Disclaimer: Not recommended for children under 3 or those who are teething (swallowing hazard)! Also, be sure to have your child follow proper handwashing procedures to ensure good hygiene.
What are Sensory Bins?
As a child, my favourite playthings were big cardboard boxes. I also had a hobby of collecting miscellaneous objects, be it stones, seashells, or leaves. So, if you combine the two things, you get something twice as fun: sensory bins!
In recent years, sensory bins have begun to grow in popularity, and rightfully so: they are jam-packed with fun. Because sensory bins differ from traditional therapy, they may be more effective at engaging children by giving them an opportunity to use their imagination and creativity. If you haven’t heard of the term before, they are essentially containers filled with a variety of multi-sensory items. Children can explore their five different senses with these sensory bins while working on their speech and language targets.
Sensory bins promote multisensory processing. Stimulating and activating different brain regions simultaneously builds even stronger neural connections and pathways, which helps your child with the complex tasks that may involve self-regulation, concentration, and retaining information.
How to Make Sensory Bins for Kids
First, it is usually easiest to start with a theme. Some examples include:
Holidays (St. Patrick’s Day and Easter are right around the corner!)
Nature (jungle, ocean, etc.)
Fantasy (pirates, princesses/princes, etc.)
Miscellaneous (animals, foods, etc.)
For more ideas on sensory bin themes: The Chaos and the Clutter, Sage Urban Homesteading, Little Bins Little Hands, Pocket of Preschool
Secondly, you need to find a suitable container. Clear containers from the Dollar Store work nicely as they can hold liquids and have lids (if you wish to store your sensory bins for future use). Otherwise, any container usually works fine. A tray can also be used to place under your bin to keep the messes in check!
Thirdly, a base for your container is needed. You can choose a base according to your theme. Some examples include cotton balls, water, kinetic sand, leaves, jewels, shells, rice, beans,
Fourthly, here’s the fun part - adding items according to your theme! Plastic figurines are a popular choice, as well as craft materials such as stickers, googly eyes, and different kinds of stationery. Feel free to add a small shovel as well.
Finally (and optionally), you can tie everything together by adding themed language cards (e.g. specific nouns to guide your language or communication with your child. However, the bins themselves can suffice as spontaneous language.
How to Use Sensory Bins to help your Child's Speech
An advantage of sensory bins is that a multitude of goals can be uncovered with just one container! This also means sensory bins can be easily adapted from child-to-child, depending on their communication objectives or needs. Here are just three examples below:
Increase your child's descriptive vocabulary
N+1 is a good concept to work off of. Let your child lead and wait for them to comment on something (e.g. “dolphin”). Then, add a small description in front (e.g. “blue dolphin”). Here are some examples:
Do you happen to know the literature on labelling emotions as a form of self-regulation for children? Studies show that naming emotions helps children understand and regulate their feelings, reducing impulsive behaviors. However, if they’re given oversimplified labels, they might struggle to understand the complexity of their feelings.
Creating opportunities for your child to initiate
Withholding is a handy trick you can use to prompt your child to use interrogatives. Here are some natural ways to do it:
Withholding objects: During playtime, you hand the child a toy but intentionally leave out a piece, like a spoon for a cooking set. The child will need to request the missing item to continue playing.
Withholding actions: While opening a snack, you open the packaging halfway. The child is then prompted to ask for help ("open," "help please").
Withholding information: You start a favorite song but pause after a line, waiting for the child to request more or fill in a missing word. For example, say "Twinkle, twinkle, little..." and pause.
Note: Make sure to approach withholding carefully and thoughtfully to ensure it remains a positive learning experience. You can also:
Observe the child’s state: If the child starts to get frustrated, model what they can say using the correct language. You don’t need to wait and hold out until you get the “correct” answer from them.
Keep the mood light: Make withholding part of a game, like playfully pretending you forgot to give them something.
Remember perfection isn’t needed: Give them what they need after they attempt to communicate, even if their attempt isn't perfect. Remember - the goal is to encourage communication, not perfection. You can model the correct language as you respond to their attempt. This gives them another exposure to the correct language in the immediate context of that word. The best way to learn language is to learn the words within a real world environment (much more effective than flashcards!).
Give positive specific reinforcement: Celebrate when the child makes an attempt, and offer positive feedback. We also encourage you to give specific feedback. You can do this by repeating back what your child communicated. This lets your child know exactly what they did well, and gives them another opportunity to hear the model. For example, you can say “Good asking! You want the truck!” or “You need more water in the bin!”
Using withholding in a positive and natural interaction can support the development of multiple areas of communication to help your child become an independent communicator. To be an independent communicator, your child needs to learn skills such as requesting, taking turns in conversation and asking questions. How does withholding help with things like requesting, turn-taking and asking questions? Firstly, it creates opportunities for children to practice asking for what they need or want using words or gestures, instead of passively waiting for things to be handed to them. Secondly, withholding teaches children some of the back and forth interactions of a conversation and how to wait for their turn. Children will gain exposure to waiting until their communication partner is ready to listen, making a request and then waiting and watching for a response. Thirdly, it encourages children to practice asking questions like “what” or “where” when something is missing, helping them develop problem-solving and more complex language skills.
Building prepositions with sensory bins for kids
You can give your child specific instructions to follow that will allow directional concepts to be targeted. For example, you can tell them to “look under the sand,” or to “grab the figure beside the shovel.”
What do I do if my child looks confused or doesn’t understand?
Instead of repeating the instruction, model the action yourself. For example, demonstrate “looking under the sand” by moving your hand through it. Repeat the instruction again as you model the action. This helps teach what you mean especially if you are introducing a new concept and if your child looks confused.
How can I take this activity to the next level and continue challenging my child?
If one-step directions are too easy, gradually introduce directions that include:
two elements (e.g. Let’s bury the car and the truck under the sand).
two-step or multi-step directions (e.g. Put the dog in the car and put the cat under the bridge).
Sequential multi-step directions (e.g. First, put the blue car beside the dog, and then put the cat in the box).
Conditional multi-step directions (e.g. Put the sand in the box, but only if there is nothing else inside).
Don't overwhelm - this should be fun for kids!
However, it is also important to not overwhelm your child with directions - here are some tips to enhance the activity while keeping it child-led:
Balance Comments and Directions:
Aim for a ratio of three comments to every one direction or question. Examples of comments are:
“Oh no, the rain is falling ON the pig!”
“The cow is not wet. The cow is UNDER the roof.
Play in Unexpected or Funny Ways:
Add a playful twist to the activity by interacting with objects in unexpected ways or using pretend scenarios. For example:
Flip rectangular objects upside down and pretend it’s a car
Pretend the sand is water and the bin is a swimming pool. Move the animals around and talk about them being IN the water, ON top of the water, or BESIDE the water.
By following your child’s lead, adding playful elements, and pairing their interests with language, you create a rich environment that supports their language development and keeps playtime fun!
In conclusion, using sensory bins for kids offers a dynamic way to enhance language and communication skills. This kind of open-ended nature play fosters interactive dialogue and builds confidence in communication. As parents, caregivers and educators alike incorporate sensory bins into learning environments, they create rich opportunities for meaningful conversations and skill development, which lays a sturdy foundation for lifelong language abilities!
Let us know if you have any other activities that get your child talking! Find us on instagram @chattytherapy to get more speech and language resources.
Chatty Therapy is based in Edmonton, AB. We have wonderful speech-language pathologists who can give you more specific ideas on how to work with your child to develop their language skills and tailor it to your daily routine. Speech-language pathologists specialize in helping children understand others and express themselves better. Click here to learn more about our services or book a free 15-minute consultation.
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