Our THEMED Toddler and Preschool Busy Bins

Ah, the seemingly-eternal question: how to keep toddlers and preschoolers occupied during the big kids’ school time?

Here, you’ll find recipes with ingredients for themed busy bins, designed to be low-mess, independent, and engaging for those little hands and minds. Each has sensory, fine motor, building, and creative components and can be rotated on a daily basis to keep each activity fresh and exciting for your little one.

They don’t need to be themed (I just find buying to be easier and more fun this way), and if your little one enjoys some activities more than others, feel free to lean heavier on his interests!

Please let me know how you enjoy these! We have been having a blast so far. (Amazon links are affliliate links, so if you do purchase via these links, it’s like sending me a “thank-you for the idea” tip, at no extra cost to you.)

For each of these, I purchase and label a scrapbox bin for storing the items. I get mine for $5 on sale at Michael’s, but these Amazon options also work well. If a book doesn’t fit, I just store it on top of the bin, and if an activity has just too many pieces, I store just enough to keep those little hands moving in a little bag inside the box. The rest of the set goes into one of our regular play spaces for other times of the day.

FARM
Sensory: Bean bin with Montessori tools
Fine-motor: Melissa and Doug Hide and Seek Wooden Farm
Building: Duplo At the Farm Set
Creativity: Melissa and Doug Farm Water WOW
Puzzles: Melissa and Doug Cube Puzzle, Melissa and Doug Chunky Puzzle
Book: Melissa and Doug Poke a Dot Farm

OCEAN
Sensory: Kinetic Sand with Ocean Molds
Fine-motor: Learning Locks
Building: Plus Plus Ocean Creatures
Creativity: Melissa and Doug Ocean Water WOW, Crayola Color Wonder Magic Light “Watercolor”
Puzzle: Melissa and Doug Fishing Puzzle
Book: Peek-a-Flap Ocean

BEARS/FOREST
Sensory: Play Dough Fun Set
Fine-motor: Lauri animal foam and peg stackers, Lincoln Logs
Building: Magnatile Forest Animals
Creativity: Color Wonder Alpha Pets
Puzzle: Melissa and Doug Wooden Bear Family Dress-up
Book: Peek-a-Flap WHO

DINOSAURS
Sensory: Colored Rice and Dino Figures
Fine-motor: Skillmatics Foil Fun Dinos
Building: Infantino Sensory Blocks
Creativity: Melissa and Doug Water WOW, Melissa and Doug Reusable Puffy stickers, Color Wonder Dinos
Puzzle: Melissa and Doug Chunky Puzzle
Book: The Ultimate Book of Dinosaurs

ICE CREAM RAINBOW
Sensory: Kinetic Sand Ice Cream Set, (also baking soda, vinegar, and food coloring in muffin tins with dropper to disperse the vinegar into tins filled with baking soda)
Fine-motor: Skillmatics Magnetic Alphabet Rainbow, Magnetic Ice Cream Color Matching
Building: Picasso Tiles, Magnetic Montessori Blocks
Creativity: Melissa and Doug Play Ice Cream Store (store the pieces only in the box), Ice-cream scented dot markers
Puzzle: Melissa and Doug Ice Cream Magnetic Puzzle Set
Book: Ice Cream: The Full Scoop by Gail Gibbons, Let’s Lace