you know kk loves her sensory tables. and you know I love incorporating her sensory tables in our monthly themes for play - meaning, each month her sensory table gets a themed makeover with fun sensory bin activities.

but you also need to know kk loves a good, basic rice bin. loves. so we keep a separate rice bin, just like this one Busy Toddler does. and I pull it out anytime I need KK occupied for a hot, hot minute.

and, as you notice in my blogpost on Our Monthly Themes of Play, sometimes I keep the rice bin as-is.

but sometimes, when I’m feeling up to it, I’ll trade out the basic cups and scoops for a few themed pieces. like whatever theme we’re doing that month, or whatever holiday is looming.

so this month, our rice bin got a Red, White, and Blue makeover.

I keep plain white rice in the bin year round for simplicity’s sake.
And for this month, I added:
- a few small, patriotically-themed trays/bowls from Target’s Dollar Spot
- these white measuring cups + these measuring spoons
- white funnels
- a few tongs/tweezers
- these red, white, and blue stars

KK can scoop rice, she can use the tweezers to pick up the stars, or we can do this color-sorting extension activity with some simple construction paper.

And when the month’s over, I’ll store those trays, bowls, and stars in our seasonal bins, ready to be pulled out again next year. (Our other tongs/tweezers we keep in our double desk.)

The end! Keeping a rice bin on hand is one of my favorite ways to take care of Future Haley - and occasionally giving it a theme is one of my favorite ways to celebrate seasons. Whatever works best for you is fantastic!

Whew!

Want to see photos? Follow me on Instagram - I’m always sharing peeks into our home and our daily life on my stories. I’m always tweaking our home and our routines and our systems to best meet our current needs in our current season, so my Instagram has the most up-to-date photos.
Loved this post? I highly recommend A Full Tour of the Play Spaces in Our Home.
Want to know how we store toys and books not out in our current toy rotation? See my “toy rotation” highlight on my Instagram!
Curious when KK plays each day? See a peek into our daily rhythm here - one of my most popular posts!
Read Our Monthly Themes for Play to learn why we loveeee monthly themes for KK’s toy and book rotation, as well as a list of what bigger toys we leave out 24/7.
Want to see all our favorite baby/toddler things and toys from birth until now? see this post!