Kids love hands-on play. Add more sensory play to your classroom or home with this collection of 20 Best Sensory Tray Ideas. Grab a bin, tray or container to create your own sensory experience for your kids. Sensory trays are easy to make and can lead to hours of play and learning.
In my kindergarten class, sensory trays are always one of the most popular center every day. You can use virtually any combination of materials you already have on hand to create a tray. Look through the ideas below for inspiration and ideas. When creating trays, you can use an idea from one tray mixed with an idea from another. Anything goes!
Sensory trays are a great way for children to engage their senses and explore materials through hands-on play. This form of play has lots of benefits for children, beyond being fun!
Sensory play has many benefits. A few benefits include, promoting self regulation as playing in the trays can be soothing for kids, it can also encourage social skills if children are playing together in the sensory tray, and fine motor skills as children manipulate the small items.
All of the the ideas below include a short description of the tray. Some of the images also include a link to a post describing the bins in greater detail.
Creating Your Sensory Tray
The possibilities are endless when you create a sensory tray. There are only a few staple items that you need. You will need a large tray or container. There are lots available online, sometimes call a play tray or tuff tray.
I often use a long clear storage tray that has worked well for several years now.
Create the based of your tray with a filler materials such as rice, playdough, water, beans or any other small item. Not all trays include these small items on the bottom, but they commonly do.
Next add any small items, toys or other materials for children to play with and manipulate. Often there is a theme for each tray, but you can simply add any collection of materials.
That’s it! That’s all you need to get started on your sensory tray! Below there are lots of sensory tray ideas and examples for you to create different trays of your own.
Weather Sensory Tray Idea
From clouds to rainbows, naturally curious kids want to know all about the world around them and letting them get their hands on it is the best way. One fun way to teach kids about weather through play is with a weather sensory tray or bin.
Watermelon Sensory Tray Idea
What may seem just like a fun container of rice is so much more than just play! I’m showing you how easy it is to make a watermelon sensory bin that is perfect for play and learning.
Create a spring sensory bin using colored rice, clay pots, mini shovels and flowers. Kids will love digging and planting their flowers as they benefit from the sensory experience.
Add math to your sensory bin with this spring sensory bin where children are challenged to find specific items and place them in a ten frame. Children hunt, find and count with this hands-on sensory tray. A free printable is available to make set up easier.
Sensory Bins for Kindergarten with Sand
Here’s a simple and fun kinetic sand potato head sensory activity that works on fine motor skills and imaginative play.
Farm Sensory Tray Ideas
Try this inventive Harvest Sensory Bin to get kids exploring farming and connecting with the food they eat.
What better way to enjoy a sunny fall day than to explore a fall farm sensory bin outdoors! What particularly makes this fall farm sensory bin fun to explore is it feels like a farm setting. Create a farm play land and let the kiddos go!
Create a penguin sensory tray that also inspires hours of pretend play. This post also includes other penguin themed activities.
A Butterfly Life Cycle Sensory Bin is a fun and interactive learning activity for young children to explore the different stages of this beautiful creature.
Learn the alphabet with this ABSeed sensory bin. The best part is that the filler can be repurposed.
Create an arctic playland with this sensory bin idea. Kids will love all of the different textures and toys.
Play with bugs and other insects in this Bug Sensory Bin, perfect for spring! Add green colored rice to look like grass.
Sometimes your sensory trays don’t have to be fully planned. On a walk at school we found a type of seed that almost felt like fluff. We filled a few small bags and created a new sensory tray. The kids loved getting their hands on the new material and it made a beautiful bin.
Create a simple sensory bin with rubber ducks, frogs and a little bit of blue food coloring. Throw in some blue gems and a foam leaves for extra engagement and interest.
Dinosaur Themed Sensory Bins
If you teach young children, dinosaurs probably come up on a regular basis. The next few sensory tray ideas are dinosaur themed, but keep in mind that you can change out the dinosaurs for virtually anything else for a great sensory experience.
Try a type of dinosaur excavation with this sensory bin. Add dirt, bones, dinosaurs, leaves, other wooden materials an paint brushes to carefully clean any bones.
Playdough is always fun for kids to create and play with. Make dinosaur footprints in the dough by creating a base on the bottom first. Add a few spots with blue playdough and gems to look like water.
This sensory tray idea was a favorite in my kindergarten class. Before adding any sand, I used hot glue to glue several dinosaur bones to the bottom of the tray. I then added the sand and other materials on top. Children carefully dug and used paint brushes to clear the sand away from the bones.
Add a bowl with water and gems, stones, strainers and lots of dinosaurs for a sensory bin ready for children’s imagination!
Embark on a prehistoric adventure with a Dinosaur Sensory Bin that sparks creativity and engages young minds. This immersive play experience combines the tactile delight of kinetic sand, the intrigue of miniature trees and stones, and the thrilling presence of dinosaurs.
Sensory Path Using Sensory Bins
Although sensory trays usually include children playing with their hands, these sensory bins are intended to be walked through with bare feet!
Start by reading the classic story of, “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” and then remove socks and shoes and have children experience the book in a whole new way. Children walk through each of the locations in the story as the children search for a bear.
Seasonal Sensory Tray Ideas
Using sensory bins for play with feet, instead of hands, is immediately exciting for kids. They’ll love being bare foot and using their senses in a whole new way.
This summer sensory walk includes everything kids love about summer. Kids know what water balloons feel like, but what do they feel like on their feet? Kids will also walk through sensory bins filled with ice water, sponges and even learn a bit about science with a float/sink bin!
Create a sensory path that you can roll up and take anywhere, and store to use again and again. This sensory path uses a yoga mat. Create the path on several mats to create a full path. Yoga Sensory Mat
Introduce seasons with this fall sensory bin. The base is corn kernels, and it’s filled with fun fall things you can get on a walk or from the dollar store.
Take a walk through fall, bare foot with several sensory bins filled with fall items. Some of the items are more comfortable on kids feet, but it’s all part of the sensory experience. Add pumpkin seeds and guts for a final bin for kids to feel the seeds between their toes!
Some sensory trays can be simple and each child can have their own tray. Add snow, beads, cookie cutters, and wooden letters to each bin for these winter sensory trays.
Kids love the mitten for them to play and build, without getting too cold. Find letters and match them on a tape strip labelled with the letters of the alphabet.
Keep adding hands-on and fun activities to your classroom or home, for kids with this huge collection of over 35 Loose Parts Play Ideas!
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