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Citrus Tea Sensory Bin
- Gabrielle Fischer Posted On Mar 15, 2021 | STEM
Water-based sensory bins are always a hit with my preschooler. I love that by adding a few fun sensory ingredients, my 4-year-old is motivated to extend her play in new and creative ways. For this particular bin, she enjoyed a fruity tea theme, focusing on fine motor development and using descriptive language to express what her senses were experiencing.
What you need:
- Learning Resources® Helping Hands Fine Motor Tool Set™
- Mini oranges from our Learning Resources Fruity Fun™ Counters Set
- Blood Orange tea bag (any fruit tea will work)
- A few slices of fresh orange
- Large bin or container (ours is from Dollar Tree)
- Selection of plastic cups and a plastic spoon
Let’s Get Set Up
Half fill your bin with water and put out all of your equipment and tools. I always like to let my little one put everything in the bin herself; hence I leave it all out at the start. I feel that this way, she has more ownership of her play and learning, and it avoids her play being guided by me or the predetermined setup.
Let’s Explore
After giving the water a good stir and splash, my daughter went straight for the tea bag and couldn’t wait to get it in the water. As soon as she put it in the water and gave it a big squeeze, she could see some color come out of the teabag, and she excitedly described it to me. She then experimented using the Handy Scoopers™, watching as the colored water slowly dripped through the holes in the scooper. As she did this, she also started to notice a lovely orange smell.
Next up, she decided to add the orange slices using the Gator Grabbers™; she thought it was pretty cool that they were even colored orange. She started by adding them to the bin, and we observed that they floated on the water. She then decided to mush the slices up with her fingers, watching as pieces of orange broke away into the water. As she squished the orange, the color of the water also began to turn more orange. All this squeezing and squishing was a great workout for her hands.
Let’s Make Tea
Once she had her delicious smelling mixture in her bin, she added the mini orange fruit counters and gave it all a good stir. Then she decided to serve up cups of orange tea in the small white cups I had provided. She used both the Twisty Dropper™ and the spoon, carefully filling the cups with the tea mixture and then adding a mini orange for ‘extra flavor.’
As she made the tea, we spoke about what the tea looked like, how it smelt, and how she thought it might taste. Talking about sensory bins is such a great way to help your child develop their scientific vocabulary without them even realizing it. You can use words like observe and predict to encourage their basic experimental skills. After she had made tea for her nearest and dearest, she chose a price and role-played each of her customers coming to collect their tea. It is always fun to see little imaginations at work like this.
Valentine's Pattern Block Activity
Valentine's Pattern Block Activity is a fun and engaging way to incorporate math and problem-solving skills into the holiday. These activity mats feature different Valentine's Day-themed pictures, such as hearts, flowers, and cupids. To complete the activity, students can use pattern blocks to create the pictures on the mats.
This activity is a great way to teach kids about shapes, counting, sorting, reasoning, symmetry, and even fractions. Students will use pattern blocks to create the pictures on the mat, which will help them understand and recognize different shapes and combine them to create a complete picture. Additionally, students will need to count the number of pattern blocks required for each image; this will help to improve their counting abilities.
The activity also includes reasoning, symmetry, and fractions. Students must use their problem-solving skills to determine which pattern blocks to use and where to place them to create the desired picture. They will also practice symmetry by matching the pattern blocks to create a symmetrical picture. And finally, with pattern blocks, students can explore fractions and how they relate to the different shapes.
Valentine's Pattern Block Activity is a great way to incorporate math and problem-solving skills into the holiday while keeping the activity fun and festive. These simple Valentine's pattern Block Mats are an awesome math challenge for kids. Just print them out and start building; it's that easy!
Shop Pattern Blocks
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Valentine's Day Mathlink Cube Activities
Mathlink Cubes are perfect for creating fun and engaging Valentine's Day themed math activities. Additionally, Mathlink Cubes can be used to create patterns and sequences, such as making a pattern of hearts and counting the number of cubes used. These activities will help students practice their math skills in a fun and festive way.
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Mathlink Cubes are great for kids for several reasons:
- Hands-on learning: Mathlink Cubes are a hands-on learning tool that children can physically manipulate and explore mathematical concepts. This can help to make math more engaging and interactive for students.
- Multi-use: Mathlink Cubes can be used for various mathematical concepts, including counting, addition, subtraction, measurement, geometry, and more. This makes them a versatile and valuable tool for teachers and parents to have in their toolkits.
- Develops fine motor skills: Using the Mathlink Cubes requires children to use their fine motor skills, which can help to improve dexterity and hand-eye coordination.
- Concrete to abstract: Mathlink Cubes provide a concrete representation of mathematical concepts, which can help children to understand and internalize these concepts. Then the children can apply what they learned in the tangible form to more abstract problems.
- Fun and engaging: Mathlink Cubes come in different colors, making math activities fun and engaging for children. The fun and colorful aspect of the cubes makes children more excited to learn and practice math.
- Differentiation: Mathlink Cubes can be used to provide different levels of challenge for students, making it easy for teachers to differentiate instruction and provide support for students who need it.
Overall, Mathlink Cubes are an excellent tool for kids to learn and practice math in a fun and interactive way.
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World Space Week
Welcome to Monday Funday with Miss Alissa from @heartmindedmama ✨
Miss Alissa is an early childhood educator and mom of two! Over the next few weeks, Miss Alissa will be sharing skill-building activities for you to do at home or in your classroom.
We are starting it off with three out-of-this-world activities for Space Week, which starts October 4th.
This collection of space activities for preschoolers will keep them actively engaged while building essential life skills. Thoughtfully designed with little ones, these STEM toys for kids help learners as young as 3 build early science and fine motor skills!
Solar System Puzzle Globe - Space is the place for preschool learning fun! Kids build hands-on science skills as they solve the out-of-this-world 3-D puzzle found on the Solar System Puzzle Globe, a hands-on STEM toy for kids from Learning Resources. Inspired by our award-winning Puzzle Globe, this fun rotating puzzle adds some space décor to the puzzle play action—kids position eight easy-grip planet puzzle pieces that also introduce the names and appearances of our solar system neighbors. In addition to building early fine motor and critical thinking skills, this STEM toy for kids is also ready for imaginative adventures thanks to its fun, friendly astronaut and spaceship pieces—as kids explore the cosmos with their new friends, there’s no telling what they’ll discover!
Magnetic Space Sudoku - Can you solve these out-of-this-world logic puzzles? Take your early math skills to outer space and beyond with the 72 Sudoku puzzles found in the Magnetic Space Sudoku set from Learning Resources. This fun take on the classic puzzle game brings sudoku to life with the help of wacky alien friends and a fun space setting. Choose from two types of puzzles—solve traditional number-based Sudoku challenges, or work on your visual logic skills in puzzles that replace the number with our colorful aliens!
Oodles of Aliens Sorting Saucer - Grab the Tri-Grip Tongs, pop the dice, and help these aliens sort out their spaceship in a sorting game of cosmic proportions! Kids learn preschool sorting, fine motor skills, and more with every trip aboard the Oodles of Aliens Sorting Saucer from Learning Resources. This fun sorting saucer reveals color-coded trays and the aliens that inhabit them. Spread the aliens out on the table, pop the dice, and use the Tri-Grip Tongs to grab and sort them into place! In addition to sorting, this game builds three additional preschool skills at once—strengthen your counting, color recognition, and fine motor skills every time you play!
Interested in learning more about STEM?
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