Our Favorite Sensory Bin Fillers: A Parent's Guide to Fun and Easy Sensory Materials

Sensory bin fillers may just be your new favorite parenting hack! As parents, we're constantly seeking ways to engage and stimulate our children's play (and maybe even keep them busy enough to let us drink a cup of coffee in peace?). We all want to provide our kiddos with experiences that not only entertain them, but also foster their cognitive and sensory development. 

One of our favorite (and successful—I'm talking enjoying my coffee while it's still hot!) ways to facilitate this kind of play is through sensory bins and other sensory play kits. If you've got a container, a filler, and something to scoop or pour with, your kids' naturally creative minds are off to the races!

In this guide, we'll share some of our favorite sensory bin fillers, from classic choices like water and colored rice to cool innovative options like kinetic sand and Pluffle. You can use these ideas to start putting together your own sensory bins, or let us save you the trouble and check out our collection of ready-to-go sensory play kits instead.

Before we dive into the fillers, let’s talk about why sensory bins are so valuable—especially for preschool and early elementary learners. Sensory play helps:

• Support fine motor skill development

• Build vocabulary through hands-on experiences

• Encourage open-ended, imaginative play

• Engage multiple senses at once

• Provide calming, focused activities (perfect for transition times)

And the best part? You don’t need a huge space or fancy supplies to make it work.

If you’re just getting started with sensory play, here’s a quick list of what you need to set up a bin:

• A shallow bin or storage container

• One or more sensory fillers (see below!)

• Tools like scoops, cups, tongs, spoons, or tweezers

• A towel, tray, or mat underneath for easier cleanup

That’s it! From here, you can add loose parts, themed toys, or keep it simple and let the filler shine.

Add a pop of color to your sensory bins with colored rice! Colored rice is a versatile and budget-friendly sensory bin filler that can be used in countless ways to engage children's senses. Kids can scoop, pour, and sift through the rice, promoting fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Colored rice is also perfect for themed sensory bins—think seasonal colors for holidays or rainbow hues for a magical touch. 🌈

Coloring your own rice at home is super easy! Simply put plain white rice into a gallon ziploc bag, add some liquid water colors or food coloring, seal right, and shake, shake, shake! Pour out onto a cookie sheet to dry.

If you prefer the done-for-you approach, you'll find four whole pounds of rainbow rice in our Sensory Bin Starter Kit! Colored rice is also included in ou rSocial Emotional Sensory Mini Crate, Bees Preschool Unit, and Space Unit Study. ✅

Beans are another inexpensive sensory bin filler that provide children with a unique tactile experience. Smooth kidney beans, bumpy chickpeas, little lentils ... some kiddos (my daughter!) get sucked right in to sorting the different sizes, shapes, and textures.

Beans are an especially great sensory bin filler for fueling imaginative play with toy trucks for "loading" and "transporting." We like to use them in our woodlands-themed bin too because their colors are so natural and good for "camouflaging" our animal figurines.

If you don't already use kinetic sand with your kids, prepare to be mesmerized! This magical substance behaves like traditional sand but with a delightful twist—it sticks to itself, not to your hands or surfaces. 🙌 Kids can mold it, shape it, squish it—the possibilities for creative play are endless!

Kinetic sand is not only super satisfying to touch, but also promotes sensory integration and fine motor skills development. It comes in lots of colors, too, so don't limit your plans to beach-themed sensory bins. We include a two pound bag of Kinetic Sand in our our Sensory Bin Starter Kit, Kindness Sensory Kit, and Animals of the World, Dino Adventures, and Zoo Adventures kits. ☺️ Oh, also in our immensely popular Desert Unit Study!

Playfoam is a delightfully squishy and moldable compound made of tiny foam balls that stick together. It provides endless opportunities for sensory exploration and is perfect for tactile play without the mess. 

Children can squeeze, stretch (my daughter's favorite), and shape the foam to their heart's content, enhancing their hand strength and dexterity in the process. 💪 

Playfoam comes in a variety of colors (even sparkles!). It's also reusable, allowing for countless play sessions without losing its texture or pliability. That's right, it doesn't dry out!

We include playfoam in our Sensory Bin Starter Kit and our Social Emotional Sensory Play Mini. ☺️

It doesn't get any more classic than water! Incorporating water into your sensory bins adds an extra element of excitement and exploration. And kids just LOVE water, don't they? 💦

Whether it's floating toys, pouring cups, or simply splashing around, water play engages multiple senses and promotes sensory development. Just be sure to supervise closely and use waterproof materials to prevent any unintended spills.

A simple water table is a great tool for play to have outdoors. For indoor water play, I sometimes just put towels down on the kitchen floor with an under-the-bed storage bin on top so clean up will be quick and easy. You can also delight your kids by putting THEM in a water "sensory bin"—the bathtub! ☺️

Pasta isn't just for dinner—it's also a fantastic sensory bin filler! From spaghetti to penne, dried pasta comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, offering a unique tactile experience for little hands. Children can run their fingers through the pasta, feeling its texture and enjoying the satisfying sound it makes as it cascades through their hands. Plus, it's inexpensive and easy to clean up – just gather it into a container and save it for next time.

You can color your pasta the same way you color rice. So fun to make colors that match different holidays or themes!

Have you tried Pluffle from Educational Insights? It is soooo unique and fun! It's super soft, fluffy, and light—made from shredded foam. It comes in lots of bright colors (including glitter and glow-in-the-dark!) and does the coolest thing...

When you squeeze the Pluffle and then let go, it squirms in a way that makes it look alive. It's hard to explain how truly awesome this is, so go ahead and check out this video we made of it here (watch to the end!). ☺️

We give you a full tube of Pluffle in our Sensory Bin Starter Kit. When my kids get it out to play, the grown-ups always like to join in because it's really that mesmerizing! ✨

Incorporating aquarium gravel (may also be called decorative pebbles, available at Dollar Tree) into your child's sensory bin can add a new dimension of exploration and creativity to playtime. 

Kids love the feeling of the smooth stones beneath their fingers and the opportunity to sort and manipulate them in endless ways. Whether they're building roads for toy cars, creating patterns and designs, building a riverbed, or simply enjoying the sensory feedback of the gravel, it offers a versatile and engaging addition to sensory play.

You could use the same filler every day and your child would probably be thrilled. But if you’re building a little sensory stash, here are a few things we keep in mind:

• Variety matters. Different textures, shapes, and sounds add more dimension to play.

• Store smart. Use zip-top bags, lidded containers, or jars to keep fillers fresh and reusable.

• Mess level is personal. What’s “no mess” for one family might be chaos for another. Start with what you’re comfortable with!

• Layer in themes. Want to make your dinosaur bin feel new again? Swap the beans for blue rice and call it a swamp. Easy!

Sensory bins don’t have to be complicated. With just a few smart choices, you can create settings that delight your child’s senses, spark creativity, and support development—all while giving yourself some breathing room.

Here’s what matters most as you build your sensory bin collection:

Set out a bin, step back, and watch them discover. You’ve got this!