The story of the Little Red Hen is a classic. And there are so many activities you can build around the story. It can even serve as one of your preschool themes for the year! Be sure to add the Little Red Hen sensory bin to your list of activities that go along with this preschool classic.
A few weeks ago, my preschool students were enamored with the story of The Little Red Hen. We created harvest wheat play dough and retold the story using sensory materials. Inspired by our retelling activity, I created a simple sensory bin for further exploration.
Related: Little Red Hen Activities
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Materials
Pearled barley (it looked somewhat like wheat seeds to me)
Brown Rice (it looked somewhat like bits of wheat off the stalk)
Plastic wheat stalks (I grabbed from a local hobby store)
Little Red Hen (a chicken from the farm toob that I painted red)
Mouse (from the pets toob)
Dog (from the dogs toob)
Cat (from the pets toob)
Plastic bottles
Glass Montessori pitchers
Funnels
Measuring spoons
Set Up
I poured a few bags of barley and brown rice into our large sensory table. I added a pile of plastic wheat stalks, as well as the characters from the story of The Little Red Hen.
How the Children Played
This was our third activity based on The Little Red Hen, so the kiddos knew the story forwards and backwards! They immediately set about retelling the story and taking turns with the characters. The children spent most of the first day telling the story a variety of ways. I loved watching them creating a hill out of the barley and rice, then planting the wheat stalks for the hen!
Related: Fall Messy Play Ideas
The following day, the students grabbed funnels, plastic bottles, measuring spoons, and small pitchers for the bin. This led to a ton of pouring, scooping, and funneling. I heard estimates of how long different amounts of “wheat” would take to get through the funnels. They also estimated, and tested, how many scoops would fill up a plastic bottle. Some were just interested in listening to the sounds of the materials flowing through the funnels and landing back in the bin.
Related: Farm Theme Preschool Snack
On the third day, the children requested more farm animals. So, of course, I brought out more farm animals for them to include in the bin. This led to completely new renditions of the Little Red Hen. They also commandeered some chairs from around the messy room – the chairs turned into farm houses for the animals. This led to hour-long small world play involving all kinds of farm drama in and out of the sensory bin! It went on for days, with kids picking up where they left off the day before.
Related: Thanksgiving Activities for Preschoolers
I usually change the sensory bins out every week, but this ended up being used consistently for two weeks. The barley and rice mixture is all packed away for use another time!
Do you have any activities that go along with the story of the Little Red Hen? I’d love to hear about them if you do!
Be sure to pop over to Pinterest and check out my Fairy Tale and Folk Tale board!
Done-for-You Preschool Resources
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Preschool Teacher 101 is excited to share with you some amazing lesson plans, activity packs, and much more! We offer a wide variety of themes that are frequently used in preschool classrooms, as well as some less common (but super interesting) themes. Click on the image below to learn more about our Little Red Hen lesson plans!
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love this great idea-the little red hen sensory bin
Thanks, Linda! The kids really enjoyed the Little Red Hen sensory bin. Let me know if you get the chance to try it. 🙂