surprised that she played in this rainbow bean sensory bean for at least a week!
To make this fun DIY sensory bin, you’ll need a storage bin, Great Northern or cannellini beans, large one-gallon freezer bags, food coloring, vinegar, an alphabet puzzle, and a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom board book.
Sensory play is beneficial for toddlers and preschoolers, even older kids! Sensory bins stimulate multiple senses at the same time – including touch, sight, smell, and sound. They also improve fine motor skills as kids dig, scoop, squeeze, and grasp objects in the sensory bins. Sensory bins promote social skills such as taking turns, teamwork, cooperation with their peers, and communication among their friends, family, and parents.
According to Salus University Health’s article, they also support cognitive development as kids can sort hidden items by size and color. Placing letters and numbers inside the bin (like this alphabet sensory bin) can help kids learn the alphabet and numbers. Sensory bins are calming activities and provide a quite environment for children to play independently and calmly.
Bin. Grab a storage bin for this ABC Rainbow Sensory Bin activity.
Beans. Great Northern or cannellini beans make the base of this sensory bin.
Freezer bags. Large one-gallon freezer bags work best.
Food coloring. Food coloring is needed to make the rainbow colored beans.
Vinegar. White vinegar helps the food coloring stick to the beans, preventing the food coloring from spreading onto your hands.
Puzzle. Add the letters from a rainbow ABC puzzle to your sensory bin.
Book. You’ll need a copy of a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom board book to add to your ABC Sensory Bin. If you don’t have this book, add another ABC-themed book or toy.
STEP 1: To dye the Great Northern beans into rainbow colors, first separate the beans into 6 separate one-gallon freezer bags. Add a few drops of food coloring and a half teaspoon vinegar to each freezer bag. We used red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple food coloring to make the rainbow colors. Spread the beans out on foil-lined baking sheets, allowing them to dry for at least an hour, preferably overnight.
STEP 2: Pour the dried beans into a storage bin, in order of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.
STEP 3: Spread the letters of the ABC puzzle throughout the bin, adding the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom board book. Present your invitation to play to your little ones and watch them explore, discover, and learn as they play!
STEP 4: If you make this craft, don’t forget to leave a rating and comment!
Toss is some handy scoopers or bowls and this is a fantastic fine motor activity that toddlers and preschoolers love! Kids will need to use the small muscles in their hands and fingers to squeeze scoopers to pick up the beans, thereby improving their fine motor skills. My toddler girl was motivated to see a new color explosion with the rainbow colored beans, so she continued to fill up handy scoopers repeatedly, which was a terrific fine motor activity.
St. Patrick's Day Rainbow Sensory Bin
Baking Soda, Vinegar & Food Coloring Experiment
Fourth of July Patriotic Sensory Bin
Simple Fourth of July Kid’s Crafts
Easy Brown Bag Easter Bunny Craft
Easy DIY Handmade Mother’s Day Cards
Finally, if you make this ABC Rainbow Sensory Bin, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this craft a rating! I love to hear from everyone who makes this sensory bin craft and always do my best to respond to all comments.
If you do make this craft, don’t forget to tag #elisemccollister on Instagram! It makes me so happy to see your DIY sensory bin photos!
This easy, cheap, and fun baking soda, vinegar, & food coloring experiment is the perfect toddler or preschool activity for kids. It’s best to do this outdoors or over a tray where kids can make a mess and learn as they play – also known as play-based learning. To make this easy kid’s activity, you need food coloring, baking soda, vinegar, a muffin tin, and pipettes.
We made this a couple years ago when my daughter was three years old; she had a blast and didn’t even want us to help her. Seeing the chemical reaction of the baking soda as it touches vinegar is one fascinating thing to watch for kids. The food coloring adds color, which makes this a fun and colorful preschool or kindergarten activity. This activity is perfect at preschool, in elementary school, at homeschool, and at daycare.
Food coloring. You can use any type of food coloring you like. My favorite food coloring is this Ann Baker set.
Baking soda. Baking soda mixes with vinegar to create a chemical reaction.
Vinegar. White vinegar is needed to mix with the baking soda.
Muffin tin. A mini muffin tin or regular muffin tin will suffice.
Pipettes. Pipettes are needed to drop the vinegar into the muffin tin. We use these pipettes.
STEP 1: Pour food coloring in the muffin tins. I like to alternate colors to make it more interesting.
