Purim Sensory Bin - Toddler & Preschool Activity!

Today I’m sharing with you the Purim sensory bin I put together this year! When you’re done, you can check out this Passover sensory bin too. This post contains affiliate links.

We love a good sensory bin as our go-to activity for any holiday! Today I’m sharing you a sample Purim sensory bin, however, you can really make this however you’d like. My main goal is to start with sharing ideas.

I like to include a mix of textures, things to discovers and ways to play with the main filler. Of course, different things might be accessible to you, and you may prefer to craft some things for it (or not).

The Purim sensory bin base filler

The main filler you put in is the real core of the play the kids will get and sets the tone – will it be molding and shaping, cutting, sorting, scooping, or wet play?

Kinetic Sand

We always start with a base material and this time I chose Kinetic Sand. This is one of my favorites – my kids can play with it for hours. It’s moldable and holds. While not quite neat, it’s easy to vacuum up the mess after.

We used natural colored sand from this set but you can definitely go for something that feels Purim-y – like a rainbow spectrum or purple…

You should get more sand than we had (and in fact, I’ve since purchased more for our next bin… coming soon!)

I put mine into a relatively small container as it was a single-person sensory bin – you’ll need much more if doing this for a few kids.

More filler ideas

Shredded paper is a really fun sensory bin filler – just make sure to toss in scissors if that’s what you’re using – it’s great for cutting practice! It fits with the Purim vibe, and you can even put the whole sensory bin in a picnic “Mishloach Manot” basket to be on-theme.

However, it’s not quite moldable so it’s not something that’s really compatible with the shaping tools I’ll be sharing below.

Another fun moldable substance that I love using in sensory bins is Pluffle. I really only use it for sensory bins, and didn’t have one that I liked for this bin handy.

And finally, you can do Play Doh but you’re better off using it as an open activity tray due to quantity concerns. You’ll also want to use dedicated play dough tools since they tend to get dough stuck in the cracks.

What to put into a Purim sensory bin

The perfect balance of any good sensory bin is a few good tools to scoop, mold, and dig around with, and a few additional items to discover. Here are some ideas for a Purim sensory bin.

Tools

Purim cutters – What’s a sensory bin without a good cookie cutter?

Castle scoops/molds – These came with my sand and I thought they were cute for making Achashverosh’s castle (or just scooping sand with.)

Hamantaschen party picks – I had these handy already made in my craft room as I was assembling this Purim sensory bin, and decided to put them in too so that kids can make shapes in the sand with it! However, had I crafted them special for this, I would have put them on something bigger, like craft sticks for digging.

Things to discover

We like to pack our sensory bin with things to discover, and while I found it easy to put in small holiday-centric “real” items for our Hanukkah sensory bin, our Purim sensory bin was a bit tougher. Many of the classic Purim items are larger or more edible…

Still, I found enough things to make it fun, and I’ll share some more suggestions below. A lot of these items work fabulously with the sand because you can press them in and make imprints.

Plastic Graggers – use the flat plastic kind – that almost works as a cutter too!

Costume accessories – small things like toy glasses, necklaces or plastic bangles are lots of fun for kids to play with while discovering, and adds another dimension of play to this Purim sensory bin. They’ll probably put them on, press them in to make shapes and listen to the beads jangling.

Felt hamantaschen – you can’t really put in real ones, but make them out of felt for a new texture introduced to the bin. Sand will get in, so don’t expect to save them.

More ideas for a Purim sensory bin

My bin was small, like I said, and I didn’t want to overwhelm, so I stopped here. However, here are some more ideas for what you can add to a Purim sensory bin:

Make hamantaschen from clay – a lot of small ones can be hidden throughout the bin for a cool dig.
Small plastic masks – This is another material that can be used as a fun mold for the clay.
Mini plastic baskets – if you can find these in the right size, they are fun “mishloach manot” scoops.
Mini crowns, scepters, horses, and other elements of the Purim story. You can also choose to do the whole bin based on the story instead of the traditions.