This strawberry sensory bin is a wonderful way to engage your child in early lessons through play and discovery. Also, look at my Free Strawberry Unit Study and Lapbook for more ideas.
Strawberries are bright, familiar, and full of learning potential, making them the perfect theme for a hands-on sensory bin. A strawberry sensory bin invites children to explore with their senses while building early math, science, language, and fine motor skills.
Today, you’ll learn how to create a strawberry sensory bin, what to include, and how to extend it into real educational lessons for multiple ages.
Sensory play helps children learn through touch, sight, smell, and movement. When children manipulate objects, scoop materials, and explore textures, they strengthen neural connections in the brain.
While a themed sensory bin, such as strawberries, is enjoyable, it also sets the stage for various other learning experiences, including life cycles, examining seeds, and strawberry crafts, to name a few.
BOOKS & RESOURCES ABOUT STRAWBERRIES FOR KIDS
First, look at these resources if you’re having a learn about strawberries day.
11 Strawberry Unit Study Resources & Books
Add one or two of these strawberry unit study resources to make your fun spring unit study come to life.
Big pack: 1000+ Non-GMO red strawberry seeds by Monique939-002..
Interesting: Whether they are spotted in your yard or as part of a tasty treat, strawberries are sure to spark attention! Liven up a fruit salad, muesli or trifle.
How does a tiny seed grow into a sweet, juicy strawberry? Follow each step in the cycle from planting seeds to eating yummy strawberries in this fascinating book!
Strawberries—big, ripe, and juicy. Ten-year-old Birdie Boyer can hardly wait to start picking them. But her family has just moved to the Florida backwoods, and they haven't even begun their planting. "Don't count your biddies 'fore they're hatched, gal young un!" her father tells her.
How fun.. What an adorable gift or to use in your school area.
Your child will quickly fall in love with this Strawberry Shortcake pillow and be excited to jump into bed. Great for playtime, naptime, or bedtime this will make the perfect gift for your loved one.
One penny.
In the hot, mean summer of 1933, a penny is enough to buy caramels or red hots or peppermint sticks or licorice strings. Is it enough to buy Miss Elsie's Strawberry Farm?
There's only one way to find out. Davey takes a deep breath and shouts, "One penny for trawberry Farm!"
Set during the Great Depression, and illustrated by Caldecott Honor artist Rachel Isadora, Saving Strawberry Farm brings Davey's Midwestern town to life as friends and neighbors plan to
save the farm the only way they can -- with a secret penny auction!
Delight your Strawberry Shortcake fan with this Strawberry Shortcake Giant Coloring Book Bundle with 144 coloring pages and 50 stickers.
This giant Strawberry Shortcake sticker activity book set features Strawberry Shortcake and her friends.
Includes two premium Strawberry Shortcake coloring books filled with coloring activities and games. Includes 50 stickers!
Adult and child readers will learn all about plants together in this new Co-reader from National Geographic Kids. Find out how plants grow as well as the different parts of plants, seeds, and flowers.
Little Mouse loves strawberries, but so does the big hungry bear . . .
How will Little Mouse stop the bear from eating his freshly picked, red ripe strawberry?
This classic story is beloved for its humor, expressive illustrations, and surprise ending—pure read-aloud fun!
In Watch a Strawberry Grow, early fluent readers learn how strawberries grow. Vibrant, full-color photos and carefully leveled text will engage young readers as they learn about how this delicious berry is grown and harvested. An infographic illustrates the life cycle of a strawberry. Children can learn more about how strawberries grow using our safe search engine that provides relevant, age-appropriate websites
Grandfather Ethan planted strawberry seedlings in the garden bed, and when they grew big strawberries that were all shiny and red - everybody wanted to taste them: the cow, the crow, and even the cat. It's a good thing that the scarecrow was there to scare them away! But what happens when little Nora, the granddaughter, wants to collect the shiny red strawberries?
A single strawberry sensory bin can easily be adapted for siblings of different ages:
- Preschool: Sensory exploration, counting, sorting
- Early Elementary: Life cycles, journaling, measuring
- Older Children: Nutrition facts, plant anatomy, food systems
Come along and get facts, additional activities, books, and of course, the simple tutorial for our strawberry sensory bin to turn into a short lesson or expand on it and spend a week or more discovering the delicious strawberry.
STRAWBERRY FACTS FOR KIDS
- Strawberries are the only fruit with its seeds on the outside.
- A single strawberry has about 200 seeds.
- Strawberries are not true berries according to botanists; they belong to the rose family.
- Strawberries grow on low plants, not trees.
- They start green, then turn white, and finally red as they ripen.
- Strawberries are rich in vitamin C and fiber.
Then, look at these ideas to extend play.
MORE STRAWBERRY IDEAS FOR MULTIPLE AGES
- Free Strawberry Notebooking Pages
- Make Strawberry Painted Rocks Tutorial For Garden | Easy Crafty Pattern.
- In the sensory bin, your child can transfer strawberries using tongs, pick “seeds” (lentils) from the bin, scoop and pour materials into containers, and count strawberries and seeds.
- Discuss how strawberries grow from flowers, talk about pollination, and the role of bees
- Introduce strawberry vocabulary (seed, stem, ripe)
- Practice “S is for Strawberry” letter activities like this How To Create A Sweet Strawberry Letter S Handprint Craft.
- Older children will love learning How To Extract DNA From Strawberries for a hands-on science activity.
- How to Make a Strawberry Lemonade Summer Sensory Bin
- Turn your sensory bin into a mini science lesson by introducing the strawberry life cycle: Seed, flower, green strawberry, and ripe strawberry. Life Cycle Of a Strawberry Facts and Fun Hand Sewn Felt Strawberry
- Make a stamp with halved strawberries dipped in paint.
- Make DIY strawberry-scented playdough for another engaging sensory activity.
Finally, look at how to create a strawberry themed sensory bin with kids.
HOW TO CREATE AN ENGAGING STRAWBERRY SENSORY BIN
Learning can be simple and fun for preschoolers. A little color, a few inviting tools, and you have an activity they will be drawn to.
You Will Need:
- Plastic, felt, or wooden strawberries
- A filler material for the base:
Dyed rice or beans
Lentils (great for mimicking seeds)
Kinetic sand or dry potting soil
Shredded paper or fabric scraps
- Tongs
- Cups
- Scoops
- Little baskets
- Alphabet tiles
Create a layer of filler by adding watercolor paint or food coloring to rice in a large zippered bag, and roll the color around in the bag until all the rice is colored.
Spread the rice out onto a plate or tray and allow it to dry while you gather the rest of your supplies.
Once dry, pour a nice layer of rice into your chosen sensory bin; the bigger the bin, the more rice you will need. This is a cheap, easy-to-color filler that can be used in so many ways for pouring, scooping, measuring, and, of course, adding color.
Add plastic, wood, or felt strawberries to your bin. I love this set of 18 I found; they can be added to dramatic play/kitchens later.
Then add letter tiles; you can just add S’s for strawberry or spell out the whole word. Encourage your child to identify each of the letters, make the sound, and list words that start with each letter.
Pop in a dice or two for your child to roll and count out the corresponding number of strawberries.
Provide spoons, funnels, cups, scoops, fruit baskets, and other fun tools for your child to explore the bin with.
Now, how fun and inviting does this strawberry sensory bin look for little hands?
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