We’re putting together a quick and easy nocturnal animal sensory bin using some basic things we can find around the house and some plastic animals.
Learning about the difference in nocturnal and diurnal animals is a fun and fascinating part of a child’s early education.
Much of it comes naturally and children quickly learn animals like owls, bats, and foxes come out at night.
This simple sensory bin is a great way to be a bit more intentional with teaching them.
And it pairs nicely with some wonderful picture books on the subject, videos, and even games.
Share a little basic information with your child as they explore their sensory bin, try to find examples of each type.
Nocturnal Vs. Diurnal Animals
Nocturnal-Animals that are most active at night. Examples: bats, raccoons, owls, and moths/
Diurnal-Animals that are most active during the day. Examples: hawks, bees, rabbits, groundhog, humans, dogs
For children that have grasped the concept of the two basic circadian rhythms of animals you can move onto the more involved subcategories like…
Auroral animals – Animals that are active at dawn. Examples: moose, skunk, hamsters
Crepuscular animals – Animals that are active at dawn, just before the sun goes down, or dusk, just after the sun rises. Examples: deer, corn snakes, rabbits, rats
Cathemeral animals – Animals that don’t fit the conventional definitions of being strictly nocturnal, diurnal, or crepuscular. Examples: lemurs, lions, spiders
Nocturnal Animals of North America
- Skunk
- Aardvark
- Armadillo
- Badger
- Barn owl
- Bat
- Coyote
- Gray Wolf
- Hedgehog
- Luna moth
- Mink
- Mountain Lion
- Mouse
- Opossum
- Raccoon
- Red Fox
- Sea turtle
Before we played in our sensory bin, I created another quick and easy activity.
I wrote nocturnal and diurnal on black and blue pieces of construction paper halves.
Then, I offered a selection of both types of animals for the child to sort them.
We talked about what was and was not nocturnal as they put them in the proper spots.
Next, look at these other sensory bin ideas.
More Sensory Bin Ideas for Kids
- How to Make a Watermelon Sensory Bin for Play and Learning
- 9 Hands on Weather Activities for Kids and Awesome Weather Sensory Tray
- Fun Corn Life Cycle Preschool Sensory Bin and Printable Lifecycle Foldout
Nocturnal Animal Sensory Bin Resources
Also, add these resources to your study of nocturnal animals.
Nocturnal Animal Sensory Bin Resources
Add some of these resources to your fun study about nocturnal animals.
The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library series combines beloved characters, engaging rhymes, and Seussian illustrations to introduce children to non-fiction topics from the real world! Stay up past your bedtime and discover the world of nocturnal animals, including:
• how bats use echolocation
• why some desert animals hunt at night
• how toads need to stay damp to survive
• and much more!
Female frogs lay eggs in the water, but what hatches isn't a frog yet—it's a tadpole. Tadpoles are like tiny fish that breathe underwater through gills. As the tadpole gets older, it loses its fishy tale and its gills and grows legs and develops lungs. This picture book shows the incredible metamorphosis that occurs as a tadpole becomes a frog.
This is a clear and appealing science book for early elementary age kids, both at home and in the classroom. It includes a find out more section with an illustrated guide to identify different frog species and a map showing where bull frogs can be found throughout the United States.
This is a Level 1 Let's-Read-and-Find-Out, which means the book explores introductory concepts perfect for children in the primary grades. The 100+ titles in this leading nonfiction series are:
- hands-on and visual
- acclaimed and trusted
- great for classrooms
This Toob has a few nocturnal animals in it. If you do not yet have a good collection of plastic animals I highly recommend that you grab some because they are not only great for sensory bins but you can add them to the blocks and encourage your child to build enclosures, take them outside and use in place of fair gardens, and when they are older they are fantastic for dioramas.
Finally, look at how to make this fun nocturnal animal sensory bin.
Nocturnal Animal Sensory Bin
You will need:
- Black aquarium pebbles (or beans)
- Plastic nocturnal animal figures
- Small branches
- Greenery
- White button (moon)
- Google eyes
- Shallow bin
- Spoons, cups for pouring, measuring, etc…
First, fill the bottom of your sensory bin with black aquarium gravel.
Alternatively, you can use black beans, or pasta dyed with black watercolor to create your night.
You can use any good-sized shallow pan as a container for your sensory bins.
Dollar Tree is a fantastic resource.
Add sticks and greenery to set a woodsy scene,
I used live and fake plants from around the house and wood out of my craft stash.
You could use some sticks from the yard.
I thought it would be really fun to add a few googly eyes peeking out of the darkness of “night”
And then a big white button to represent the moon.
Now add in your nocturnal animals to set the scene, you can also hide some under the dark base.
Hide some behind greenery or inside a cave made from painting a little plastic cup black as you talk about how they use the cover of night to hunt or hide from predators.
