The letter Q always raises difficulties when it comes to a completing an alphabet series. Why are there not more objects that begin with Q?! To continue our A-Z of Sensory Play series we created a Q-Tips Sensory Bin.

Q-Tips may have several names including cotton buds and cotton swabs but they make a wonderful resource. They are the perfect size for fine motor play and are a great shape for posting. J
Caution!!! Be sure to supervise children when playing with Q-Tips. They can be a choking hazard or be poked somewhere they shouldn’t.
How to set up Q-tips sensory bin?
We used:

Our Q-Tip Sensory Bin was incredibly easy to set up. I raided our kitchen cupboards for anything with holes in. I found an upright stainless steel cheese grater, a utensil drainer
and a flat cheese grater
. These were placed in our green sensory bin along with a new packet of 200 Q-Tips.
Let’s Play!

My son took no hesitation in picking out the Q-Tips one at a time and placing them in the flat cheese grater. The grater holes meant that he had to post the Q-Tips through at a slight angle. They wouldn’t go into the hole if he attempted it whilst the Q-Tip was upright.

He then moved his attention to the upright cheese grater. He quickly realised that the Q-Tips could be posted through the hole in the top. This resulted in him seeing how many Q-Tips he could get in at once!

The utensil drainer proved a huge hit. I had placed the container upside down which meant the Q-Tips could be pushed through the sides and on the top. My son managed to post all 200 Q-Tips through the holes. Afterwards, he lifted up the utensil drainer and watched the Q-Tips fall down.

My son then discovered that if he grabbed handfuls of the Q-Tips and dropped them the Q-Tips fell down “like snow”. We had an indoor snow storm. So many activities with kitchen cupboard resources and a container of Q-Tips!
Other ways to play with q-tips
- Use q-tips for painting – we painted a snowman!
- Make a winter busy bag with q-tips.
- Pretend q-tips are bones for a x-ray playdough activity.
- If you need more ideas, pick one of 33 ways to play with q-tips

What a fun activity! We us Qtips a lot for painting, but I love this idea for a sensory bin!
It’s amazing how such an easy set up does so much for fine motor skills and concentration!
This is a great idea and the first time I have come across it. A bonus is that it uses stuff I already have on hand.
This is a great idea and so easy to set up! Thank for putting one more tool in my mommy toolbox to beat winter boredom.