STEP 2: Add a couple sprinkles of baking soda over the food coloring.
STEP 3: Pour the vinegar into a bowl and use a pipette to fill the muffin tin with vinegar. Each time the child drops the vinegar in, they will witness science happening right before their eyes!
STEP 4: If you make this craft, don’t forget to leave a rating and comment!
If you want to teach your kids science, then this is the perfect activity for their curious minds. Let them watch the chemical reaction when baking soda meets vinegar in this easy and safe homemade science experiment. My three-year-old had an absolute blast doing this. Each time the child fills up the pipette with vinegar, they are working on their fine motor skills. Toddlers should be practicing fine motor activities daily and this is one fun way to accomplish that.
When baking soda is mixed with vinegar, something new is formed. The mixture quickly foams up with carbon dioxide gas. If enough vinegar is used, all of the baking soda can be made to react and disappear into the vinegar solution. According to Primary Connections’ article, the reaction is the sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and acetic acid (vinegar) reacting to carbon dioxide, water, and sodium acetate.
The solid baking soda is placed in liquid vinegar, which produces carbon dioxide gas—which is evident because of the bubbles that formed in the foaming mixture. Eventually, as you will see, all of the solid (baking soda) dissolves into the vinegar, to produce a new solution.
This is probably a free activity for most people as most people probably have a muffin tin, baking soda, and vinegar lying around the house. Food coloring may be one thing you may need to get, in addition to pipettes. I bought a large supply of pipettes on Amazon awhile back for another project so we had those going in.
This is a wonderful homeschool, preschool, kindergarten, first, or second grade activity, especially in warmer months, where it can be done outdoors.
This is a great fine motor activity as the kids will need to use the small muscles in their hands and fingers to squeeze the pipette to fill it up with vinegar each time. My toddler girl was motivated to see a new color explosion, so she continued to fill up the pipette with vinegar repeatedly, which was a terrific fine motor activity for her.
Fourth of July Patriotic Sensory Bin
Simple Fourth of July Kid's Crafts
DIY Homemade Mother’s/Father’s Day Gift—Handprint Potted Cactus
Easy DIY Handmade Mother's Day Cards
Paper Plate American Flag Kid's Craft
Easy Kid's Father's Day Gifts or Summer Crafts
Finally, if you make this Baking Soda, Vinegar, & Food Coloring Experiment, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this activity a rating! I love to hear from everyone who makes this kid’s activity and always try my best to respond to all comments.
If you do make this activity, don’t forget to tag #elisemccollister on Instagram! It makes me so happy to see your recipe photos!
It’s finally March which means St. Patrick’s Day and all things rainbow and green are around the corner! If you’re like me and love holidays and your kids, then you’ll love this fun St. Patrick’s Day Rainbow Sensory Bin idea! To be honest, it’s the only sensory bin I’ve created in the past few months that my five-year-old truly enjoys. I made this about a week ago and she still plays with it every day which makes me so happy! If you like easy DIY rainbow sensory bins, then you'll definitely want to make my ABC Rainbow Sensory Bin!
She, like most toddlers, LOVES rainbows and we usually do rice sensory bins, so the idea of rainbow beans really appealed to her. She pretends to feed her dinosaurs the beans. She also hides her Frozen characters under the beans. If you like EASY DIY spring sensory bins, then you'll love my Spring Easter Egg Sensory Bin and DIY Spring Easter Grass Sensory Bin!
I prefer to buy all holiday toys at the Dollar Tree because they’re cheap and unique. I bought three two-pound bags of Great Northern beans at Walmart for this activity. Tip: I recommend only buying two bags of white beans as I had way too many and couldn’t even squeeze them all into this sensory bin, which was a waste in my opinion (but I’ll use them for another activity, later). One bag wont’ be enough and three bags is too many.
Sensory play is so important for kids, especially if they can’t play outside. Playing outside is like a playing in a ginormous sensory bin, but the weather—especially in winter here in Salt Lake County—doesn’t always cooperate. In fact, most of the winter is not ideal for us to be playing outside here in northern Utah.
According to Chaos and the Clutter’s article, sensory play encourages problem solving, increases brain development, provides sensory input, and helps children better retain information that they have learned. Sensory activities also enhance language development as a kid can describe what they’re touching, tasting, hearing, seeing, smelling, or experiencing through their body sensations. Sensory play helps improve fine motor skills and aids kids in learning about the big world around them.
