Last Updated on October 26, 2025 by Sheryl Cooper
Inside: During the holidays include jingle bells for your preschoolers – in the sensory bin! This is a fun way to learn about magnets as the children pick up the bells (and other magnetic materials) with wands.
What is it about jingle bells that we love so much?
No matter what activity we use with them, it is a hit.
It’s hard for me to say which activity they’ve loved most, because making and using our jingle bell sticks was a lot of fun.
Oh, and then we also loved our jingle bell musical instruments.
So you can see we love using jingle bells with preschoolers – in lots of different ways!
Jingle Bells for Preschoolers – In the Sensory Bin!
Supplies
- Assorted sizes of jingle bells *
- Magnetic wands
- Dyed rice
- Miscellaneous small items (some that attract to the magnet, some that don’t)
*Note: If using this sensory bin for 3 and under, use jumbo jingle bells .There might be even larger ones available.
How to Dye Rice
- Grab a gallon sized plastic baggie that can be sealed.
- Pour about a cup of rice inside the bag.
- Add about a teaspoon of white vinegar.
- Add as much coloring as desired. (I love using Wilton icing color!)
- Seal the bag and shake until the rice is coated well.
- Open the bag and dump the rice onto a paper towel, spreading it out so it’s a very thin layer.
- Allow to dry thoroughly.
If you want to have different colors of rice, do the above procedure for each color and then, when dry, mix the colors.
Once you have your rice, just add desired accessories to the sensory bin and you are ready to go!
If you want more inspiration, check out these other dyed rice sensory bins we’ve loved:
Rice and Funnels Fine Motor Sensory Play
The Activity
Invite your preschoolers to see how many jingle bells they can pick up with their magnetic wands.
It’s always fun to see what a magnetic wand picks up. Moving it through the rice allowed some buried treasures to be found.
Using a variety of sizes made the bells fun to hold, too. (And then wonder why they didn’t make as much noise when the hands were wrapped around them.)
I’m still looking for more of these giant jingle bells, so if you find them, please let me know. These are what we use with our 2 year olds. See how they take up the entire palm?
Add Whatever You Want!
We also added small boxes and containers to place the small items in. Always a favorite with this age group!
Some Ideas for the Miscellaneous Items
- Puff balls
- Metal lids from containers
- Metal rings
- Juice can lids
You might notice those metal rectangular pieces. When I worked in retail years ago, they changed their signs’ frames and asked if my preschool could use them. They are truly the best magnetic pieces ever! The bottoms of each one have a magnetic strip that was used to keep the signs on the racks. Our toddlers and preschoolers create some amazing buildings with them!
And that’s it! Super easy, right?
Make sure to follow our Christmas pin board for hundreds of other fun activities!
More Christmas Fun
FREE CIRCLE TIME PLANNER!
Get your FREE circle time planner as a gift when you subscribe to my free weekly newsletters.
Here is my Privacy Policy
Such fun activities! Bells are so exciting!