Patriotic USA Sensory Play With Safari Ltd. + Free Printable

We recently had the pleasure of partnering with Safari LTD and received some of their awesome miniature figurines to use for our activities. They have a wide range of figurines to choose from. In honor of the 4th of July coming up, we whipped up this fun sensory bin using their USA Toob set.The free printable matching cards are available below for added sensory fun.

(This post contains Amazon Affiliate links for your convenience, so that you can find and reference the materials easily and quickly. This just means that my blog receives a tiny compensation if you click on these links- at no extra charge to you.) 

This USA set features 12 historical landmarks and symbols that are significant to the USA. My little ones absolutely love sensory play so I knew I wanted to somehow incorporate them into a sensory bin to make it more toddler friendly. Toob figurines are the perfect size for little hands.

USA Sensory Play 

Sensory Bin Set Up

This activity is perfect for toddlers and preschoolers and even early elementary aged students would enjoy it. 

Supplies Needed to Set Up

• Bin or container
• Rice dyed red and blue + plain white rice. 
• To make dyed rice: add some rice to a zipper baggie, some liquid watercolor, and a splash of vinegar and shake until covered and then lay out on parchment paper to dry.)
•  Safari LTD USA SuperToob set
• USA Figurine Cards (Free Download below)

Add your rice to the bin, bury the figurines in it, and let your little learners go to town exploring. If you want to use the cards just simply print the set or sets you want, laminate if you wish for durability and cut them apart and give them to your children and let them get their match game on.

Seriously simple to set up and is a great introduction to USA historical landmarks and symbols for young learners.

Sensory Bin In Action

I added some red, white, and blue rice to one of our bins and tossed in the figurines.

I briefly discussed what each of the landmarks were and then let the kids begin to explore. They immediately decided that keeping the rice separate wasn’t happening and transformed it into a beautiful red, white, and blue concoction. The figurines were buried and unburied dozens of times, used as scoops and shovels, and stacked on top of each other like blocks.

We then used the cards (free download below) to match the toobs to their picture card. Cards with and without words are included.

We first used the cards that were just the picture and when she wanted to do it again we added the name cards.

Grab Your Free Printable Cards

Grab your free printable cards that pair with the Safari LTD USA Toob set. They can used by themselves or use alongside a sensory bin like above!