Little Pioneer Children -

Sensory Bins

This activity took a bit more planning than usual as it required the following items:

Orbeez water beads
Playground wood chips
Large Bins

I bought a large pack of Orbeez from Target so that I can use it again for future activities (and for my kids to play with at home). Combine 1 teaspon of orbeez with 1 cup of water and let it sit for at least 4 hours - this will make 1 cup of expanded Orbeez! I prepared mine the night before and made 18 cups of Orbeez to spread across 2 bins.

Note: Orbeez are not safe to eat and may present a choking hazard for young children.

Playground wood chips can be purchased from Home Depot, borrowed from your backyard, or perhaps a nearby playground (be sure to return them when you're done!). Use playground grade chips and not landscaping bark or mulch because we don't want the children getting splinters in their fingers.

Setup: Place one Orbeez bin and one wood chip bin on a table in the primary room. If you have two of each bin, place the second pair of bins on a table on the opposite side of the room.

Grab a handful of water beads and a handful wood chips in each hand - or put a small amount of each into 2 clear cups for demonstration.

What am I holding ?

Walk around the room so that all the children have a chance to see and give their answers.

What do you think these Orbeez and wood chips have to do with this song?

Sing the first verse of Little Pioneer Children:

Little pioneer children gath’ring berries for food;

See the pioneer children hunting chips for wood.

Gladly helping each other, merry and happy were they,

Walking along, moving along, on their way.

Ask again, What do Orbeez and wood chips represent?

The children answer: The Orbeez are the berries and the wood chips are the wood chips.

Explain to the children that the Orbeez are for pretend only and may not be eaten.

Walk over to the table and demonstrate for the children by putting your hands into the bins and touching the items while singing the corresponding line of the song:

Little pioneer children gath’ring berries for food; - Put your hands in the Orbeez bin and feel the orbeez

See the pioneer children hunting chips for wood. - Move over to the Wood Chip bin and feel the wood chips

Gladly helping each other, merry and happy were they, - Skip toward the other side of the room where the other table is or start on a loop back to the beginning.

Walking along, moving along, on their way. - March along the rest of the way until you get to the next table or back to the beginning if you only have one table.

We repeated singing the song until everyone had a chance to touch the bins a few times.

After singing time was over, I put the Orbeez into ziploc bags for the children to take home, permitting that the parents were ok with it :)