White beans. Dry white beans are needed to make this sensory bin.
Freezer bags. Large gallon size zip top freezer bags like this are ideal.
Food coloring. My favorite food coloring is this Ann Baker set that is my go-to food coloring for EVERYTHING!
Small plastic pots. I found these small pots at Dollar Tree; Amazon sells these plastic pots that would be perfect.
Fake gold coins. We found fake gold coins here.
Festive green tie. A festive green tie or other St. Patrick’s Day-themed toy or item will work. Feel free to get as creative as you wish!
Mardi Gras necklaces. We found Mardi Gras necklaces at Dollar Tree but they are also sold here.
STEP 1: To dye the beans different colors, place equal amounts of beans in large gallon-sized freezer bags. Add 15-20 drops of red food coloring to one bag. Repeat with orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. I had to make orange using red and yellow food coloring. I also used neon green which came out pretty light. Alternatively, you can use 15 drops of yellow and two drops of blue to get a darker green shade. Included in the neon food coloring was also purple.
STEP 2: After the food coloring has been added, flip the freezer bag upside down and side to side and try to get the food coloring to spread evenly over the beans. You may need to add more food coloring if the color you want to achieve hasn’t been attained. Once you are satisfied with the color, empty the bag out onto a foil-lined baking sheet and let it dry out for an hour or so. I had a really hard time getting the blue dye not to stain our fingers. Other than blue, the others dried just fine. When they’re all dry, add them to a sensory bin and let the kids play.
STEP 3: In a bin, I organized my beans by rainbow colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. On top of the beans, I placed small black plastic pots I found at my local dollar store. I also found fake gold coins, a festive green St. Patrick’s Day tie, and Mardi Gras necklaces at Dollar Tree. You can probably find similar items to use at Walmart or on Amazon. Amazon sells these fake gold coins, plastic black pots, festive green tie, and Mardi Gras necklaces for great prices.
STEP 4: If you make this craft, don't forget to leave a rating and comment!
Leprechaun Kid – Easy St. Patrick’s Day Craft
Baking Soda, Vinegar & Food Coloring Experiment
Rainbow Pot O’ Gold—Easy St. Patrick’s Day Kid’s Craft
Easy Toddler and Kid Easter Crafts
DIY Spring Easter Grass Sensory Bin
Easy Brown Bag Easter Bunny Craft
Finally, if you make this St. Patrick’s Day Rainbow Sensory Bin, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this sensory bin a rating! I love to hear from everyone who makes this craft and always try my best to respond to all comments.
If you do make this sensory bin, don’t forget to tag #elisemccollister on Instagram! It makes me so happy to see your craft photos!
St. Patrick’s Day is known as an Irish holiday celebrated on March 17th annually. The iconic shamrock is the symbol of the lucky day and we are here to show you how to create a shamrock out of paper. It’s surprisingly easy and cheap! This is such a fine motor activity/spring kid's craft, suitable for toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarteners, and even older kids. It is a wonderful homeschool, daycare, and kid spring activity that involves minimal supplies that many can afford. I easy and cheap dollar store, paper crafts like these.
To make my easy St. Patrick's day preschool craft, you'll need two different shades of green cardstock, scissors, a ruler, hot glue and a hot glue gun, and string or jute twine. It doesn't take too much talent and if you can fold paper, then you can easily make this spring craft.
St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, has gained a lot of popularity in the United States and the three-leaf clover, a type of trefoil plant, has been considered the unofficial flower of Ireland for centuries as shamrocks grow wild all over the beautiful green country. According to Time’s article, Irish legend says that Saint Patrick used the shamrock as an educational symbol to explain the Holy Trinity to nonbelievers as he converted the Irish to Christianity in the fourth century. In case you’re wondering if a shamrock has three of four leaves, there’s your answer! The trinity indicates three leaves. A four-leaf clover is a rare gem and if you are fortunate enough to find one, you should consider yourself quite lucky!
This folklore solidified in the public conscience in the centuries following St. Patrick’s death, which is presumed to have occurred on March 17. Around the 17th century, Mike Cronin, a historian, professor, and academic director of Boston College’s program in Dublin, reported that the shamrock’s importance began to converge with the religious celebration of the saint’s feast day: Those living in poverty still wanted to look nice at church, and luckily for them, an appropriate adornment was growing on the ground outside their homes. Eventually, the tradition of sporting a shamrock continued to catch on.
