Shofar Rescue Bin and Wall

Last year I wanted an easy sensory bin set up and I liked the idea of reusing what I already had so I quickly put together a fun activity inspired by my kids love of rescue activities, a Shofar Rescue Bin and Wall. Last year the bin actually had two sides since I already had the apples out and ready from another sensory bin. I remembered how much the kids enjoyed it and I figured my 17 month old would be up for the challenge so I set up the bin and wall again this year, this time shofars only!

What You’ll Need

Sensory bin (or Tupperware)
Sensory filler (whatever you have on hand)
Shofars (we used plastic ones we bought for play activities as well as some foam sticker ones. You could use real ones but I’d want to be very careful with the holy items. If you don’t have any play ones you could make some out of polymer clay, felt or paper)
Painters or Bam tape
Toy apples (if you want to do a side on apples too)
Tongs (optional)

Putting It Together

Put sensory filler in your bin or Tupperware or use whatever filler is already there!
Add shofars to one bin.
Add tape strips to the top in criss cross fashion with large gaps in between so tongs or fingers can reach in.
If you’re setting up an apple bin add the apples to the other bin and add tape in the same cross cross fashion.
Invite your child to carefully try to rescue the shofars and apples from under the tape with tongs or fingers.
If you want to take this activity vertical, tape the shofars to the wall and invite your child to carefully peel off the tape to rescue the shofars.

Finished & Loving It!

Last year I added plastic toy shofarim to one side of the apples and honey sensory bin I had set up a week or so before and added a few strips of the bam tape on top, placing them in different directions. I invited Baby Boy to grab the apples and shofarim with tongs, trying not to move the tape. What a fun challenge for a preschooler! The shofarim were really hard and kept slipping out of the tongs but the apples were more attainable.

It was such an entertaining way to add some life into an already prepped sensory bin plus a great fine motor skills challenge for my little guy.

This year I knew I wanted to try the Shofar Rescue Bin and Wall again, plus add a vertical element to it. I wanted to see if my preschooler had more patience in rescuing the larger shofars. And I was very curious to see if my toddler would even attempt a careful rescue.

I didn’t have any apples out (yep, already packed those away this year!) so we just focused on the shofars but it was totally fine and fun. I set up the English and Hebrew shofar sign we used in yesterday’s Shofar Exploratory Activity so they could again be exposed to these letters and words.

The preschooler did work harder to try not to move the tape this year. This really does take focus, concentration, strategy and fine motor skills! The toddler tried too, opening and closing the tongs. Such great skill practice and development!

I also set up the wall rescue activity just for the toddler while big brother was in preschool this morning. He liked taking the tape off the walls and rescuing the shofars that way. Setting up vertical activities is such a great way to not only practice fine motor skills, but also strength muscles and make their brains work in different ways. I also loved seeing how deeply he concentrated and had to coordinate holding the shofar up against the wall while pulling the tape to free it. So great!