Sensory Bin Idea – Zoo/Safari Theme

I got the idea for this sensory bin for the boys when I found a giant bucket of “safari” animals at Target a few weeks ago. I knew we needed them and that there would be so many zoo animal inspired activities we can do with them. So, I set off to learn how to color rice for sensory bins, so I could set up different colored rice for different “habitats”. Of course, it all got mixed up in the end, but we had a lot of fun talking about where the different animals lived.

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Here’s our Zoo Sensory Bin

Before I even used the fun little fence pieces to separate our “habitats”, the boys knew where I was going, grass, dirt (ahem, desert), and water habitats!

There are a lot of learning opportunities with this from talking about the animals to their habitats, what they eat, where they live, etc… and then the boys also loved the rice aspect of this bin, and had a lot of fun scooping and mixing the rice all together before it was over with. For these safari/zoo animals, I’ve also seen really cute animal washing stations, and the kit really has everything you’d need to set up your own zoo play area just with what is included. I try to find things to make these bins that I know will have more uses, and this set definitely qualifies. They’ve been enjoying the animals and the rice left in the bin for several days since we did this.

Okay, so first you’ll start by coloring the rice. you can do two colors, or three, whatever you feel like making, and I have a full tutorial on that here.

Then, you’ll get your rice into your bin, divided up for your “habitats”. I really love these cheap and easy Sterlite bins for sensory bins and other activities.

Then, you can start adding in different animals. My boys loved swapping all of the animals out and talking about where they would go.

If you are looking for a fun zoo/safari themed animal set that you can use for a whole bunch of activities this Summer, this set is great.

Your little one might also enjoy these Zoo and habitat themed books!
Visiting the Zoo-

Animal Habitats-

Visiting the Zoo in Spring and Summer can be a lot of fun, and you can keep the learning going with this Zoo sensory bin idea and fun Zoo and habitat books for your kiddos. Which animals do your little ones absolutely love seeing at the Zoo? I think our favorites are the elephants and the reptiles!