Hello friends! It’s that time of year where it’s too wet and cold for my liking, lol. My daughter of course LOVES the snow though. She’d spend all day everyday stomping around outside if she could. 

This is what led me to bringing the snow inside! Momma’s gotta work and if playing with a plastic tub of snow makes that happen, then that’s what we’re doing today! 

Pro tip!

To minimize mess with this one, you will want to start with a large plastic tub and a smaller plastic tub. I put all of the snow in the small tub and used the big tub to hold all of the busy bin items. The setup will be very similar to a water bin! 

Supplies

• Big plastic tub
• Small plastic tub
• Snow 
• Cups/bowls
• Spoons 
• Scoopers 
• Plastic Dinosaurs 
• Squirt bottle of colored water
• Mittens! 

Admittedly, I let my kid start playing with the snow WITHOUT mittens and then felt bad 10 minutes later when her little fingers were all red and cold. DON’T MAKE MY MISTAKE! Playing with snow inside is still cold and mittens will prolong your kids’ play time. 

Educational Benefits

When my daughter was playing she was primarily interested in moving the snow around and just grabbing it and lumping it together. This bin is a very good sensory bin! It allows them to explore the different textures and feeling of snow without either of you having to get too cold. 

When I first made the snow bin I hid her toy dinosaurs inside the snow thinking she would have a fun time finding them. She honestly wasn’t very interested in that. She’s never been much into the “toy rescue” thing. She had way more fun pretending to make food and bringing it to me to eat. This is a pretty common theme for her though! Any sensory bin we do usually results in her cooking something. 

The cooking pretend play made this very good scooping practice! Being able to pour things from a bigger container into a smaller container helps encourage independence in your child and works both their fine motor skills and gross motor skills. Developing fine motor skills helps improve hand-eye coordination and prepares your toddler for writing. 

Added fun!

The squirt bottle with colored water in it added a fun contrast to the snow. It got the snow melting a little bit faster and added a fun splash of color. If your kid really likes the squirt bottle you can add different primary colors (red, yellow, blue) and explore how to make secondary colors (purple, green, orange). 

If your kid is like mine they will not want to stop playing! My daughter would take the occasional break to run around and then circle back to this sensory bin, even after the snow had melted and it was just cold water! This snow sensory bin was a big hit and definitely something I would recommend if your kid loves snow and you want to keep them busy. 

What are your thoughts? Did your kid like digging around for their toys? Or were they more into pretend play like mine? Are there any fun spins you put in this sensory bin to entertain your child? 

Save this post on pinterest so you’ll remember to try it out later!