Moreover, Irish botanist and cleric Caleb Threlkeld wrote a treatise on Ireland’s native plants in 1726 that described the shamrock as the country’s national symbol, and explained its significance in the holiday. Threlkeld wrote: “This Plant is worn by the People in their Hats upon the 17. Day of March yearly, (which is called St. Patrick’s Day).” Further, he explained that, “It being a Current Tradition, that by this Three Leafed Grass, he emblematically set forth to them the Mystery of the Holy Trinity.” (The author continues to describe the “debauchery” and “excess in liquor” that was partaken in on that sacred day.)
I’ve never been to Ireland, but I have Irish roots and both my parents are about half Irish, making me about half Irish. In fact, I did an ancestry test and most of my heritage comes from northern Europe and Ireland. Ireland looks absolutely beautiful and green, with large rock cliffs, and gorgeous countrysides. One day, I’ll have to go explore my roots by traveling over there. For now, I’ll wear green on March 17 and make as many shamrock crafts as I possibly can!
STEP 1: Cut four 1.5-inch x 12-inch strips of green cardstock. One strip will be the stem.
STEP 2: Use scissors to cut three 1.5-inch x 8-inch strips of the other green cardstock. These will be the smaller inner pieces of each shamrock leaf.
STEP 3: Fold the three longer and three inner pieces in half. Use your fingers to fold the ends together, forming a heart shape. Place hot glue where the two ends meet and be very careful not to burn your fingers. If your hot glue gun uses a low and high setting, use the low setting as it’s just paper. You can also use school glue if you’re making these with kids, or in a classroom setting. Refer to the post for photo references.
STEP 4: Once all the pieces are glued together to form heart shapes, glue the smaller inner pieces to the inside of the larger outer pieces as shown in the post.
STEP 5: Bend the top of the stem, about 3 inches from the top so that the top shamrock leaf can easily rest on top. Glue the other two leaves upside down, directly touching the bottom of the top leaf. Use string, green yarn, or jute twine to hang the paper shamrock, or leave as is.
STEP 6: If you make this craft, don't forget to leave a rating and comment!
Leprechaun Kid – Easy St. Patrick’s Day Craft
Rainbow Pot O’ Gold—Easy St. Patrick’s Day Kid’s Craft
Easy Toddler and Kid Easter Crafts
Finally, if you make this Folded Paper Shamrock craft, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this craft a rating! I love to hear from everyone who makes this craft and always try my best to respond to all comments.
If you do make this paper shamrock craft, don’t forget to tag #elisemccollister on Instagram! It makes me so happy to see your craft photos!
I love all the rainbows associated with St. Patrick’s Day! Sometimes when I’m developing a craft, it can be tricky and unforeseen problems occur. This craft, however, was REALLY easy. I enjoy being surprised when crafts are awfully easy! Plus, I thoroughly enjoy painting as it’s a kind of therapy for me, so I really liked making this. Spring is around the corner and all things St. Patrick's Day are popping up at stores and in my Pinterest feed!
To make this fun kid's craft, you will paint a paper plate with these acrylic or non-toxic kid's paint. The rest is even easier! If you’re making this for a class such as preschool, kindergarten, homeschool or homeschool preschool, daycare, etc., you may want to draw the black pot and yellow “coins” before having the kids start on this activity so that when they do start, they can just cut, paint, and glue everything. This is one superb fine motor activity for the kids that they surely enjoy!
Let the kids’ imagination run wild as they paint a rainbow on a paper plate. They’ll be using their fine motor skills to paint, cut, and staple this craft, and it’s so much fun! Kids love rainbows, holidays, and crafts, so this is perfect for them to hone their fine motor skills by painting and cutting.
Paper plate. A paper plate is needed to make this spring craft.
Acrylic paint. Acrylic paint or non-toxic kid-friendly paint is best for this kid’s craft. We love this acrylic paint best.
Paint brushes. Grab a few different paint brushes and let the kids get to work.
Black and yellow construction paper. You’ll need black and yellow construction paper to make this craft. If you have white paper and paint, you can paint a piece of paper black and a piece yellow.
Glue stick. A glue stick is needed to stick paper to paper. I always use glue sticks when sticking paper to paper as they work just fine.
Scissors. You’ll need scissors. If the kids are cutting the paper, make sure to use kid-friendly scissors.
