How to Make a Tabletop Hanukkah Sensory Bin

Hanukkah + sensory bin = a fabulously fun and educational activity for your little (and not so little) ones! This is the perfect activity for when you’re frying latkes, rolling your rugelach, or even just for fun in the week of and leading up to Hanukkah. It’s also super easy to make, can be used for months for continued play experience, and allows endless creative options for your children.

What You’ll Need

• Plastic container, bin or box. I got ours at Dollar Tree, yay!
• Large ziploc bag
• 6 cups rice
• Blue food dye
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• Hanukkah items such as dreidels, cookie cutters, candles, gelt
• Any other blue or silver decorative items that you want to add. Again, Dollar Tree was helpful here and had some blue and clear decorative stones that worked perfectly!
• Measuring cups, funnels, spoons, anything that can make that rice move

Putting it together

1. Dye your rice to set the sensory stage. In a large ziploc bag, add a 1/2 cup vinegar and food coloring (as much as you need to get the color you desire) to 6 cups of rice. Close the bag and shake shake shake. This is a great job for little helpers! They will love helping create the activity as well as move their bodies, and of course hear the fun sound the rice makes.

2. Once all the rice is blue, spread out the rice on a sheet of foil or a baking sheet. Let dry for about an hour. Ok … I cheated. I put mine in the oven at 250 degrees for about 20 minutes, checking every 10 minutes. We just couldn’t wait to play!

* You might notice our rice is more of an aquamarine. I used a ton of food coloring … but we only have brown rice in the house. The previous perfectionist in me would have cringed, but thanks to my kids, I know it’s all good and best of all: fun!

3. Once the rice is dry, pour it into your box.

4. Add your Hanukkah items and any other items you desire.

5. Start playing!

Notes:

• Sensory bins are such open-ended activities. You set the initial stage but the children’s imagination tells true story. It’s so fun to watch! If you’re at home or even in the classroom, it’s great to have other items available for their use of their imagination takes them that way. For instance, animals and cars are often choices that my kids like to add to their bins.
• This activity is totally doable in the classroom. The rice would have to be prepped ahead of time but you could easily have everything ready in the box and bring it to class. It would make a fun creative, hands-on activity for a rotating station, even for older kids. We often forget that kids still need safe and fun sensory experiences even when they aren’t in preschool!
• It’s super important to remember that while this is a great activity for little ones, they do need to be supervised since there are choking hazards involved. The rice is non-toxic (yay!) but the stones and dreidels could easily be a problem if you have a mouthy child.
• If you have a young toddler, like mine, there will likely still be a mess. He just couldn’t keep all the rice in the bin. But remember, former perfectionist-turned-mom-of-three says that’s just fine 😉

Finished and Loving It!

A hippo and cow joined the party!

My sweet little girl wanted to line up all the dreidels and create her own Hanukkiah with the candles.

Big brother even got in on the fun–and they played with it together!

Make a wish for a joy-filled Hanukkah!

What would you add to your Hanukkah sensory bin?

And does anyone have an idea or a source for non-edible gelt I could use? I was sad that Hanukkah symbol wasn’t represented.

Want ideas for a classroom rotating station Hanukkah party? Check out that blog post here!

Anxious to plan out your Hanukkah week with delicious food and fun family-focused activities? Check out our Hanukkah 2018 Family-Focus Planner!

*This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link!*

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