Gems and Hearts Valentine’s Sensory Bin
Get ready to spread the love with a hands-on Valentine’s sensory bin activity that’s perfect for preschoolers! This heart-filled bin is loaded with sparkling acrylic hearts, gems, and large acrylic diamonds that will captivate your little ones and will pair well with other Valentine activities for preschoolers.
Sensory bins like this one are fantastic tools for nurturing fine motor skills, expanding language abilities, encouraging cooperation through turn-taking, and providing a feast for the senses.
We’ve heard from countless readers who’ve seen the positive impact these activities have on their children’s learning, and we’re excited to add this to our preschool lesson plans.
Prepare for a celebration of affection with our Valentine’s sensory bin activity designed specifically for the curious and active preschool crowd! Adorned with an array of twinkling acrylic hearts, shimmering gems, and oversized acrylic diamonds, this sensory bin promises to enchant your young ones and hold their attention.
Seriously, preschoolers love the gems in this sensory bin! T
Sensory bins, especially one as inviting as our Valentine-themed bin, are excellent for developing essential skills in preschoolers. For example:
- They provide a rich environment that helps little hands strengthen fine motor capabilities while engaging in the scooping, sorting, and sifting of shiny objects.
- They serve as an interactive platform for language development as children articulate their thoughts and describe their tactile sensations.
- Cooperative play is naturally promoted as they learn to take turns and share their discoveries with peers.
The impact of such sensory-based activities on early childhood education is well-documented and evidenced.
- 10 Benefits of Sensory Play in Early Childhood
- The Importance of Sensory Development in Early Childhood
- The Amazing Benefits of Sensory Play in Preschool
Therefore, we are eager to incorporate this Valentine’s sensory bin into our comprehensive preschool curriculum.
Pink Valentine’s Day Sensory Bin
Prepare your preschoolers for delightful play with our Valentine’s sensory bin, brimming with sparkling hearts, gems, and big diamonds to keep them fully engaged.
Materials
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- acrylic hearts
(Here they are in red
, clear
and even in rainbow colors
).
- acrylic gems
(I have pink
, but you can also get a rainbow of colors
).
- large acrylic diamonds
(These are about 2″ across!)
- dyed rice
or other Valentine-ish sensory bin filler
- heart shaped bins with lids
(I grabbed mine from a dollar store).
(Here they are in 
, 
and even in 
).
(I have 
, but you can also get a 
).
(These are about 2″ across!)
(I grabbed mine from a dollar store).
- Product Size: the diameter of heart-shaped acrylic is about 12 mm/ 0.5 inch, thickness of 2mm/ 0.008…
- 2 Different colors: the acrylic heart vase comes with 2 different colors such as pink and red, you…
- Material: these acrylic heart gems are made of quality acrylic material, waterproof, non-fading,…
- PERFECT SIZE FOR A NICE SIMPLE DECOR – Acrylic ice rocks measurements vary at about 1″ inch each.
- BEAUTIFUL EVENT DECORATION – Beautiful acrylic ice rock gems looks great at any event and make…
- COLORFUL VARIETY – Available in a wide selection of different colors. Comes in a pack of 385 acrylic…
- 2 Pounds of 25 Carat Clear Acrylic Diamonds – (22mm x 32mm).
- 2 pounds (approx. 110 pcs).
- Or use the diamonds without ribbon as table scatters for your wedding or reception tables, place in…
- This romantic heart shaped organizer is the perfect mate for romantic souls like yours. It can be…
- Thanks to its trendy and innovative design you can easily see what’s inside it in the blink of an…
- It’s ideal for storing all kinds of stuff, from accessories like bracelets, rings, earrings,…
How to Make a Valentine’s Day Sensory Bin
Start by dying your rice
Carefully pour the dyed rice into the bin in stripes of color. Then gently add the gems and heart shaped bins.
Now invite your kiddos to come and have some Valentine’s sensory fun!
Valentine Sensory Play with Hearts and Gems
You can make this sensory experience in a sensory bin or in a sensory table.
At first, the kids marveled at the sparkly pink, red, and purple gems and hearts. My daughter began counting them, as if counting loot after a great haul.
I offered them some formula scoops to use in the bin. (Formula scoops make the best, scoops, by the way). They were just the right size to scoop the rice and gather up the smaller hearts and gems.
My daughter made quick work of collecting all the hearts, laying them out on the floor in long lines that stretched the length of the sensory bin. At first she just made lines, but another preschooler sat next to her and tried to make patterns with the hearts.
