Create a farm sensory bin with a corn silo that really loads a tractor!
Fall (and spring) are such fun times to learn about farms. We have had fun this week doing a simple farm unit with Jonathan (2.5) and Owen (5).
This plastic tub has been recycled into all sorts of play scenes. For our farm, we put in toy cows, pigs, and horses, a toy tractor, and some Playmobil figures. A bag of unpopped popcorn was the perfect sensory material. (Obviously this is for kids who would not be tempted to put things in their mouths. Jonathan is 2.5 and did not attempt to taste any.)
Orange Juice Grain Silo
I used an orange juice carton to make a fun grain silo for the farm. Pour corn into the spout and it comes out the bottom and lands in the tractor’s trailer!
The grain silo was simple to make. My husband used a utility knife to cut the container like this:
(I hate cutting on this stuff, so I got him to do it for me!)
He folded the cardboard back toward the back of the container. It made too steep of a slope that way, so he added some cardboard from a cereal box and duct taped it in like this at the angle we wanted:
Then I covered the whole thing in duct tape and added more cardboard to direct the corn into the tractor. We happened to have some leftover baby formula scoops on hand, and those were perfect for scooping the corn! If you don’t have formula scoops, a 1 Tablespoon measuring spoon or a regular spoon would work well.
This is fantastic fine motor practice!
We used some of our Keva planks for building barns and fences. Standing the blocks up to create fences and stalls for the animals has also been great fine motor practice.
Aidan remembered that we have some feeding troughs in our Duplo Legos, so he got those out for feeding the animals. A small cardboard box (jewelry size?) would also work.
We can’t wait to visit a real farm this coming week!
8 Comments
Fidike Sep 29, 2014
Oh, this is really funny! Thanks!
Kristin Mar 23, 2015
Where did you get the animals?
Thanks!
Rhonda Oct 2, 2015
I love your idea of using the orange juice container for the silo, especially how your hubby cut the box so the will slide out, so very SMART! We are doing a farm theme next week and this will be in our sensory table, thank you so much!
Our Home of Many Blessings Mar 12, 2016
We love Sensory Bins! I would love it if you would share your sensory ideas at my Sensory Bin Play Link Up!http://ourhomeofmanyblessings.com/sensory-bin-ideas/
Patti Lacy Nov 26, 2017
What a cool idea!
Casey Smith Dec 11, 2017
This is a great idea I think my son would love this! We just went to the farm where he got to play in a huge barn filled with corn kernels.
Carrie Green Oct 1, 2018
I loved your article on activities for pre-schoolers. Thank you for sharing. I have been also referring to https://www.whattoexpect.com/toddler/ for everything and it is quite useful. Hope this helps your readers as well.
Racheal Oct 17, 2019
Great work you are doing. It has helped me think more how on how help the kids i work with to get thinking creatively. Blessings
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