springtime easter sensory bin: egg hunt and count

Huge thanks to Lauren, of Tutus & Tea Parties, for writing this smart and totally cool springtime craft post.  Lauren is a certified elementary educator, and she writes about the cool and crafty ways she spends time with her daughter.

Check it out–there’s a ton of clever, hands-on learning ideas for the little loves in your life!

Spring is finally here, and I am so excited to be sharing with all of you Teach Mama readers.

We love using sensory experiences in our play, and our recent sensory bin for spring (or Easter!) was super fun!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• white rice
• rubbing alcohol
• green food coloring
• candy eggs (we got whopper eggs, but jelly beans or those chocolate eggs wrapped in foil would work just as well)
• egg carton
• pipe cleaners
• Sharpie
• basin (we grabbed ours at Dollar Tree), water table, sensory table, etc

Here’s what you’ll need to do:

1.  To dye the rice green, put your white rice into a large zip top bag. Add rubbing alcohol and food coloring. Securely close the bad and shake to distribute. Dry on a cookie sheet overnight.

2.  To create your baskets, cut out sections of the egg carton. Poke a hole in each side and poke your pipe cleaner through (I just folded the end on the inside to keep it attached). Write the numbers 1-5 on the front of each basket.

3.  Place your green rice in your sensory bin and bury 15 egg candies.

4.  Have your child dig to find the eggs and fill each basket with the number of eggs as the number shown on the basket.

 

5.  Let your child continue to explore and play! You can even add some bunnies and chicks.

We have a couple of spring animal wind up toys that we added to the bin after a few days to change things up a bit.

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Thank you, thank you, Lauren! You rock, and this activity is perfect for so many families!

Looking for more sensory fun? Check out the links below!

Lauren is the writer and creator of Tutus & Tea Parties where she shares ways to connect with children and teach through play. She has a degree in Elementary Education and is a mother to a very energetic 4 year old girl.

Connect with Lauren: Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | Instagram | Pinterest

 

Looking for more at-home learning fun? Stop by and follow these great educational Pinterest boards:

• Sensory Play | Tutus & Tea Parties
• Baby Play & Development  | Tutus & Tea Parties
• Frugal Fun for Kids  | Tutus & Tea Parties
• literacy  / teach mama
• we teach preschoolers   / teach mama
• cool & creative indoor fun | teachmama

This post is part of our new Rockstar Sunday posts.  Each week, I will highlight one ‘rockstar’ in the parenting and education field.  These posts? Seriously awesome.

Have something you’d like to share that in some way relates to fun learning, school, technology, education, or parenting? For a short time we’ll be accepting Rockstar Sunday guest posts.

The response to our Rockstar Sunday feature has been overwhelming. I am in awe of the ideas, submissions, and shares!

Having been in the blogging space for 5+ years, we know for sure that our readers are always up for fresh and fun ideas on literacy, math, technology, parenting, and learning in the every day. They love crafts, hands-on teaching ideas, printables, cooking with kids, and anything that makes their job as parents easier, better, and more fun.

You don’t have to have a blog of your own–just cool ideas to share! We look forward to hearing from you!

other posts in the series:

• sweet, sparkly flower craft
• toddler shapes
• stand up for yourself: at work, home, school
• using iPad apps to create
• phonemic awareness and classification with zoo pictures
• what to do when kids find their passion
• 8 ways of supporting advanced learners
• tons more to come!