35 Sensory Bin Ideas with Naturally Colored Coarse Sea Salt with Sprouts Farmers Market®

35 Fun DIY Sensory Bin Ideas

This post is sponsored by Sprouts Farmers Market® + the thoughts + opinions expressed are my own.

Collectively, we became homeschool parents overnight. We are all in this homeschool boat together. And, sensory tubs are totally floating our boats right now, keeping the kids happy + entertained. Here are some ideas to help float your boat by creating naturally colored Coarse Sea Salt sensory bins from products you already have at home. Or, you can easily pick up the ingredients at your local Sprouts Farmers Market®.

This is a budget-friendly project you’ll want to add to your homeschool routine this week.

We can intentionally plan ahead to make the days + weeks smoother, more peaceful + more enriching for our kids, ourselves + our families with a little planning. It can be quite difficult to stick to a rigid daily schedule right now as we juggle so many roles as parents all while adding in the role of homeschooling. Scheduling in one fun daily activity might be the light we all need.

Enter: Sensory Bins.

Sensory bins can be quite easy to set up. With a little pre-planning + creativity, the days at home can flow a little smoother to break up virtual assignments + other routines + tasks throughout the day. Your kids can help with the set-up, or you can set it up before the day starts for a little surprise + anticipation embedded into the days at home.

Naturally Colored Coarse Sea Salt

Ingredients:

4 Sprouts Farmers Market® Coarse Sea Salt 24.7 OZ containers

1 Box Watkins Natural Food Dye found at Sprouts Farmers Market®

4 Sets of Small toys + tools (read below for theme ideas)

4 Trays or bins: cookie sheets, pizza pans, bins, large plates, large ramekins or large baking dishes.

Directions:

1.  Pour one Sprouts Farmers Market® Coarse Sea Salt 24.7 OZ container into a large pan or dish. 

2. Add 5 drops of natural food dye into the coarse sea salt.

3. Stir the natural food dye and coarse sea salt until well combined. 

4. Continue to add 5 drops of food dye until desired shade is achieved.

5. Add sets of toys and tools to inspire creativity.

6. Continue this process to create 4 bins total.

7. Set a timer for 5 minutes for the children to rotate through the activities.

Set a timer + have your kids rotate through the sensory bins you create.

Creative Toy + Tool Themes:

Search your home to find some creative themes to add to your sensory bins:

1. Under the sea toys

2. Measuring cups

3. Measuring spoons

4. Farm animals

5. Zoo animals

6. Play food

7. Hair brushes + ribbons

8. Construction vehicles

9. Silverware

10. Cookie cutters

11. Plastic alphabet letters

12. Plastic or foam numbers

13. Gardening tools

14. Vegetable garden

15. Pom Poms

16. Painted Rocks

17. Sea Shells

18. Pond Animals

19. Dinosaurs

20. Rainbow colors

21. Birds

22. Horses

23. Flowers

24. Space

25. Butterflies

26. Unicorns

27. Bugs

28. Weather + season themes

29. Cooking utensils + straws

30. Jewels

31. Arctic habitat

32. Jungle habitat

33. Sequins

34. Buttons

35. Airplanes

After you’ve gotten a lot of use out of your Coarse Sea Salt Sensory Bins, add another color of food coloring to change up the colors.

After using the salt for many rounds of sensory bins, re-use the salt for art projects. Create drawings on construction paper + add glue over the drawing + pour the salt onto the glue. Shake off the excess salt. Add additional glue + varying colors of salt.

Cheers to all the homeschool moms! We’re all in this together! Share your creative sensory bins on Instagram @sprouts with the hashtag #lovesprouts.

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