My 2-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, has been having lots of fun with our butterfly theme and /b/letter sound work, so I wanted to put together a butterfly sensory bin for her. After I got the necessary materials, it was simple to put together. It’s easily adaptable, so I have lots of plans for adding to the learning activities and keeping it exciting for Zoey for the next month.
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Butterfly Sensory Bin – YouTube Video
Zoey always has so much fun with her sensory bins … and I love her reactions! Sensory bins can be great for teaching concepts, too. 🙂
Butterfly Sensory Bin (and DIY Sensory Table)
Butterfly Sensory Table
I already had my DIY sensory table, so it was easy to make a butterfly sensory bin once I had the materials from free printables, the Dollar Tree, and Amazon.
Materials Used for Butterfly Sensory Bin with Scavenger Hunt and Life Cycle Activities
Butterfly Sensory Bin
- DIY sensory table (I REALLY, REALLY love this. It’s been very durable and the perfect container for our sensory bins. Of course, you can use a bin on the floor.)
- paper shred Easter grass from the Dollar Tree. I used 14 oz. (7 2oz. packages from the Dollar Tree for the large container I have in my sensory table.) (You can also get shredded paper Easter grass from Amazon, search for inexpensive Easter grass after Easter, or shred green paper with a paper shredder.)
- butterfly number cards from my subscriber freebie
- free butterfly life cycle cards from The Helpful Garden, featured in my life-cycle post (Note: The cards I used are no longer available, but you’ll find similar free monarch butterfly life cycle cards by The Laminatrix at Teachers Pay Teachers.)
- Safari Ltd. life cycle of a monarch butterfly
- green colander for fine-motor activity
- 12-inch pipe cleaners cut in half for fine-motor activity
- green watering can from the Dollar Tree that I purchased another year (could be any container that works for holding the pipe cleaners)
- acrylic flowered butterfly beads (the ones on the pipe cleaners in the photo)
- Fimo polymer clay butterfly beads (also for placing on the pipe cleaners)
- butterfly box from the Dollar Tree
- cream-colored pony beads or round beads for kids with advanced fine-motor coordination (to represent butterfly eggs) for number cards (I found a set of multicolored 4x7mm pony beads that included cream-colored beads at Michaels craft store.)
Feel free to adapt your sensory bin for your family. These are just the materials I used. If you use this with a toddler, be aware that many of the butterflies are very small and are dangerous for children who mouth objects.
Scavenger Hunt and Life Cycle Activities
I like to add at least one special hands-on learning activity using a free printable to each sensory bin I prepare. For the life cycle activity, I used a free butterfly life cycle card from The Helpful Garden. (Note: The cards I used are no longer available, but you’ll find similar free monarch butterfly life cycle cards by The Laminatrix at Teachers Pay Teachers.) I just printed it out and laminated it before cutting it out. Of course, lamination is optional since this isn’t a wet or messy activity.
Finding the Caterpillar in the Butterfly Sensory Bin
Zoey had fun finding the figures that matched the butterfly life cycle card as well as finding the small butterflies hidden in the grass.
Working with the Butterfly Life Cycle Printable and Figures
We had discussed the butterfly life cycle before, and this was a great way to reinforce terms like “caterpillar” and “chrysalis.”
Fine-Motor Activity – Threading Butterfly Beads on Pipe Cleaners
Zoey enjoyed threading the butterflies onto the pipe cleaners. She doesn’t show this in the video, but she also places the pipe cleaners in the holes in the colander for more fine-motor work.
Math Activity – Focusing on Butterfly Number Cards with Optional “Butterfly Eggs” for Counting
Having fun with the butterfly sensory bin
After Zoey had fun with the monarch butterfly from the Safari Ltd. life cycle of a monarch butterfly, she matched the number card. I had placed 7 small cream-colored pony beads in the butterfly box to represent butterfly eggs. Zoey liked finding the beads, but she didn’t use them as butterfly eggs with the number card in the video. We’ll focus on that activity another day. An older child could find the beads hidden in the grass, although they’re very hard to find! You can put the correct number of dots on the back of the number card with control dot stickers as a control of error. You can change the numbered butterfly card as often as you wish.
Simple Ways to Expand on the Butterfly Sensory Bin Learning Activities
I have the Safari Ltd. Butterflies TOOB along with the free printable Safari Ltd. Butterflies TOOB key. It will be super simple to add those butterflies for Zoey to find and match with the butterflies on the TOOB key.
If you subscribe to the Living Montessori Now newsletter, you’ll get the password and access to the subscriber page where you’ll get exclusive Montessori-inspired printables like the butterfly pack. You can use a number of the printables in the butterfly pack in the sensory bin. For example, the butterfly movable alphabet letters would work well for more scavenger hunt activities.
Zoey always works with her sensory bins for long periods of time, and this is looking like another sensory bin that will get a LOT of use!
Butterfly Unit Study
I’ve teamed up with some fabulous bloggers to bring you lots of activities and resources for a butterfly unit study! Check out the links below!
- Find the Letter B is for Butterflies from 3 Boys and a Dog
- DIY Ruffle Butterfly Bookmark from Living Ideas
- Butterfly Life Cycle for Kids (Free Printables) from The Natural Homeschool
- LEGO butterflies from Planet Smarty Pants
- Easy Kid Craft: Colorful Spring Butterfly Suncatcher from Crafty Mama in ME
- Where to see Butterflies in Nature from FrogMom
- Cupcake Liner Butterfly Craft from Raising Little Superheroes
- Butterfly Science from Schooling a Monkey
- Butterfly Books for Children from The Jenny Evolution
- How to Meet a Butterfly from Bambini Travel
- Butterfly Sensory Painting from Parenting Chaos
- Planting a Butterfly Garden from Our Daily Craft
- Butterfly DIY Window Clings from Gym Craft Laundry
- Exploring Butterfly Wing Patterns from CraftCreateCalm
- Butterfly I Spy Game from Simple Fun for Kids
- Life Cycle of a Butterfly Worksheet from Living Life and Learning
- Marshmallow Stamping Butterflys & Other Bug {with free printables} from Play Dough & Popsicles
- Preschool Butterfly Songs from Preschool Powol Packets
- Visiting a Butterfly House from Something 2 Offer
- How to Raise a Butterfly {with Free Butterfly Journal} from Books and Giggles
Are you planning any butterfly activities for this spring or summer?
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I love this idea. Scavernger hunts are so much fun. Thanks for sharing.
I love these ideas! I’m sharing them with the guests at our Oregon coast vacation rentals. Having something to do in case there are misty days when kids are stuck inside always works wonders. Of course, I love suiting up in ranger and boots, too, and going outside to splash and search for treasures! But I also love sensory bins!