Eyes on Early Years Volume 15 | Page 13

EARTH DAY SENSORY BINS By Ashlee Steward Taking care of our environment, conserving energy and water and learning about pollution should be ongoing topics during play opportunities. On the 22nd April 2018 the world will celebrate Earth Day. Why not try and create an earth day sensory bin? You can create them as you wish, but you could make one to focus on sorting waste; if you wanted you could add shredded blue paper to represent “water” and talk about the oceans and pollution (depending on the age of the children). TO MAKE THIS BIN, YOU WILL NEED: • Shredded blue paper (alternatively you could use blue rice) • Some marine type toy boats and animals (you could use boats and sea animals) • 3 containers for waste with labels for trash, compost, and recycling • 12 large metal paper clips • Printout of 12 pieces of garbage (see the next page for your FREE printable copy) • A “fishing pole” with a magnet on the end (you can make this with a pencil and string)