Easy Musical Sensory Bin – Homemade Shakers

This musical sensory bin activity is one of my favorite simple sensory activities for preschoolers! An added bonus? The kids can work on their fine motor skills as they put the homemade shakers together.

This week, our discovery center was focused on the sense of hearing.  We’ve done a lot with different scents but not so much with noises.  I knew I wanted to something basic with this sensory bin, and I only wanted to use materials we had on-hand.  Thus, the easy musical sensory bin was born.  Some of the kiddos referred to it as “makin’ shakers”, too, which made me laugh!

When I say “easy” and “simple”, I mean just that!  I checked out what we had in our school’s workroom and chose just three basic items. I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

The materials we used:
Empty plastic baby food containers with tops
Assorted buttons
Leftover beads from old Makit and Bakit sun catcher kits

Other possibilities:
Assorted plastic containers
Perler beads
Pony beads
Bells
Craft gems
Anything fun that you have on-hand!

I placed the buttons in one bin, the mini beads in the other, and then I set about eight plastic containers into each bin.  I added a few spoons as well.  I didn’t really tell the kiddos what I was up to in this discovery center.  The whole point was to let the children explore the materials in their own ways.  I’m sure I’ve said this many times before, but I love seeing what the kids do on their own without any prior prompting from me.  It allows them to use their senses, imaginations, and problem solving skills without being forced into one direction.

For the first little while, the kids just used their hands to play with the beads and the buttons.  It didn’t take too long before they were spooning the materials between the two bins and into each other’s hands.  Then they broke out the plastic containers and went at it!  Some were focused on filling each container to the brim, seeing how many buttons would fit.  Others played around with the different sounds — filling each container with different amounts, putting the lids on, and shaking away!  I also had a few who experimented with drumming the filled containers with their fingers.

There were lots of smiles and tons of “makin’ shakers” going on at this sensory bin!  Some of the kiddos were so enamored with the “sparkles” (the tiny beads) that they transferred some to our building area to add to their castles.  Yes, that was a bit messy, but the kids know how to use a hand brush and a dust pan!  🙂

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