Back to School Pencil Sensory Bin and Free Template

This fun back to school pencil sensory bin uses sensory dyed rice, pencils, letter beads, and more to make a fun pencil themed sensory bin for preschoolers and kindergartners.

Below you will find a free pencil letter match PDF to go with this fun back to school sensory bin. It includes uppercase letter practice, lowercase letter practice, and letter sound practice.

Pair your sensory bin with letter beads or magnets and these fun letter match sheets for a fun search and find sheet. Makes a great way to practice letter recognition and early reading skills.

For more fun back to school pencil themed activities be sure to also check out these name practice pencils crafts.

Pencil Sensory Bin Tips for Success

*To create this sensory bin you will need a yellow sensory base for the pencil, red or pink sensory base for the eraser, and a color like dark purple, gray, or black for the pencil led. You can choose any sensory bin base of choice. We used dyed rice for some of ours and dyed pasta for the pencil led. Pick and choose what works best for you.

*We added extra pieces like unsharpened pencils (to dig through the rice with), scoops and spoons, and letter beads. Magnetic letters and resin letters also work. If you don’t have these letter choices available you can also print out an extra letter match pencil sheet and cut out the pencils from one copy for inside the sensory bin.

*You can use any large bin for the base of the sensory bin. We used a large metal serving tray but a large plastic container or toy bin works great too. We love using the Ikea storage bins for sensory play as well.

*There are a few different options for letter match sheets. You can add uppercase letters in the bin and print out a lowercase sheet. Then match uppercase to lowercase. You can also do the opposite. There is also a letter sound option to print out. Then children can find the uppercase letter, say the sound it makes, and match it to the image that starts with the same sound. Choose whichever one you think your child needs to work on.

Back to School Pencil Sensory Bin with Free Letter Pencils Template

Materials:

• Sensory base of choice in yellow, pink or red, and black or grey dyed rice, pasta, chickpeas, etc…
• Large sensory bin – plastic tub, metal serving tray, wooden tray/bin
• Scoops and spoons
• Magnetic letters, letter beads, or resin letters
• Free Pencil Letter Recognition PDF

Directions:

1. Fill the middle of your sensory bin with a yellow filler to make the inside of the pencil. We used yellow dyed rice.
2. Fill the left end of your sensory bin with a pink or red sensory base filler to make the eraser of the pencil. We used a red dyed rice.
3. Fill the right end of the sensory bin with a dark purple, grey, or black sensory filler. We used dyed rotini pasta. However, black beans, dyed rice, colored chick peas, and more would work great as well.
4. Add in scoops and spoons and unsharpened pencils.
5. Lay out or sprinkle letter beads on the top of the dyed pasta pencil sensory base. Include one bead of each letter of the alphabet (in uppercase or lowercase depending on the skills you are aiming to work on). You can also use resin letters or magnetic letters.
6. Print out the matching lowercase or uppercase pencil sheet (or the opposite one depending on what you aim to learn). Allow children to search and find letters. They can cross them off on their sheet as they find them or they can set them on the matching letters on their sheet.
7. You can also just set the sheet next to the bin and allow them to play and explore in their own way. Let the scoop, dump, pour, and more.

Additional Back to School Activities for Kids

This sensory bin makes the perfect back to school activity for a center, free play, or to see what letters preschoolers and kindergarteners know. For more fun back to school crafts and activities check out some of our favorites below:

• Name recognition pencil craft – Using yellow paper rectangles, make a fun pencil craft that helps practice name recognition and helps children learn how to spell their names and put the letters in order.
• School Bus Craft – This one also makes a great name practice craft. Make a fun back to school bus craft with the windows spelling out your child’s name. Also makes a great way to practice shapes.