Oats Sensory Bin

Today’s sensory bin as part of our A-Z Sensory Play series couldn’t have been easier to set up. I simply poured a bag of porridge oats into our green sensory bin and brought through a few resources from the kitchen. Within a couple of seconds, our O is for Oats Sensory Bin was complete.

For some time, my little one just wanted to bury his hands in the oats. He kept rolling his hands over and over, exploring the texture of the oats. I am convinced that if the sensory bin had of been big enough he would have got inside and buried himself.

Oats naturally lend themselves to be poured. My little one spent ages simply transferring the oats from one container to another.

The sensory bin contained the majority of the mess and any stray oats. You could always place a shower curtain underneath the sensory bin to minimize any further mess. I encouraged my son to pick up any individual oats. This proved to be a wonderful fine motor activity that required concentration and perseverance.

After some time of exploring the dry oats we couldn’t resist experimenting what would happen if we added water. I gave my son a small amount of water so he could explore pouring it in himself.

He poured a tiny amount in at a time and stirred the oats in between. My son didn’t find the texture as appealing as the dry oats but he discovered that he could use the small bowls to create little hills.

The potato masher proved to be a huge hit. My little one discovered that the round mounds of wet oats could be splattered through the potato masher. What a wonderful gooey mess.

Our Oats Sensory Bin was a huge hit. It couldn’t have been easier to set up, provided plenty of dry and wet sensory experiences and the oats could be recycled. I am considering using them in an oats play dough recipe. A win-win sensory play activity!

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