Beyond Your Mom: Sensory Tubs by Month

You may or may not know that I am in the process of starting my own child care center. I have kiddos all lined up, and even have some on the waiting list. We open in February and I cannot wait to get started. As the time draws near, I am busy planning activities for the little ones. One of the big components of my DIY curriculum will be sensory baskets. The children I am watching are very small, so most of their learning will be through self-lead exploration and sensory bins are a great tool to accomplish this. Below are a few ideas from around the web. I organized them by month so they are super easy to implement, but feel free to mix and match as a you choose. Have fun and happy learning!

January
This is a perfect sensory bin for winter. If you are like me and live in warm climate, this is a great opportunity to teach the children about snow and cold.

February
A valentines day sensory bin should be pretty easy to find materials for at this time of year. This is a great time to teach the children about heart shapes, the colors red and pink, and different kinds of love.

March
March is a great time of the year to talk about spring, and about changes in the weather. It is also St. Patrick's time, and where does that leprechaun hide his gold? At the end of the rainbow! The last sensory tub is best done outside if you live in an area that is warm in march. Otherwise, you might need a good tarp :)

April
In 2014 Easter is in April. If you are reading this after 2014, you might want to swap this one for the spring tub from March.

May
I love this cute little garden tub for May. Black beans or coffee beans make great dirt. You could also add silk leaves and flowers to make this a little more realistic. You could pair this with some outside play time for a comprehensive lesson.

June
Balls and blocks are a great sensory tub for little ones. They are also great for when it starts to get a little warmer outside. Plop these bins in the grass and let the kids toss them around. Lots of gross motor fun here.

July
Making a patriotic tub is kind of a no-brainer in July. Both of these tubs are super cute examples. I think I spy a flag pin in the lower picture... you may want to skip the stabbing implements...

August
Some people choose to do back to school themes around this time, but sense I have my kiddos year round that doesn't really make sense. Hear are a couple of ideas for sensory tubs that will get you out of the house and into the warm summer air :) The first two cannot be reused on multiple days, but the last one could be used more than once.

September
This fall sensory bin could go under a few different months, but September doesn't have a lot else going for it, so I stuck it here. If September still feels like summer where you live, then you can keep doing outdoor themed tubs for now and move this to October or November.

October
Halloween is the obvious choice for October. I've seen some folks put a bunch of candy in their Halloween bin, but I wouldn't try that unless your OK with your children eating a bunch of candy. If you don't celebrate Halloween then a Wizard of Oz bin is a great way to incorporate costumes and dress-up without bringing the spooky aspects into it.

November
This Thanksgiving bin looks an awful lot like the autumn bin I posted for September, but it was the best one I could find. You can mix it up by filling it with things the kiddos are thankful for - pictures of loved ones, favorite toys, etc.