Stapler. Any type of stapler will work to staple the paper plate to the pot.
STEP 1: Use acrylic paints to paint a paper plate in rainbow colors, alternating red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, until the plate is fully painted. Let dry.
STEP 2: On a black piece of construction paper, use a pencil to draw a large pot and then cut it.
STEP 3: Draw five or six different sized “coins” on the yellow construction paper, and cut them out or have the kids cut them out. Draw a bubbly shaped top for the pot using the yellow construction paper.
STEP 4: Use a glue stick to glue the coins and bubbly top onto the pot.
STEP 5: Use scissors to cut a spiral shape on the paper plate.
STEP 6: Use a stapler to staple the pot to the cut spiral.
STEP 7: If you make this craft, don't forget to leave a rating and comment!
St. Patrick's Day Rainbow Sensory Bin
Leprechaun Kid – Easy St. Patrick’s Day Craft
Easy Brown Bag Easter Bunny Craft
Finally, if you make this Rainbow Pot O’ Gold – Easy St. Patrick’s Day Kid’s Craft, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this craft a rating! I love to hear from everyone who makes this craft and always try my best to respond to all comments.
If you do make this craft, don’t forget to tag #elisemccollister on Instagram! It makes me so happy to see your craft photos!
St. Patrick’s Day is the next upcoming holiday and to celebrate it, we made this fun leprechaun kid with my daughter’s photo. What is a leprechaun? According to CBC Kids' article, a leprechaun is a type of fairy known in Irish folklore to stand as tall as a three-year-old kid. Typically, leprechauns are described as bearded men who wear green suits and hats. Legend has it that there are no female leprechauns—only male; however, that didn’t stop me from turning MY three-year-old girl into one for this craft.
Stories tell about leprechauns being shoemakers and spending a lot of time making and repairing shoes. Some people believe that when a leprechaun is near, you can hear the tapping of his tiny hammer as he hits nails into the shoes. These little guys are known to be mischievous (just like a three-year-old!) and they have been known to enjoy playing tricks on people.
Leprechauns are thought to be mythical creatures, but old Irish tales report that the first leprechaun siting occurred back in the 700s.
It has been told that leprechauns have pots of gold that are hidden in the Irish countryside. If someone catches a leprechaun, the story is that he must give his pot of gold away to the capturer. Leprechauns are known to be sneaky, just like three year olds. Hmm... I’m starting to see a pattern between leprechauns on toddlers!
STEP 1: On the backside of the glitter green cardstock, trace the bottom of a coffee cup or draw a circle and then cut it. Do the same for the hat.
STEP 2: Cut two ½-inch strips of black construction paper. These will be for the belt and the strap on the hat.
STEP 3: On the backside of the glitter gold cardstock, draw two buckles—one for the belt which is slightly larger, and one for the hat which will be smaller. You want them to overlap the black strip. Use a utility knife to carefully cut out square holes in the center of each.
STEP 4: Cut two one-inch strips of green construction paper. You’ll need two long strips for the legs and two shorter ones for the arms. Accordian fold the cut green strips as shown in the post.
STEP 5: Use a pencil to draw one shoe on the black paper. Cut it out. Trace the shoe with a pencil on another piece of black paper and cut it out to create two shoes.
STEP 6: Use a pencil or pen to draw one hand on the brown paper. Cut it out and then trace around it to form an equal-sized second hand.
STEP 7: Use a glue stick to glue the black straps to the body and hat. Glue the gold buckles on top. Next, use a hot glue gun to glue your kid’s photo to the top of the body. Hot glue the hat on top of the head. Use the glue stick to glue the arms and legs. Use a glue stick to glue the shoes on the bottom of the legs and the mittens on the arms.
STEP 8: If you make this craft, don't forget to leave a rating and comment!
Rainbow Pot O' Gold - Easy St. Patricks' Day Kid's Craft
Easy Brown Bag Easter Bunny Craft
Finally, if you make this Leprechaun Kid – Easy St. Patrick’s Day Craft, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this craft a rating! I love to hear from everyone who makes this craft and always try my best to respond to all comments.
If you do make this craft, don’t forget to tag #elisemccollister on Instagram! It makes me so happy to see your craft photos!
