I’ve been trying to be super intentional about incorporating engaging learning activities for our toddlers during playtime. This helps them build basic knowledge while having fun. Our most recent obsession is color bins, and given how excited they are about these, I knew I had to share them
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What is a color bin?
This is a super simple idea: have bins containing items all the same color. It helps littles easily learn colors, helps with fine motor skills when sorting, and you can play games using the bins. Some games we’ve played are counting games– count how many marbles are in the blue bin. Seek and find type games– can you find all the green pom poms for me?
What’s in a color bin?
Ok, here is the fun part! You can make these for a little bit of nothing with the toys and gadgets you already have tossed in with the toys. You can go to the dollar store and grab some packs of different materials and toys to add. The goal is to have various items with different sizes, textures, and shades. You can do as many or as few colors as you want. We started with four, but we will add a few more soon.
Here are some fun ideas to include in your color bins:
Colored cups/bowls
Confetti
Crinkle Cut Paper/Raffia Paper/Easter Grass
Anything to sort, pour, dig
I also had colored rice in each bin; however, that very quickly turned into all the colors combined. So, if you can limit your child to only one color at a time, dying rice is a perfect and fun addition. Here’s how you dye it:
Just grab a super cheap bag of white rice, food coloring, rubbing alcohol, and plastic bags, and you’re all set.
- Add about 1 lb of rice to a gallon-sized Ziploc bag
- Add as much food coloring as you want to get the perfect shade
- Add a tablespoon of rubbing alcohol
Repeat for each color in a separate bag.
Zip the bag and mix, mix, mix.
Lay the rice out on paper towels to dry, and enjoy hours of fun!
I suggest bins with latches for the rice so you don’t have pounds of rice dumped all over your floors. Oh! Another hack is to grab a hard plastic baby pool and have your kids play with the rice inside the pool to help keep the loose grains from covering your floor.
You can add items as you find them or have your kids help you search their current toys to find things that can be added. Be creative and have fun!
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