Rice Bin Toddler Activity

A rice bin toddler activity? Sign me up.

I’m going to call it right now: a rice bin toddler activity is my happy place. Click my heels three times and say “There’s No Place Like Home” and I guarantee I end up with a rice filled sensory bin in front of me.

RELATED: Curious how I’m teaching my kids? Check out Playing Preschool: my 190 day activities program.

What’s to love about this rice bin?

Everything.

This is a classic “scoop and transfer” activity and it’s 100% my two-year-olds jam. He get it from his mama (his love of sensory bins, that is).

What I love about this particular rice bin toddler activity is the life skills component.

Wait. What’s a life skill and how does rice help?

Life skills are exactly what it sounds like. Skills that a child will use the rest of their life. Our children need to learn spoon skills – how to scoop and transfer objects from one space to another.

Think of all the times you do this even just in one day!

How are our toddlers going to learn skills like this without practice?

We can’t expect them to just magically come by these kinds of hand-eye coordination skills – they need practice.

And we can give them that practice in a simple scoop and transfer rice bin activity.

RELATED: Looking for more sensory activities to try? I have a whole page of them!

Let’s talk about set up

This is an easy one to prep so get ready for some quick notes here.

Materials:

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• 28 qt Sterilite storage bin (this one is from Target – you have to buy it in the store)
• Rice (this is my 5 lbs bag of rice)
• Small bowls
• Spoon

It’s just not fancy but it works.

My steps:

First, I dumped all the rice into that big bowl.

Second, I set the bowl into our storage container to help contain any messes.

Last, I put the smaller bowls next to the rice bin as a space for my toddler to scoop the rice into.

Then I walked him through the activity one time

I sat next to my toddler and showed him the skill: scoop and transfer.

“You need to scoop and transfer the rice to the little bowls. Scoop and transfer.”

And that’s what he repeated for the entire 20 minutes he played this (on repeat): “Scoop and transfer.”

He’s learning so stinking much here!

I know it looks simple. It’s a rice bin toddler activity. What can they actually be learning?

He’s learning:

• Fine motor skills
• Hand-eye coordination
• Volume / capacity
• Life skills to scoop
• Patience
• Concentration

RELATED: Why is sensory play important and what is my child actually learning? Read more here.

Making a rice bin toddler activity is totally doable

You’ve got this! I know you have all the supplies at home right now and can have this set up faster than the TV can get turned off. It’s a great activity that lends itself to so much. It’s my happy place – and I know it’ll be yours too.

When will you try this scoop and transfer set up?