I’m always looking for fun and simple play activities for centers during the Christmas season. The holiday season can be stressful with so many other things happening both at home and school. Activities that are easy to set up and easy to do are just what is needed. This Christmas sensory activity uses two of my favorite things for the preschool classroom – a sensory bin and mini erasers.
Christmas Sensory Bin
Here are the materials you will need to set up this sensory bin experience in your own classroom.
- Rice (or other sensory bin filler)
- Christmas mini erasers – I purchased a set from the Target Dollar Spot
- Christmas Mini Eraser Sensory Bin Counting Printable (see below)
- Gator Grabbers and/or other tweezers
- Clipboards
- Optional: Liquid Watercolors
- Optional: Dry Erase Markers
Fill your sensory bin with the rice. You may want to color the rice red and green since this is a Christmas sensory bin; liquid watercolors work really well for this purpose. (You can also use whatever filler you prefer.) Bury the erasers in the beads (no more than 5 of each type of eraser). Add the tweezers to the bin.
Sensory Bin Counting Printable
This sensory bin is a great way to add some math into your sensory center. The printable contains four different versions of counting and numeral activities. The first page is a five frame for each eraser shape. Children can place one eraser in each square. They can count along the line and write the numeral in the final space. The second page includes all the numerals 1-5 in the frames. Kids can trace these numerals after counting the erasers. The third pages is similar to the first page except larger space is given for writing the numeral; more space is better for younger writers. The last page has space to record tally marks (instead of placing erasers in squares).
Check out this research-based, playful learning unit in our curriculum shop!
The Ultimate Pre-K Christmas Activities Bundle
19 of our most popular Christmas theme resources, including math, literacy, and dramatic play! Make learning fun with this hands-on bundle!
The various pages allow you to focus on whatever skills and concepts your children are working on. I made the pages to correspond to the eraser shapes I had in my set. If you want to use other eraser shapes, tape an eraser over the drawing at the beginning of the line.
You may want to laminate the pages before using with the children. Then kids can use dry erase markers to record their results and the recording pages are reusable.
Go to the link in the picture to access the Christmas Eraser Sensory Bin Counting Printable.
Sensory Bin Search and Find
Give each child a clipboard with the printable attached. Invite the preschoolers to search through the bin to find the erasers. They can use the tweezers or grabbers to pick up the erasers and place them on the printable on the appropriate line (or make tally marks). After they have found all the erasers, help them count the erasers and print the numerals.
Handling and counting objects helps develop strong number sense. Children can understand quantity and the relationship between those quantities and the numerals (symbols) they represent. Using concrete items helps develop more understanding about abstract math concepts.
Watch the Video
More Christmas Sensory Bin Ideas
- Christmas Water Beads Sensory Bin
- Christmas Seek, Find & Spell Sensory Bin
- Gift Wrap Sensory Bin
- Christmas Tree Sensory Bin Printable
- Snowy Day Sensory Tray
Printable Gingerbread House Recipe
You can get access to the free printable gingerbread house sequence cards below. Simply fill out the form and the printable will be emailed to you.
More Christmas Activities
