Tractor Sensory Bin

Little Brother has definitely been finding an interest in all things vehicle related, just like his Big Brother. But lately he's seemed really interested in tractors; whether it is the ones we read about, our toy tractors, or the ones we see out in the real world. To play off this interest, we created a tractor sensory bin.

Tractor Sensory Bin

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It's been a while since I set up a sensory bin, and as soon as I started Big Brother was eager to help. I didn't realize it had been quite a while since we had one to play with but his excitement (even though I was trying to connect this to his brother's interest) reminded me we need to get back into our bin and small world play. 

The base materials I decided to use were dried split (yellow) peas, we used three small bags. I also asked our neighbor who has horses (and therefore hay bales) for some bailing twine. This I turned into small bales of "hay." I cut several corks in half so they could look like either bales of hay as well or barrels. Big Brother and I collected sticks and acorns from the yard. We found all our toy tractors and he also wanted to add in some wooden vegetable boxes from a tractor trailer toy. Finally we had some miniature farm animals we recently found at a yard sale to add in. 

The boys both eagerly jumped in to playing and "motoring." They both engaged with the materials by driving there tractors through peas, but each had a different purpose. Little Brother was more into exploring the tactile experience of using the toys and the bin, while Big Brother was more about small world play. 

As they played a few others toys joined the bin, including an astronaut to be a "farmer," some toy trucks, and a few cups for dumping and pouring. 

Of course, in the end as often happens, this happened . . . Little Brother still can't resist the whole body sensory bin experience. 

We also read several of our board books which are either about or contain tractors. Little Brother, who is attempting to practice more language, was eagerly trying to say the word tractor as we played and read. He was even more excited when we spotted one later in the day in our neighborhood. 

Have a tractor loving toddler at home? Here's a few recommendations of some tractor board books to extend the tractor learning fun. (Click on each image for more information.)