Valentines Activity Bin – happy hooligans

Last updated on January 26, 2020

Make a Valentines Activity Bin using things you have around the house. It will keep toddlers and preschoolers entertained and learning for days.

I just love Valentines crafts and activities, don’t you? It’s so fun to get creative with a holiday theme, and Valentine’s day is one of our favourites here in my home daycare.

Last night I set out to make a Valentines Activity Bin, chock-full of pink and red Valentines-type items for the hooligans to explore, experiment and play with.

Let me say that this was no easy task!

See, I’m the only female in our house, so pink items are a scarce commodity around here. I struggled all evening to pull a bin together, but I just couldn’t round up enough materials to fill the bin with.

Valentines Sensory Bin filled with several activities I decided instead to take anything pink or red that I could find, even if it wasn’t Valentines-related, and make up several different activities to set into the bin, and you know what?

I love it.

Let me show you what I did. First, I filled a couple of glass jars with red beaded Christmas tree garland. It’s fun to pull the long strands of beads out of the jar and pile them back in again.

red beads in jar scissors and pink paint sample chips

I had two more large jars with lids, so I filled one with white lentils, and pink and red foam pieces.

Into the other, I put some red, stretchy mesh that clementines come packaged in. I’ve been saving that up for a while, thinking it would be perfect for a Valentine’s craft or activity.

glass jars filled with small red, pink and white items for toddlers to examine I filled two small jars with pom-poms, and a small spice bottle with pink, red and white buttons. Beside that, I placed one of those little cases that holds medicine and a scoop for filling it with.

Jars and bottles with lids are great for fine motor development, and little ones love snapping the compartments open and closed on the medicine holder.

glass jars filled red, white and pink buttons, pom poms and beads, red scoop I added some pink ice-cube trays, some red foam trays, and some tongs for sorting and organizing. pink ice cube tray and small tongs for sorting

Lastly, I found some pink paint chips for a cutting activity.

This is a great way to teach little ones how to use scissors. Encourage your child try to cut along the white lines to chop the strips up.

As an extra activity, (this didn’t fit into the bin) I filled a plastic heart-shaped pan with red and pink markers and crayons, and added some white cardboard hearts for decorating. red plastic heart shaped tray with crayons markers and white cardboard hearts