Cheap and easy kid’s crafts are one of my favorite! Spring is around the corner and this Easy Paper Shamrock Craft is the best fine motor spring craft for your preschoolers, kindergarteners, even older kids! This craft is similar to the Dancing Paper Heart Craft I made for Valentine’s Day a few weeks back. If you have toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarteners, or younger kids around, this is a fun way to engage their fine motor skills as they cut the shamrocks out of the green construction paper. This is such a popular St. Patrick's Day craft for toddlers and grade school children.
Because every kid needs a smiling shamrock in the month of March, that’s why! This is guaranteed to make your kid smile! If you homeschool your kid, this is a fun way to tap into their fine motor skill activities. Most people have paper lying around and if you don’t have googly eyes, you can just draw eyes with the black marker. If you don't have green paper, but have white paper and green paint, let the kids paint the paper green. Let your imagination run wild, like a child’s.
STEP 1: Use a pen to draw a large shamrock on a piece of green construction paper. If you don’t have green paper, you can always have the kids paint a piece of paper green. Either way works.
STEP 2: Use scissors to cut two one-inch-thick pieces of white paper along the length of the white paper (the long side). These are the legs. Then, cut two smaller one-inch pieces of the white paper for the two arms.
STEP 3: Fold a smaller piece of green paper in half and draw a shamrock. Cut it out and you will have two equal sized shamrocks for the hands. Repeat for the feet.
STEP 4: Use a glue stick to glue the two white arms on the back side of the shamrock body. Repeat for the legs. Glue the hands and feet.
STEP 5: Glue the green googly eyes on the face. Use a black marker to draw a nose and smile.
STEP 6: If you make this craft, don’t forget to leave a rating and comment!
Leprechaun Kid - Easy St. Patrick's Day Craft
Rainbow Pot O' Gold - Easy St. Patrick's Day Kid's Craft
Easy Brown Bag Easter Bunny Craft
Finally, if you make this Easy Paper Shamrock Craft, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this craft a rating! I love to hear from everyone who makes this craft and always try my best to respond to all comments.
If you do make this shamrock craft, don’t forget to tag #elisemccollister on Instagram! It makes me so happy to see your craft photos!
Make your little bunny happy with this entertaining Spring Easter Egg Sensory Bin! Kids love animals, especially the bunnies and chicks surrounding springtime. Easter is a fun holiday for my toddler as she loves nothing more than opening plastic eggs after a long and arduous hunt to gather them all and to find chocolate, colorful jelly beans, and small toys inside! If you like easy DIY spring sensory bins, then you'll adore my DIY Spring Easter Grass Sensory Bin and my St. Patrick's Day Rainbow Sensory Bin!
The anticipation during the entire Easter egg hunt has finally paid off as she gets to reveal her surprises! I think that’s probably every toddler, preschool, kindergarten, and elementary school aged kid, right? The best part of the Easter egg hunt is ALWAYS quickly opening each Easter egg that was gathered to see the goods! At least, that was me when I was younger and is probably most children.
Sensory bins don’t need to be complex. Simple works and is completely fine. This sensory bin activity is a wonderful Montessori activity, is perfect for daycare, preschool homeschool, kindergarten, and older kids. I found these play carrots and tray of eggs at my local Dollar Tree and if they don’t have plastic or toy carrots, you can surely substitute with other Easter-themed toys or adding more plastic eggs. Kids LOVE plastic Easter eggs!
Rice. White rice works best when dying rice into colors. We like this rice the best.
White vinegar. White vinegar helps preserve the rice and prevents it from molding. I've dyed rice countless times to make sensory bins and even 2-3 years later, my rice is still good to go and use in my sensory bins.
Food coloring. You’ll need blue, yellow, and orange food coloring to make this.
Plastic carrots. Amazon sells these cute plastic toy carrots.
Plastic eggs. Use plastic Easter eggs or other Easter-themed toys for your sensory bin.
According to Infantino’s article, sensory play helps build nerve connections in the brain. Learning about the world through their different senses helps to develop pathways between neurons. The more experience your little one has with one type of experience, the stronger that pathway becomes. Unfortunately, if a pathway is not used often enough, it can completely disappear.
Sensory play and language development work together in tandem. Because sensory play helps support early development, cognitive growth, fine and gross motor skills, problem-solving skills, and social development, it can help with language development. Kids learn about the big world around them through sensory play. If they get the opportunity to observe how their peers play, they learn and therefore grow socially.
