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Looking for some summer sensory exploration? Here are 10 of our favorite ideas for summer sensory bins for kids.
Summer is the perfect time to engage your kids in fun sensory activities that stimulate their senses and keep them entertained. Whether you’re at home or out enjoying the sunny weather, these 10 activities are sure to provide hours of creative play.
From squishy, tactile experiences to colorful, visual delights, each activity offers a unique way to explore and learn. Dive into this list of summer sensory bins and discover new ways to make summer both educational and exciting for your children.
Summer Sensory Bin Ideas
1. Patriotic Rainbow Rice
How fun does this 4th of July sensory bin look?! Dye your rice red and blue and add some undyed rice to the mix for a patriotic combo. We love the addition of red, white, and blue pom poms, which are usually found at the dollar store.
2. Lemonade Stand
Let your kids have a pretend lemonade stand, with this water play set up. A few lemons and limes, herbs or flowers from the garden, and scoops, spoons, and cups and your kids will be serving up lots of pretend drinks! Safety Tip: Keep any citrus play in a well-shaded area and wash hands well after playing.
3. Colored Shaving Cream (from Friends Art Lab)
Look at this colorful table of fun! Simply squirt some shaving cream in bins or bowls and add a few drops of paint to each one. Your kids will do the rest!
4. Frozen Pom Poms (from Busy Toddler)
We love this simple and fun sensory play activity for hot summer days. Freeze pom poms in an ice cube tray and add them to a bin with water and any water play items you like. Kids will have fun playing and picking out the pom poms as the ice melts.
5. Oobleck Mud (from Friends Art Lab)
This looks like mud, but it’s actually a taste-safe oobleck! Let your kids dig into this messy mixture, and then hose them off afterward.
6. Melting Ice Play (from Little Mainer Art Studio)
How lovely is this sensory play set up? And it’s so easy to put together: freeze some ice in containers or ice cube trays and add to some colorful water. Let your kids pick some flowers and leaves from the garden and they’ll have fun making potions and pouring and scooping water all afternoon.
7. Color Mixing Water Table (from Friends Art Lab)
We love keeping things simple in the summer. Water play is just about the easiest summer sensory activity and yet our kids love it every time we do it. Spice things up by adding some paint to the water (how awesome does this metallic paint look in the water?!) and let your kids do some color mixing.
8. Potion Station
We love to set up potion stations: add baking soda to a few jars, fill up some bottles with vinegar dyed with food coloring, toss in a few spoons, cups and scoops and let your kids create all kinds of potions. Watching the baking soda and vinegar reactions never gets old. But this activity tends to get quite messy, so it’s perfect for doing outside on a summer day.
9. Kiddie Pool Ocean
What better thing to do than get out the kiddie pool on a hot summer day?! Toss in a few gems, rocks, and sea creatures to keep your kids entertained while you sip some iced coffee!
10. Neon Space Sparkle (from Little Mainer Art Studio)
If you need a break from the messy, this sparkly, neon space-themed bin is perfect. Dried black beans are the filler, with some star beads and sequins to add the sparkle. You can pair it with some star gazing on a summer night!
Which of these summer sensory bins will you try this week? If you share your fun on Instagram, be sure to tag us @theartfulparent!
More Sensory Play for Kids
- The Ultimate Guide to Sensory Bin Materials
- 10 Spring Sensory Bins for Kids
- The Artful Parent’s Guide to Sensory Play
- 7 Sensory Bins for Toddlers
- How to Do a Baking Soda Experiment with Kids
- Making Oobleck & What to Do with It
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