Learning Shapes Sensory Bin for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Inside: This learning shapes sensory bin combines shredded paper, assorted shapes, and tools to strengthen those fine motor skills. A fun way to learn shape recognition through play!

One of my favorite ways to teach shapes is through hands-on exploration. In fact, teaching preschoolers shapes using the sensory bin is one of my preferences. Our toddlers are exposed to shapes through sensory play, too!

I’ve shared how we’ve taught shape recognition with magnets during small groups.

And we’ve also played shape sorting games during circle time.

We’ve even added shape activities to our art table, such as when we made our own bubble wrap circle stamps.

So of course I had to add shapes to our sensory bin! And this particular activity was so easy to put together and both our toddlers and our preschoolers loved it.

Learning Shapes Sensory Bin

CLICK HERE to see a week’s worth of shape recognition activities!

We started off this shape activity by reading some of our favorite shape books:

• Mouse Shapes
• Round is a Tortilla: A Book of Shapes
• City Shapes
• Shape by Shape
• The Shape of Things

You can use anything small for the filler. We happened to have some yellow shredded paper on our sensory bin shelf, so I used that. Rice and dried beans would work, too.

I also added some tweezers for extra fine motor fun.

This shape bin also helped us with our beginning-of-the-year assessments. I would ask them to put the green squares into the bucket. Or the yellow triangles. Or whatever shape and color I could find in the bin.

Simple and fun, right? While also strengthening shape and color skills!

 More Shapes Activities

• Learning Shapes at Home
• 25+Shapes Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers
• Setting Up the Classroom for the Shapes and Colors Theme