STEP 1: To dye the rice, place the rice in 3 separate large ziptop freezer bags. Add 1 teaspoon white vinegar and a few drops of blue, yellow, and orange food coloring in each bag, making sure to keep the colors separated by freezer bag. Mix well and pour onto foil-lined baking sheets, separated by color. Let dry for about 1 hour.
STEP 2: Place the blue dyed rice on the far left of your sensory bin, pushing it as far as it will go toward the left. Carefully dump the yellow rice into the bin. Use your hand to further align it to the left. Carefully place the orange rice on the right. Try to keep the columns as neat as possible.
STEP 3: Place your Easter toys in the bin. If you can't find toy carrots at a cheap dollar store, Amazon sells these adorable plastic carrots. Kids love plastic Easter eggs and get to use their fine motor skills as part of this play-based learning activity.
Easy Toddler and Kid Easter Crafts
St. Patrick's Day Rainbow Sensory Bin
Easy Brown Bag Easter Bunny Craft
Finally, if you make this Spring Easter Egg Sensory Bin, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this DIY sensory bin a rating! I love to hear from everyone who makes this sensory bin and always try my best to respond to all comments.
If you do make this sensory bin, don’t forget to tag #elisemccollister on Instagram! It makes me so happy to see your sensory bin photos!
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If you’re short on cash and need some cute Easter baskets, you can make your own homemade DIY Easter baskets using upcycled egg cartons, tissue boxes, and paint. I love this easy spring Easter craft because it costs next to nothing and most people can afford to make them. You probably already have paint, paint brushes, and ribbon and can easily and quickly make these with the younger kids.
Tap into your toddler’s or young child’s fine motor skills by handing them paint brushes, cut sponge strips—even chopped vegetables such as potatoes and celery will suffice. We have painted with celery and potatoes and both are fun ways to show your children that you don’t have to stick with paint brushes while painting. If you’re a stay-at-home mom with young toddlers and preschoolers, you’re likely always pursuing easy and fun kid’s activities.
We opted for paintbrushes for this activity. Three-year-old Keira loved every moment of painting. It’s such a beneficial fine motor skill for toddlers too.
Think outside the box and get creative, using things us wasteful humans would typically recycle or throw away in the trash, to create your own spring Easter baskets. It’s such a wonderful and inexpensive preschool, kindergarten, daycare, and homeschool activity that all children enjoy. If you like spring crafts, you'll love my Easy Paper Shamrock Craft which is a fantastic St. Patrick's Day fine motor activity for toddlers and preschoolers.
Fine motor skills are important as they help young kids develop precision and dexterity as they move the small muscles in their hands and fingers. Toddlers should be practicing fine motor skills daily to enable them to get dressed on their own, helps with brain development including speech, and helps them to explore and create.
Toys and Games Best SellersMy Cleveland Clinic’s article states that fine motor skills involve the complex coordination of muscles, joints, and nerves. Further, fine motor control is a process that involves awareness, coordination, muscle strength, and precision. Examples of fine motor activities include drawing or writing, using scissors, folding clothes, typing, fastening a button, tying shoes, and zipping up a zipper. All of these critical skills are imperative to support independence later in life.
Empty egg cartons or tissue boxes. Upcycle used egg cartons and tissue boxes.
Paint. You can use acrylic or washable paint. We like these Apple Barrel paints.
Paint brushes. You’ll need paint brushes of different sizes to paint your Easter baskets.
Palette. A paint palette or a plastic lid works great.
Craft mat or newspaper. We use old newspaper ads to paint on. You can also use a craft mat.
Ribbon. Pick any color or type of ribbon to hold the baskets with.
Scissors. You’ll need adult and or toddler scissors to cut the ribbon.
STEP 1: Lay out newspaper or a craft mat and use the paint brushes to paint the empty egg cartons or tissue boxes.
STEP 2: Allow them to dry. Hole punch or poke holes in two opposite sides of the tissue box and push ribbon through them. Tie the ribbon.
Easy Brown Bag Easter Bunny Craft
Easy Toddler and Kid Easter Crafts
Rainbow Pot O' Gold - Easy St. Patrick's Day Kid's Craft
Finally, if you make these Upcycled Easter Baskets crafts, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this craft a rating! I love to hear from everyone who makes this craft and always try my best to respond to all comments.
If you do make this craft, don’t forget to tag #elisemccollister on Instagram! It makes me so happy to see your craft photos!
