# My Garden Sensory Bin > After reading Kevin Henkes' "My Garden," kids build their own whimsical garden in a bin of coffee-bean "dirt" with craft flowers, seashells, keys and toy butterflies. They then retell the story and invent new ones with a blindfolded story game. It is a dry sensory bin that doubles as a book activity. - URL: https://www.funlittles.com/my-garden-sensory-activities/ - Ages: 2–5 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: medium - Time: prep 10 min, activity 30 min - Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class · one batch serves about 2 kids - Skills: sensory-exploration, storytelling, pretend-play, early-literacy, fine-motor - Cautions: ingestion-risk ## Materials (one batch) - 1 piece "My Garden" by Kevin Henkes - Whole coffee beans - 1 piece Clear plastic storage bin - 1 piece Jelly bean bush craft - Patterned paper flowers on craft sticks - Small seashells - Artificial flower heads - Toy butterflies and birds - Old keys (household) - Mini umbrellas - Mini figurines - Extra garden props (buttons, foam sun and flowers, toy carrots and vegetables, bunny figurines) (optional) - 1 piece Measuring cup or scoop (household) ## Safety - Coffee beans and the small props (seashells, keys, jelly beans, buttons, mini figurines) are choking hazards. An adult supervises closely the whole time, especially with toddlers who still mouth things. - Coffee beans are not a snack. They contain caffeine, so don't let kids eat or chew them. - Check the seashells for sharp or broken edges before play. - Keep the bin somewhere you can watch it. The author leaves it out for a few days in the kitchen where she can see the kids. - Wash hands after play. ## Before you start - Read Kevin Henkes' "My Garden" together in the days before. - Make the jelly bean bush and the patterned flowers (separate FunLittles crafts). - Gather the props from the book: keys, umbrellas, butterflies, birds, seashells, flowers and a mini figurine. ## Steps 1. Read "My Garden" together and talk about the whimsical garden. 2. Set out all the items next to the bin. Skip the invitation to play and let the kids create the bin themselves. 3. Pour coffee beans into the bin as the "dirt." Let the kids smell and explore them. 4. Add the jelly bean bush and patterned flowers first while your child recalls the story. 5. Add the other elements from the book one by one: keys, umbrellas, butterflies, flowers and shells. 6. Fill seashells with coffee beans, and pour, scoop and "cook" with them. 7. Pretend the butterflies and birds are sipping nectar from the flowers. 8. Reenact the story with the props, or have the figurines skate circles through the beans. 9. Play the Blind Folded Story Telling Game. Each child closes her eyes, picks 4 items from the bin and tells a story using them as characters. ## Tips - Instead of our usual list of things we used, read the fantastic book. It tells you what goes in the bin. - The kids kept taking deep breaths of the coffee beans. Playing with the beans was a tremendous sensorial experience all by itself. - Adding keys and umbrellas added a bit of whimsy for a very matter-of-fact, logical 4-year-old. - The story game works even for toddlers, whose stories are just one or two lines. My 4-year-old's had magic, good guys and villains. - I caught them playing and creating "bad butterflies" stories well after 2 days. We leave the bin out for a few days in the kitchen where I can watch them. - Sensory activities need not be supremely messy. Dry sensory bins are just as fun, and book-based ones are totally worth the (contained) mess. ## The original post by TurkeyMom (2013) With 2 kids aged 4 and 2 the one type of kids activity which will always be a hit are the sensory activities. We have done our fair share of [**messy sensory activities**,](https://www.funlittles.com/sensory-activities-green-goo-and-dinosaur-world/) **[sensory bins](https://www.funlittles.com/category/sensory-bins/)** sensory activities and even a [**writing activity**](https://www.funlittles.com/sensory-writing/) which essentially falls under the category of sensory activities. For our current spring theme, we have been reading and loving Kevin Henkes’ “My Garden” and have been having fun talking about an imaginary whimsical garden. To extend the fun further and to encourage creative story telling, we created a sensory bin. This kids activity doubles up as a book activity and a sensory activity. Instead of giving you our usual list of things we used, I’ll tell you read the fantastic book. Although the post should give you a clear picture what went inside the sensory tub for this sensory activity. When we are engaged in sensory activities involving sensory bins I try to set up an invitation to play.This time I just had the items out and the **kids created their own sensory bin based on the book.** Our dirt was coffee beans. The kids kept taking deep breaths of the beans and enjoying the aroma.. Oh boy! they got the coffee addict lover genes from the dad. Playing with the coffee beans in itself was such a tremendous sensorial experience for them.. Slowly we added the items based on the book. My 4 year old recalled the story line while adding the items one by one.. We started with the [**jelly bean bush**](https://www.funlittles.com/spring-crafts-fine-motor-activity-jellybean-bush-inspired-by-my-garden-by-kevin-henkes/) and the [**patterned flowers**](https://www.funlittles.com/flower-crafts-kids-activities/). Then we added the other elements from the book. This was such a fun experience for us since we were adding, keys, umbrellas and what not to the sensory bin. It really added a bit of whimsy to my very matter-of-fact/ logical ( blaming the dad again) 4 year old. **Few play ideas based on what I saw.** 1. The kids loved filling up the seashells with coffee beans 2. Totally enjoyed pouring, scooping and cooking with the beans and sea shells 3. Pretend played with the butterflies and birds sucking nectar from the flowers 4. Reenacted the story with the props. 5. Pretended that their mini figurines ( the girl in the book) loved to skate and created circles. 5. Best of all – simply loved creating coffee beans rain and generally making a giant (contained) mess **I also initiated a simple story telling kids activity – “ Blind Folded Story Telling Game.** Each kid will close her eyes and pick 4 items from the bin and places them in front of her.Then she will create a simple story using those items as characters. This was fun even for my toddler whose stories are pretty simple with one or two lines. My 4 year had more complicated story with magic, good guys and villains.. All in all “Blind folded Story Game” was fun and I even caught them playing and creating “ bad butterflies” stories well after 2 days. We usually leave our sensory bin out for a few days in the kitchen where I can watch them. As you can see sensory activities need not be supremely messy. Dry sensory activities are just as fun as truly messy sensory activities and sensory activities based on a book are totally worth the mess. Thanks for reading Please take a moment to comment Some more spring crafts we have done in the past. [](https://www.funlittles.com/spring-art-egg-carton-sheep/) [](https://www.funlittles.com/spring-craft-color-matching-garden/) [](https://www.funlittles.com/spring-craft-color-matching-garden/) [](https://www.funlittles.com/spring-activities-explore-outdoors-and-make-flower-potions/) [](https://www.funlittles.com/spring-art-tulip-painting/) Thanks for reading Please take a moment to comment For more spring activities take a look at our [**Spring category**](https://www.funlittles.com/category/season/spring-season/) page. Thanks for stopping by our little space here. We encourage you to stick around and take a look at [**couple of**](https://www.funlittles.com/paint-with-spaghetti-brooms/) our [**popular posts.**](https://www.funlittles.com/animal-resist-painting/) --- ---