Creation Story Sequencing Sensory Bin

Catching up from a few weeks ago when we learned about the Creation Story by exploring a Creation Story Sequencing Sensory Bin. This set up is the opposite of how I usually set up my bins as I usually have everything inside the bin first and then sometimes invite kids to take elements out to match or sort. For today’s bin I wanted to focus on sequencing since that’s an important part of the Creation Story. It required patience and waiting and turn taking as a child read the control card, then all the kids added the corresponding elements to the bin. I wasn’t sure how it was going to work and I don’t like setting my kids up for failure so I was prepared to change up my plan if needed. But luckily it did work for us!

What You’ll Need

Creation Story 3 Part Cards (optional)
2 Sensory bins (you can use a fancy sensory table or tupperware, loose tubs, or even cookie sheets!)
Black Beans
Rice
Blue painted beans (or something else to represent water)
Green lentils (or something else to represent land)
Star stickers
Moon and sun symbol (we made ours from cardboard)
Fish figurines
Bird figurines
Plant toys or real plants (we used flowers from our garden)
Land animal figurines
One male and one female figurines
Shabbat symbols (we used polymer clay Shabbat ritual items we made)

Putting It Together

Add black beans to one sensory bin and rice to the other.
Have the symbols for each day easily accessible for your child. I put them around the edge of our sensory table. they could also be laid out on a table or floor or even in a bin next to your sensory bin.
If you do not have symbols for each of the days, feel free to print some pictures of the symbols out. Kids love DIY!
Lay out the Creation Story 3 Part Cards one at a time. After each card is read, have your child find the corresponding symbol and add it to the sensory bin to create the world. If you do not have these Creation Story 3 Part Cards you can always use a Creation Story book. Our favorite is And There Was Evening and There Was Morning.
After all cards have been read and all symbols added, let your child play with them as they wish!

Finished & Loving It!

My kids really enjoyed this Creation Story Sequencing Sensory Bin. Supplementing learning with some hands-on sensory exploration is always a fun way to learn and get the sensory feedback my kids always seem to need.

Enjoying a Creation Story Sequencing Sensory Bin

I could totally see it being too much of a challenge for younger kids but my kiddos waited until each card was read before they searched for and added the related elements. Yay! By doing it this way, card by card, element by element, they were able to again review how G-d created a new element each day.

We used the control cards from the Creation Story 3 Part Cards I made and I really enjoyed having these as a guideline for this sequencing sensory bin!

As always, once the “learning” part was complete, the kids went all in and played however they wanted to. I really enjoy setting up sensory bins with an educational goal in mind, but always allow for open-ended free play once we’ve worked on that goal. And sensory bins just to explore the senses are always meaningful and fun experiences in our house too.