Preschool Butterfly Sensory Bin

Inside: Put together a preschool butterfly sensory bin this spring while learning about the butterfly life cycle!

As soon as we return from spring break, we are ordering our live caterpillars while getting ready for our bugs and butterflies theme.

A tradition during my twenty six years of teaching has been to introduce five live caterpillars to my students, watching them grow and eventually turn into beautiful butterflies. They love this, especially when we release them outdoors!

During this time, I like to show our butterfly life cycle figurines at circle time, as well as feature them on our science table.

This year, since we had multiple sets of the figurines, I decided to create a sensory bin that includes the life cycle pieces.

Hands-on learning through play!

Let me show you how.

Preschool Butterfly Sensory Bin

Supplies

• Dyed rice
• Cups
• Scoops
• Butterfly life cycle pieces
• Additional plastic caterpillars and butterflies, if desired

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.

Setting Up this Activity

Pour the dyed rice into the bin and add all the pieces.

Don’t you wish all activities were this easy to set up?

Invitation to Play

I presented this sensory bin after the children have learned a bit about caterpillars and butterflies.

I will read a book during circle time and show the children the butterfly life cycle figurines.

Books

• Let’s Count Butterflies
• Butterfly Butterfly: A Book of Colors
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar
• Ten Wriggly Wiggly Caterpillars
• Caterpillar to Butterfly
• Little Butterfly

They’ve also had a chance to explore caterpillars and butterflies at our science table with a felt set and some books.

Our sensory bin is available during our free-choice centers time, so children can explore at their own pace.

I had this one available for two weeks and it gave the children enough time to play with the pieces while watching our live caterpillars grow and move into the chrysalis stage.

Benefits of the Sensory Bin

In addition to learning about the caterpillar life cycle, this sensory bin – like all of our sensory bin ideas – encourages the hands to pick up pieces, to scoop and to pour.

I always make sure to have something, like scoops or bug tongs, that can pick up the sensory bin filler. I also add some sort of containers that they can pour the filler into. This is especially important because we are always reminding the children not to dump the filler onto the floor. I redirect this by handing them a container, such as the little containers you see in the photos, and instruct them to pour into it instead  of dumping it outside of the bin. (While this does get better as the school year progresses, it still is something we deal with now and then.)

Since the hands and fingers are being used, this builds fine motor strength.

Make sure to read: Big Selection of Sensory Bins

Working Together

The sensory bin is also teaches young children how to work together in shared space. It’s also a good way to encourage communication, strengthen verbal skills.

Easy to Clean Up, Too!

When ready to change the sensory bin, remove all the pieces and then place the dyed rice into a resealable container for future use (or discard if you feel it’s time).

More Butterfly Ideas

• Easy Butterfly Art
• Colorful Butterflies