Passover Story I Spy Sensory Bin

We absolutely love using sensory bins to learn about Jewish holidays through play and this Passover Story I Spy Sensory Bin was the perfect way to review the Passover story through sensory exploration and, of course, lots of fun!

All you need is two of each of the 10 symbols of the Passover story you want to highlight, a few other random items to make it more challenging, old matzah from last year, an acrylic insert, and cool kitpas crayons to circle each item as they are found! It’s such a fun way to review the Passover story, practice matching, and explore a fun Passover sensory bin!!

We’ve been focusing on each part of the Passover story as we explored many different crafts and activities and with today’s sensory bin, we got to review all the parts and the story in its entirety. Next we will move onto modern traditions, customs, and of course, the Passover Seder!!

What You’ll Need

Two of each of the 10 symbols of the Passover story you want to highlight (I wanted to highlight each part of the story we’ve focused on in the last week—Jews as slaves (Lego as a brick, wooden pyramid block), baby Moses (peg doll), burning bush (red and yellow connecting STEM toy), the plagues (I grabbed a few small figurines to represent some of the plagues) and a DIY mini tambourine to represent crossing the Red Sea and dancing with Miriam in celebration
A few other random items to make it more challenging (I used some Passover plague finger puppets, blocks, other animal figurines)
Old matzah from last year (or matzah meal; I processed our sheets in a food processor)
An acrylic insert
Kitpas crayons
Sensory bin

Putting It Together

Add matzah meal or broken matzah sheets into your sensory bin.
Add one set of your Passover story symbols plus any other items to add more for your kid to search through
Place your acrylic insert on top.
Next to your sensory bin place the second set of Passover story symbols. I set mine up in sequential order of the story since that’s how we’ve learned each part. I also used a ten frame insert to organize these symbols but that’s not necessary. Talk about what each symbol represents in the Passover story as they search for it in the sensory bin.
Invite your child to use the kitpas crayon and circle on the acrylic insert each of the Passover story symbols they can see below.
When they’ve found all of the symbols, remove the insert and let them enjoy some free play!
You can pair this activity with a book that focuses on the Passover story, like Let My People Go!, and/or our Passover Story Sequencing set.

Finished & Loving It!

This was such a fun sensory bin to learn, explore and play with! It was the very first time we’ve used an acrylic insert and the kids were fascinated by the fact they could see through the hard surface to the symbols below. They loved looking for each symbol and circling with the kitpas crayon.

Over the past week or so we’ve been breaking down the Passover story and focusing on different parts, sequentially, to explore deeper. Yesterday we finished with our Parting the Red Sea Snipping Practice activity so today it made perfect sense to do an activity that reviewed all these elements. The kids were able to identify the symbols and what parts of the story they represented because we’ve been focusing on these so much. But if you want to jump in and do this overview activity first, that’s great! Just point to each symbol as they look for its match and explain what it represents in the Passover story.

Have you used kitpas crayons before? We got these as a Hanukkah gift for the kids and they are so great. They work on paper, can function as watercolors when brushed with water, and also work on plastic and glass surfaces and wipe clean! Such the perfect tool for creative exploration and easy clean up with this activity!

I loved being able to use matzah sheets from an opened box of matzah I found in the pantry. The kids love exploring the texture of matzah and further breaking up the pieces (the food processor only does so much!).

I really enjoyed watching the kids search through the acrylic insert to find the matching symbols and circle their match excitedly! It felt kind of like a game! Then they loved getting their hands in the matzah filler and just playing and exploring with all the items in the bin. This opportunity for open ended exploratory play is so important and such an easy set up for us parents!