Learn how to make this super easy winter sensory bin for toddlers, that has fake snow and will give your toddlers hours of fun sensory play.

As temperatures drop and snow starts to fall, keeping toddlers engaged indoors can be a challenge. One great way to keep little ones busy during the winter months is by creating a seasonal sensory bin.

Winter sensory bins are containers filled with various items that engage the senses that relate to this season. For toddlers, they provide opportunities to touch, see, hear, and explore new textures and materials.

Winter sensory bins are a fun way to celebrate the season while supporting development and creating hours of fun winter sensory activities for preschoolers and toddlers.

Here is a super easy winter theme sensory bin for your toddlers to enjoy!

Benefits of Winter Sensory Bins

Sensory bins offer many benefits for toddler development. Here are some of the key advantages of winter themed sensory bins:

Fine Motor Skills: Sensory bins for kids allow toddlers to practice fine motor skills like grasping, pouring, squeezing, and digging. Filling bins with materials like fake snow and winter objects gives little hands plenty to explore and manipulate.
Cognitive Development: Interacting with various textures and materials supports cognitive growth. Toddlers learn about cause and effect, volume, and spatial awareness. Winter items like snowballs and icicles provide unique sensory experiences.

Language Development: Describing and naming the items in sensory bins for 2 year olds builds vocabulary. As toddlers explore, adults can introduce winter-related words like snowy, icy, mittens, and hat.
Self-Expression: Toddlers can engage in imaginative winter play with easy sensory bins. They may pretend to make snow angels with their fingers or build mini snowmen out of cotton balls. This open-ended play encourages creativity and self-expression.
Fun: Most importantly, snow sensory bins provide endless fun for energetic toddlers. The hands-on play and sensory stimulation keeps them happily occupied for extended periods. I know they always keep my toddlers entertained!

Some of these links are affiliate links meaning if you purchase from these links, I will earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Everything I share is my own opinions and things I personally use and love. You can learn more by reviewing my disclosure. As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

How to Make Your Own Winter Sensory Bin

Non food sensory bins are usually the easiest to make, and this homemade sensory bin did not take long at all to create.

It involves a quick fake snow recipe and then easy sensory bin fillers that you probably already have at your house!

Here is how to make a winter sensory bin for 2 year olds:

Materials

Sensory Bin
Construction Vehicle and Accessories
Alphabet and Numbers
Cotton Balls
Pom Poms
Fake Snow (1 Cup Hair Conditioner and 4 Cups Baking Soda)

Instructions

Pour the baking soda and hair conditioner in the bin and mix them together until the mixture is the consistency of snow.

Add the cotton balls, pom poms, and other sensory fillers. Then, add and burry the letters in the snow, along with the construction toys.

Now let your child explore and play!

Notes

You don’t have to use a construction toys or the alphabet and numbers. Those are just two easy things we grabbed and used with our fake snow sensory bin.
The cotton balls and pom poms might get dirty after playing with the fake snow, so be sure to toss them and get new ones for your next sensory bin.
The fake snow is not a taste-safe sensory bin. Watch your kids and don’t use with little toddlers who still put things in their mouths.

Other DIY Winter Sensory Bins

There are so many fun winter sensory bin ideas for preschoolers and toddlers. Here are a few more winter sensory bin ideas you can use:

Snowy Wonderland: Fill a bin with fake snow. Add small plastic winter animals, trees, and sleds for a playful scene. Sprinkle in some glitter for extra sparkle. Extras like winter hats, scarves, and mittens inspire pretend play.
Arctic Bin: Create an icy arctic sensory bin by filling a container with water and letting it freeze. Add chunks of ice, pretend fish and polar bears, and glitter. Sit with toddlers as they chisel and break apart the ice with plastic tools.

Cotton Ball Snowstorm: Fill a bin with cotton balls to represent a blizzard. You can dampen some cotton with water and freeze them to create “snowballs.” Add winter figures like snowmen and penguins. Show toddlers how to grasp and pile the fluffy cotton to make drifts.
Nature Items: Collect interesting natural items like pinecones, acorns, sticks, feathers, and stones. Add some fake snow and these natural objects become wintery discoveries. Nestle in a few backyard animals too.
Cookie Cutters: Fill a bin with packed fake snow or cloud dough. Press in cookie cutters and let toddlers extract the shapes. Snowflake, tree, and snowman cutters are perfect wintery themes.

Check out these other 15 winter sensory bin ideas.