• Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Activity, Change, Progress

  • HOME
  • How to
    • Preschool
    • Kindergarten
    • Middle School
    • High School
  • Planner
  • Lapbooks
    • Trioramas
    • History Games
  • Shop
  • GET STARTED NOW!
    • Learning Styles
  • 7 Step Planner
    • DIY Best Student Planner
    • Free & Easy DIY Home Management Binder
  • Unit Studies
    • Creation to Ancients
    • Middle Ages to Reform
    • Exploring to Revolution
    • World Wars to Today
    • Science
    • Free Art Curriculum Grades 1 – 8
  • Curriculum
    • More Unit Studies
    • Geography
    • Writing PreK to 12th
    • Geronimo Stilton
  • BootCamp
    • Resources
      • Dynamic Subscriber Freebies
      • Exclusive Subscribers Library
      • Ultimate Unit Study Planner

Discover The Magic Of Nocturnal Creatures | Nocturnal Animal Sensory Bin

July 30, 2024 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Share This!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

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.

Discover The Magic Of Nocturnal Creatures | Nocturnal Animal Sensory Bin

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.

Table of Contents

Toggle
  • Nocturnal Vs. Diurnal Animals
  • Nocturnal Animals of North America
  • More Sensory Bin Ideas for Kids
  • Nocturnal Animal Sensory Bin Resources
  • Nocturnal Animal Sensory Bin

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
Discover The Magic Of Nocturnal Creatures | Nocturnal Animal Sensory Bin

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.

Discover The Magic Of Nocturnal Creatures | Nocturnal Animal Sensory Bin

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.

Out of Sight Till Tonight! All 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!

Where Are the Night Animals?

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

North American Wildlife TOOB

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…
Discover The Magic Of Nocturnal Creatures | Nocturnal Animal Sensory Bin

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.

Discover The Magic Of Nocturnal Creatures | Nocturnal Animal Sensory Bin

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.

Discover The Magic Of Nocturnal Creatures | Nocturnal Animal Sensory Bin

I thought it would be really fun to add a few googly eyes peeking out of the darkness of “night”

Discover The Magic Of Nocturnal Creatures | Nocturnal Animal Sensory Bin

And then a big white button to represent the moon.

Discover The Magic Of Nocturnal Creatures | Nocturnal Animal Sensory Bin

Now add in your nocturnal animals to set the scene, you can also hide some under the dark base.

Discover The Magic Of Nocturnal Creatures | Nocturnal Animal Sensory Bin

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.

Discover The Magic Of Nocturnal Creatures | Nocturnal Animal Sensory Bin

Leave a CommentFiled Under: Hands-On Activities Tagged With: hands-on, hands-on activities, handson, handsonhomeschooling, homeschool, nocturnal, sensory bin

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Footer

Privacy Policy | About Me | Reviews | Contact | Advertise

Categories

Archives

Tina Robertson is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Copyright © 2025 · 5 TNT LLC · Log in · Privacy Policy