Easy Gingerbread Sensory Bin for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Inside: You will love this easy gingerbread sensory bin for toddlers and preschoolers! Super easy to put together, lots of fun to play with. Win, win!

I was minding my own business, sipping hot coffee while wasting time on Amazon, when I saw them.

Boxes with lids, shaped like gingerbread people.

Without hesitation, I put them in my cart and clicked ORDER.

My mind starting spinning with the possibilities. What about painting them and using them as gift boxes? Or, using them as a 1:1 correspondence activity? They’d be a great color sorting activity if I painted each one a different color. They’d be loved in the block corner, too!

After allowing my mind to come up with lots of possibilities, I knew just how I wanted to use them.

In the sensory bin!

Easy Gingerbread Sensory Bin for Toddlers and Preschoolers

So, here are the little darlings that caught my eye on Amazon.

Gingerbread boy shaped paper mache boxes. 

(Edited to add in December 2022: Unfortunately it looks like these boxes are no longer available on Amazon. However, a dear fellow teacher said she found something similar here. Thank you for letting us know, Tracy!)

I fell in love immediately. Our preschoolers love any containers with lids. But gingerbread men? I had never seen these before.

I got all giddy, just like when I found the pumpkin jingle bells.

Fellow teachers, please tell me I’m not alone here!

And so then I knew we needed little gingerbread men bendables to put inside the gingerbread containers. And we already had a gingerbread house. (The original little gingerbread men are no longer available but these should work.)

My mind was spinning, I tell you! When my purchases arrived over Thanksgiving break, I was in the kitchen dying rice red and green. While the turkey was defrosting and I needed to get the table cleared and set for guests. Just being real here!

But, I did have some restraint. I did NOT go into my classroom during the break. I actually waited until that Monday morning before the preschoolers arrived.

I got everything set up before the classroom door opened. We read our first gingerbread book before opening centers time.

When it was centers time, this Christmas gingerbread sensory play activity was an immediate hit. First they wanted to fill the gingerbread house with rice.

And then they started playing with the little gingerbread figures.

They decided to see if they could fit all 12 in one of the gingerbread man boxes. They counted them as they placed them inside.

They couldn’t all fit inside, so then they placed one gingerbread boy figure inside each cardboard gingerbread boy box. 1:1 correspondence!

Then I noticed the preschoolers lining them up along the edge of the sensory bin. More counting and figuring out that they all weren’t completely the same.

You can see a video of our preschoolers actually playing with this on Instagram.

We will expand on this activity with some gingerbread man cookie baking tomorrow!

 

Gingerbread Theme Activities

We love starting the Christmas season with a gingerbread theme! There are so many fun activities out there, just perfect for toddlers and preschoolers.

See more here: How to Put Together a Gingerbread Theme