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Virtual Book Club: Kevin Henkes I am very excited about this month’s Virtual Book Club author, Kevin Henkes. He has written and illustrated many wonderful books (including Caldecott winner Kitten’s First Full Moon). Today, I will be featuring a Four Seasons Sensory Bin that I developed based on his imaginative picture book Old Bear.
In Old Bear, a bear hibernates for the winter and dreams that he is a cub again experiencing the seasons of the year. The seasons are full of colorful imagery: butterflies made of leaves, blueberries raining from the sky, and stars of all colors. At the end of the book, he wakes up to the vibrancy of spring, almost forgetting that he is no longer dreaming.
I decided to recreate the picturesque seasons in Old Bear by creating a Four Seasons Sensory Bin (perhaps this will remind you of my Chicka Chicka Boom Boom sensory bin Guest Post on Make and Takes). Using four inexpensive drawer dividers from the dollar store and common household materials, I created a separate sensory bin for each season based on the book.
 Really this idea could be recreated using any materials that you happen to have sitting around. I used a variety of inexpensive seasonal items from the dollar store, household items, and items from nature. To add texture, I used colored rice as a background for each bin (Note: I used vinegar instead of rubbing alcohol with food coloring to color my rice since my children are small.) I also decorated the insides of the bins with seasonal stickers.
Spring: Old Bear emphasizes the colors and flowers of spring, so I used green and blue rice and artificial and real flowers.
Summer: The bear sees blueberries raining out of the sky (I used real ones which I’m not sure was the greatest idea because the rice stuck to it a little, and the baby got carried away and started trying to eat artificial leaves. Blue beads would be a great alternative for older kids.). I recreated the “butterflies made out of leaves” with some leftover artificial leaves and pipe cleaners. I also was sure to add a daisy for the sun. The artificial flowers I bought provided plenty of extra “grass” and “leaves” for this bin as well.
Autumn: Everything is “yellow and orange and brown”, well I added red too which was sort of an accident (hopefully Kevin Henkes won’t mind) but I do think it gave the bin a pop of color. I was lucky enough to find a little ornamental red bird and some red and yellow fish stickers to complete Henkes’ autumn scene. Nope, I didn’t have any orange, yellow, and brown water. I figured that would definitely be overdoing it.
Winter: Winter was the easiest of all with white rice, confetti stars, and star stickers.
My kids enjoyed playing in the bins and feeling all of the different textures. They ate the blueberries and smelled the flowers, and we talked about the four seasons of the year while we played. Not only was this activity a fun book related sensory experience but it was also a great way to teach about nature in the process.
If you liked this activity, be sure to also check out my Old Bear themed Four Season Sensory Bottles which are great either as a follow-up activity to the bins or as a lower mess version of this activity for teachers and librarians. Now it’s your turn to link up and check out activities based on Kevin Henkes books. The link-up will be open all week, so you still have time to post an activity before the link-up closes. If you link up from No Twiddle Twaddle, be sure to let me know via the comment section so that I can give you a special shout-out from my Facebook page and Pinterest.
First, be sure to stop by some of my co-hosts’ blogs and check out their activities:
Toddler Approved, Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas, Rainy Day Mum, Reading Confetti, Inspiration Laboratories, Play Dr. Mom, Mommy and Me Book Club, Kitchen Counter Chronicles, Two Big Two Little, Creative Connections for Kids, The Golden Gleam, Juggling with Kids, Taming the Goblin, Crafty Moms Share, Ready Set Read 2 Me, Famiglia and Seoul, The Good Long Road, The Educator’s Spin On It, Imagination Soup, 3 Dinosaurs, Royal Baloo, Being A ConsciousParent, No Twiddle Twaddle, Crayon Freckles, The Pleasantest Thing, Adventures in Reading with Kids, Smile, Play, Learn, Creekside Learning, Our Feminist Playschool, and Teach Preschool
Tomorrow I’m excited to be hosting my very first giveaway ever with the prize being Old Bear. Be sure to stop back by tomorrow for a chance to win. (Enter Old Bear giveaway here.) Bethany
17 comments to Virtual Book Club: Kevin HenkesLeave a Reply |
 
 
What would happen if Baby Bear and Goldilocks were reunited years later? This fun spin on a familiar story will leave kids and parents giggling! See inside Goldilocks and Just One Bear on Amazon.
A beautiful book of exploration of the color of green that touches on even the abstract thoughts that a color represents. My preschooler loves this book! See inside Green on Amazon. 
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I love your sensory bin! Never thought of doing 4 separate parts but that’s a wonderfully creative idea. The 4 seasons stand out so vibrantly. Love it!
Thank you so much, Erin!
What a great idea for a sensory bin, I LOVE it. x
Thank you, Emma.
Love the 4 different bin idea! I bet your kids had a blast.
Thanks, Carolyn. They did (though I admit that the blueberries posed quite a distraction. They were way more interested in eating than playing!)
I love it!! Just pinned it
xx melissa @ mamamiss
Thanks so much, Melissa. Thanks for pinning too!
I really liked the idea of the containers that contains the 4 seasons!
Thank you, Nina!
What a lovely sensory bin!
Thanks, Trisha. : )
Fantastic sensory tub – I want to play in it!
A great idea for a sensory tub!
Thank you!
What a great idea for a sensory tub and a perfect tie-in with the book. Thanks for linking up to Tuesday Tots. I’ve pinned this to our Tuesday Tots borad.
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