After several minutes they returned the gems to the bin and collected hearts in the little heart containers. The girls counted how many hearts could fit in the containers.
So far, the work has been very delicate. My preschoolers jabbered away at how pretty everything was, holding the large acrylic diamonds up in the air to look through them.
My son filled formula scoops full of rice and held them up to closely examine them, looking for any gems that might be hidden in his scoop.
And then my daughter had an idea…
“Treasure!” she called out and used her hands and arms to scoop up as much of the sensory bin as possible, mixing all the gems and colors of rice together.
And then the others got involved, brushing the rice from side to side as if their hands were little brooms
Picture Books for Valentine’s Day
Explore new ways to celebrate love with your kids through a variety of charming Valentine’s Day picture books that offer stories of affection and friendship. Discover titles like “The Invisible String,” “Love from Bluey,” and “Happy Valentine’s Day, Mouse,” which offer sweet narratives perfect for reading aloud with little ones.
- Pun-filled book about the love between parent and child
- Encourages family bonding, laughter
- Charming, heart-melting illustrations on each page
- Numeroff, Laura (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 24 Pages – 12/17/2019 (Publication Date) – HarperCollins (Publisher)
- Kroll, Steven (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages – 12/01/2005 (Publication Date) – Cartwheel Books (Publisher)
- Hardcover Book
- Walstead, Alice (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Dewdney, Anna (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 14 Pages – 12/26/2014 (Publication Date) – Viking Books for Young Readers (Publisher)
How to Make this a Valentine Sensory Bin for Toddlers
This sensory bin was fitting for my own toddlers who are mostly past putting things in their mouths. But I only allow my toddlers to play in this sensory bin when 100%, fully supervised!
Here are some ways to make this Valentine’s sensory bin toddler safe:
- Replace the rice with a cereal base.
- Replace the rice with one inch of water dyed pink.
- Remove the acrylic hearts and gems and replace them with paper ones.
- Or use more large acrylic diamonds.
Valentines Sensory Bin Ideas
Valentine’s Day offers so many inspiring ideas for making sensory bins. Try some of these other ideas.
- Valentine’s Day Sensory Bin with Beginning Sounds
- Dyed Chickpea Valentine Sensory Bin
- Spiral Pasta Sensory Bin for Valentine’s Day
- Scented Valentine Sensory Bin
- Conversation Heart Sensory Bin
GEMS AND HEARTS VALENTINE’S SENSORY BIN
Hearts, gems and diamonds are all synonymous with Valentine's Day.
Your preschoolers will LOVE exploring these sparkly objects int this glam Valentine's sensory bin activity.
Sensory bins like this one are truly a gem (pun intended!).
They are perfect for sensory and fine motor skills development, expanding language, encouraging cooperation, and a whole slew of science and math skills that will organically unfold.
What makes this preschool Valentine's sensory activity even better? It is super easy to set up and will keep your little ones engaged for a very long time!
Materials
- acrylic hearts (they come in red, pink, clear and rainbow colors)
- acrylic gems (I used pink and red, but you can also get a rainbow of colors)
- large acrylic diamonds (These are about 2″ across!)
- dyed rice or other Valentine's-themed sensory bin filler
- heart shaped bins with lids (check the dollar store)
- formula scoops (optional, but these work great for scooping and pouring rice)
Instructions
- First, dye your rice. I like Colorations brand liquid watercolor because they have many colors and are extremely vibrant.
- Pour the dyed rice carefully into your sensory bin in broad stripes of color.
- Finally, gently work the gems and heart-shaped bins into the rice. Place formula scoops on top, if you are choosing to use these.
- You are ready to invite your preschoolers to explore and play!
- Observe and encourage conversation as the children organically count, pattern, sort, scoop & pour, and more!
Notes
*Sensory bins might look like "just play", but there is so much science and math happening, as well as wonderful sensory and fine motor skill development! So, let your preschoolers play AND learn with this sparkly, fun Valentine's sensory bin!
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I’m Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home-mama of five! I’m the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught a range of levels, from preschool to college and a little bit of everything in between. Right now my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction.
Sarah! I’m an Educational Specialist for an after school program in the Bronx! We service grades 1-8. Let me just start by saying you are a sensory goddess! We have a lot of students in our 1-4th grade groups and they are students with IEP’s use to 1:1 styled environments within their public schools. I feel that an Afternoon setting without the same resources is a disservice to these amazing babies! I have been able to incorporate a lot of your amazing sensory bins to our lesson plans and they have been so helpful in the learning and retention process with our children. Thank you so much for all you do, it truly works.