Animals in Winter Sensory Bin

Winter is a great time to explore different themes. We have always loved looking for animals and animal tracks in winter. It is also fun to talk about which animals are around in winter and which are not.

I love using sensory bins to explore new things. We always have a sensory bin around. Yes, my girls are old but we still use them. They are great for calming down and a great go-to when they say they are bored.

This animal in winter sensory bin is a great way to look at tracks and have some fun.

Animals in Winter Sensory Bin - a fun sensory bin to explore animal tracks and the animals awake in winter. - 3Dinosaurs.com

The Animals in Winter Sensory Bin is a great addition to the forest animals and sensory bins on the site.

What is a sensory bin?

A sensory bin is typically a plastic tub or container filled with carefully selected materials and objects to stimulate the senses of children in preschool.

Sensory bins might have rice, water beads, corn, beans, or other types filled with small items.

Animals in Winter Sensory Bin

The animals in winter sensory bin has a kinetic sand base with a mix of forest animals that are out in the winter.

We read the book Over and Under the Snow. It is one of my favorite about winter. It shows some of the animals awake and you get to see some of the tracks of the animals. Another good book to read is Animals in Winter. Each of the books is great to read about animals in winter and why some animals are not around.

What you need for the Animals in Winter Sensory Bin:

paper bin with lid
kinetic sand
Tree Toob (we use the evergreen trees only)
Nature Toob
And various other Safari LTD figures

Animals in Winter Sensory Bin - a fun sensory bin to explore animals tracks and the animals awake in winter. - 3Dinosaurs.com

How we used the Animals in Winter Sensory Bin

One of the first things my girls did when they saw the sensory bin was grabbed the sand and start to make it pretend to snow in the bin. They would hold the sand up and slowly let it fall from their hands.

After they finished with the pretend snowstorm, they packed down the sand. I love that the sand will pack down and stay in shapes. It is one reason I use it in sensory bins.

Then we had fun making animals tracks. One nice thing about the Nature Toob is that the animal’s feet look just like the real ones and leave great tracks. We had fun doing single lines of tracks and mixing up the trace. After you make the tracks you can compare the difference in them.

You could also check out these Animals in winter worksheets with the sensory bin.

Next, we made balls of the sand in our hands and them put a single animal in the center. We did all the animals just to see what a single set of tracks looked like.

You can see how well the rabbit tracks show up in the sand. They show the big and small of the front and back.

The best part about this sensory bin is that you can just play in it. They are always fun to leave out for when kids in a break and gives fun sensory play at the same time.

If you wanted to have some fun you can add the animals that hibernate and bury them in the sand to show that they are sleeping.

Check out these other winter animal activities and printables

Animals in Winter No-Prep Weekly Packs is a fun weekly pack set with animals in winter. You have six grade levels: PreK, Kindergarten, First Grade, Second Grade, Third Grade, and Fourth Grade.

Deer In Winter Watercolor Painting has a deer walking through the trees in winter. A great way to make a winter painting with kids. You paint the background with watercolors and use a cookie cutter for the deer.

Animals in Winter Counting Easy Reader Book has numbers 1 to 10 for kids to focus on.

Winter Cardinal Painting is a mix of painting and craft for Kids. You have a birch tree and a cardinal on a branch in a fun winter scene. You use the cookie cutter for the cardinal.

Animals in Winter Packs has two different packs a Tot and Preschool pack that has 130 pages and a PreK and Kindergarten pack with over 145 pages of activities all with a focus on animals in winter.

Animals In Winter Activity Pack has a mix of animals in winter and footprint activities for kids to learn with. You will find prewriting, shapes, ABCs, and numbers. The printables all have a mix of clip cards, easy reader books, tracing strips, and no-prep pages.

Check out all the fun Forest & Woodland Activities & Printables on 3 Dinosaurs.