Lunar New Year sensory bin

This is the simplest bin that I have ever made.

It has reminded me that simple is good.
A few simple ingredients...

dried black beans

small gold beads

cut up red and gold bead garland

red and gold sparkly pom poms

red Christmas balls

Chinese style lantern

Chinese bowl and spoons

sparkly red pot from a Christmas poinsettia

and a last minute addition - a panda stuffy

The play with this bin has been as rich as bins with a multitude of visual and tactile textures.

Scooping, filling, pouring. sorting - and lots of letting the beans run through fingers.

Not just for littles: our big buddies where drawn to the bin and could not keep their fingers from playing.

The panda. He was a last minute addition since the bin still needed "something". I was thinking a Chinese looking dragon figure or a model of the Great Wall. But a panda was what I had. The kids loved the panda. They poured beans over him. They fed him. They cuddled him. He was soft. It worked.

edited to add: My sensory bins are always evolving. Items get broken or lost, there are new thrift shop finds - or new creations get added.

A couple years ago, I added red and gold painted peg dolls to Lunar New Year bin. They added a new dimension of small world imaginative play to the bin.