This chicken sensory bin is perfect during a farm theme or as one of your Easter activities for toddlers and preschoolers.
Related: Easter Egg Activities
Sensory bins are a must-have in any early childhood education classroom, in my opinion!
Honestly, I think children of all ages enjoy a good sensory bin. I’ve seen teenagers happily ensconced in sensory play for hours on end. And, no, I’m not exaggerating!
Chicken Sensory Bin for Kids
Let’s jump into this fun sensory bin setup for the kids!
I know a chicken sensory bin sounds a bit silly, but the children will definitely have a blast with it.
Materials for the Chicks Sensory Play
You don’t need too many materials to get it going. AND you can definitely switch things out based on what you already have on-hand.
If you do change the materials up a little bit, I suggest trying to keep it to the color scheme here – white, orange, and yellow. There’s just something super cheery about that color combination.
Related: Spring Messy Play Ideas
But, really, the kids won’t care if you use different colors in your chicken sensory bin!
- Sensory bin or tray (scale it larger or smaller depending on your kids)
- Shredded white paper (you can also make your own by running white paper through a shredder)
- Yellow pompoms (toss in some sparkly ones too)
- Yellow pipe cleaners
- Chick Easter eggs
- Yellow feathers
You might even consider adding some kid-friendly tongs or tweezers for the kids to use. This will help with fine motor skills practice.
Setting Up the Chicken Sensory Invitation to Play
This sensory invitation isn’t difficult to set up, and you can definitely change it up as you see fit!
In fact, why not bring the materials out and have the kids help you put it together?
My preschoolers have always enjoyed getting involved with setting up their own activities. In fact, children tend to be more engaged when they’re involved in planning and/or prepping activities!
To get the chicken sensory bin started, add the shredded white paper to your bin. You might need to pull it apart a little bit. The kids can help with that!
Then add the pompoms and feathers to the bin, adding in some pipe cleaners if you’re using them.
These materials are great for representing the fuzziness you’ll find with chicks.
Lastly, it’s time to add the chick Easter eggs!
Then let the kids at the bin to play and explore.
Using the Chicken Sensory Bin
As I mentioned earlier, this is meant to be a sensory invitation for the children.
That means that you set it up (with or without their help . . . that’s up to you!) and then invite the kids to play.
So you’re not going into this with any real preconceived notions about the children’s play. Except that they’ll be able to use their senses to explore and engage with the materials.
Explain your expectations for the chick bin play (keep the materials in the bin, clean up after yourself, etc.), and then let the children dive in.
Related: Butterfly Life Cycle Sensory Bottles
You might notice the children:
- Dig their hands into the paper, squeezing and pulling it
- Sort the pompoms – sparkly versus not sparkly
- Place the smaller chicks into the larger chick eggs
- Stuff as many materials into the eggs as possible
- Line up the pompoms
All in all, the children will interact with the chicken sensory bin materials in a wide variety of individual ways.
Related: Preschool Farm Theme Ideas
Have fun watching them and make note about what parts of the bin interest each individual child.
Would your children enjoy this chicken sensory bin?
Chick Hatching Videos for Kids
I thought I’d also include a couple of chick hatching videos to share with your students.
In the past, I have loved hatching chicks with children! But I know not everyone is able to do so. Which is where the videos come in handy.
Consider watching a few of these hatching videos before setting up your chicken sensory bin.
I love how you can hear the little peeps as the chick works to finish breaking out of the shell:
Watch the mama chicken oversee some of her babies hatching:
This time lapse video shows the whole process in a fraction of the time:
Chicken Books for Kids
I always love adding books to our preschool themes and activities. What about you?
Below are some fun books about chicks and chickens that you can read with the children. They’d be a great discussion point prior to playing with the chicken sensory bin.
Let me know if you have some favorites to add to the list!
Done for You Teaching Resources
Preschool Teacher 101 has some wonderful ready-to-go resources to help you as you teach preschool.
Click on the images below for more information. If you’re a preschool teacher looking to make life easier on yourself, be sure to take a look at the membership options.
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