Fruit and Veggie Sensory Bin for Preschoolers - Stay At Home Educator (2024)

A food and nutrition activities theme is an important part of your preschool program. As a matter of fact, the best way to teach preschoolers about healthy eating is by example and exposure.

Children are much more likely to try a new food if they see trusted adults enjoying it first. They’re also more likely to try a new food if they’ve been exposed to it multiple times and in various ways.

Preschoolers and toddlers seek sensory activities because it’s a developmentally appropriate way for their brains to learn and take in information.

Try adding this fruit and veggie sensory bin for preschoolers to your food and nutrition activities. It is one form of exposure to healthy foods!

Food and Nutrition Activities Theme

Because we can never have too many developmentally appropriate, hands-on activities for our preschoolers, I created these Food and Nutrition Literacy and Math Centers. These will help pack your food and nutrition theme with bushels of learning and fun!

Fruit and Veggie Sensory Bin

Teaching food and nutrition activities in preschool is an easy way to introduce your preschooler to different foods while also teaching about healthy eating. Be sure to read all the ways to use this fruit and veggie sensory bin and grab your free printable fruit and veggie cards at the end of this post.

Materials

• dyed rice filler
• fruit and vegetable counters
• free printable fruit and veggie nomenclature cards

For this sensory bin, I used small fruit and vegetable counters. If you don’t have any you can also use regular play food. You just won’t be able to fit as many into the sensory bin.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means that at no cost to you, I may earn a small sum if you click through and make a purchase.

What You Get

The FREE printable at the end of this post includes six pages of full color fruits and vegetables. There are four cards per page for easy printing. They can also be used as nomenclature cards.

The Set-Up

Play Food

Play food has endless use value for counting, sorting, and of course play eating! We love these play food options, the food groups practice, and how they relate to learning about healthy eating habits.

Fruit Sensory Bin

Healthy eating preschool activities are a great choice for establishing good habits and a food and nutrition sensory bin is a playful and non-forceful way to get young children interested in trying new foods. While they won’t literally be tasting anything in the sensory bin, simple exposure to healthy foods–even in a play setting–will help your little one have a positive experience with food.

Introduce the Fruit and Veggie Sensory Bin

Offer Colored Construction Paper for Color Sorting

Once your preschoolers have had a chance to explore the bin on their own, you can then try this activity. Scoop up the fruit or vegetable and pair it with the matching color of construction paper.

You have a strawberry. What color is a strawberry? I like the color red. Where will you put your strawberry? Do you see other items that are also red?

Use the Printable Cards to Make Matches

How to Engage Children at a Sensory Bin

While I like to add some pieces to a sensory bin that offer a little learning direction, much of what we accomplish during sensory play is child-led.

Here are some things to think about as you observe sensory play:

• How is the child handling the sensory materials?
• Is the child using fine motor muscles while engaged in sensory play? (Is the child using fingertips versus hold fist?)
• Does the child find sensory play agreeable?
• Does the child explore all the materials offered, or does the child gravitate to one thing in the bin?
• Does the child talk during sensory play?
• How can you build conversation with the child during sensory play?

Food and Nutrition Books

These food and nutrition books promote healthy snacks and food items that help us stay healthy!

Food Sensory Play

Incorporate these food-tastic hands-on activities into your Food and Nutrition theme:

• Preschool Math Activities for a Food and Nutrition Theme
• Lettuce Process Art- A Food and Nutrition Craft
• Veggie Garden Playdough Invitation to Play
• Teach Healthy Eating with Process Art
• Food Games and Printables for Preschoolers

Fruit and Vegetable Activities

Adding these fruit and veggie cards to your sensory bin will give your preschoolers and toddlers one more point of contact in developing healthy eating habits. But that’s not all you can do with these cards!

Try these other awesome activities using the free fruit and veggie cards:

• Matching Fruits and Vegetables – Print out two copies and invite your preschooler to make matches while the cards are face-up on the table.
• Describing Fruits and Vegetables – Have your preschooler select a card and describe the food. If your preschooler struggles for details, ask prompting questions.
• Fruit and Vegetable Riddles – Lay out the matching cards for everyone to see. Secretly select a fruit or vegetable and then give clues about it for your preschooler to guess.
• Fruit and Vegetable Sorting – Teach your preschooler which foods are fruits and which are vegetables and then sort the cards accordingly.
• Play Concentration – Print two copies of these cards and play a traditional game of Concentration or Memory.
• Play Go Fish – Print two copies of these cards and play a game of Go Fish.

Grab your FREE printable here!

Grab your FREE fruit and veggie cards here to add to your Preschool Food and Nutrition Theme.

Simply fill out the form below to receive your free printables!

Fruit and Veggie Sensory Bin for Preschoolers

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Active Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Difficulty: easy

Preschoolers and toddlers seek sensory activities because it’s a developmentally appropriate way for their brains to learn and take in information.

Try adding this fruit and veggie sensory bin to your food and nutrition activities. Your preschoolers and toddlers will get sensory benefits and exposure to a variety of fruits and vegetables.

This vibrant, fun food sensory bin can set your preschoolers on a path to healthy nutrition choices as they grow.

Print this sheet to file away with your printable fruit and veggie cards. This sheet does not include the cards. The cards must be downloaded from the post itself.

Materials

• Dyed rice filler (or dry filler of your choice)
• Fruit and vegetable counters
• Free printable fruit and veggie nomenclature cards (download from the post)
• Sensory bin or table

Instructions

1. Download the free printable included in the post.
2. Print on heavy card stock.
3. Laminate for added durability (optional).
4. Cut apart the cards.
5. Fill bin with colored rice (or other filler).
6. Place your fruits and vegetables counters or food toys in the bin.
7. Add the fruit and veggie cards around the perimeter of the bin.
8. Invite your preschoolers to play and explore in the fruit and veggie sensory bin.

*See the NOTES section below for a variety of activities using the free fruit and veggie cards.

Notes

ACTIVITIES USING FREE FRUIT AND VEGGIE CARDS

1. Matching Fruits and Vegetables - Print out two copies and invite your preschooler to make matches while the cards are face-up on the table.
2. Describing Fruits and Vegetables - Have your preschooler select a card and describe the food. If your preschooler struggles for details, ask prompting questions.
3. Fruit and Vegetable Riddles - Lay out the matching cards for everyone to see. Secretly select a fruit or vegetable and then give clues about it for your preschooler to guess.
4. Fruit and Vegetable Sorting - Teach your preschooler which foods are fruits and which are vegetables and then sort the cards accordingly.
5. Play Concentration - Print two copies of these cards and play a traditional game of Concentration or Memory.
6. Play Go Fish - Print two copies of these cards and play a game of Go Fish.
   

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

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  Fruity Fun Counters, Educational Counting & Sorting Toy

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