Bug and Nature Exploration Bin

Do you have a nature collector at home? All of my children LOVE to collect rocks, pinecones, sticks, leaves, stray flowers, or anything else they can find outside. I’ve put rocks and pinecones in the washing machine on accident more than once because the kids put them in pockets all the time. My three little nature collectors inspired this exploration bin and I hope your children enjoy it!

My kids seem to find rocks, sticks, or flowers everywhere we go and then are heartbroken when I say we cannot keep everything they find. Here is my solution.

Here’s What You Need

• Any pieces of nature your kids want to collect. Sticks, rocks, weeds, flowers, anything is fair game. This could be a whole afternoon to find the right items to add to your exploration bin.

• Sensory bin. I know I’ve added this to so many posts, but we really use this thing at least once a week.

• Bugs/Insects- I like this pack of pretend bugs if you want to keep it small, but this pack has more pieces.

• Optional- magnifying glass and tweezers. We added these to our bin later and I forgot to snap a picture.

• This collection/inspection jar also looks like a great addition.

• Optional- paper and pen. You could include some sorting by different characteristics. We sorted inside the bin, but some kids like the visual separation on paper.

• I store our bugs in one of these waterproof zip pouches.

Set up

1 minute (after the kids collect all of the nature)

1. Put the bugs and bin out. Let the kids set up any play scenario they want. You may have to encourage or demonstrate for them, depending on how comfortable they are with this kid of play.

Clean Up

1-2 minutes

1. Find and save your bugs.

2. Dump out the nature material. We kept everything outside, but you could also throw things away if needed.

3. Clean the sensory bin.

Bonus- I got to pick some weeds and Vaila willingly helped me in her pursuit of the best “flowers” to add to her collection.

All of my children really love collecting nature. I don’t know if collecting things is a learned behavior or has a genetic component, or maybe just hardwired in all of us, but I always find it fascinating. They have all loved collecting pinecones, or “cone-pines” as Vaila used to call them.

Brinley used to fill buckets and buckets of pinecones when she was 1 and would know if we threw any away. Ryan hated to disappoint her and we ended up with at least 3 5-gallon buckets full in our garage for several months. Vaila has always loved collecting flowers and sincerely finds beauty in the violets and dandelions growing in our grass just as easily as she does the daffodils or tulips popping up in our flower beds right now. Ellette is a rock girl so far. She usually finds one rock or pebble for each hand every time she takes a walk.

Do your kids collect anything? Please let me know in the comments below! I know I’m not the only one with handfuls, pockets filled, or stroller baskets filled with rocks, leaves, and weeds.

I kept this activity pretty open ended, which was interesting to watch. Vaila is a little hesitant around bugs, even fake ones, right now. She also still looks to her older sister for cues on how to play, although her independent play has dramatically improved over the last few months. This activity had no “goal” or clear finish line which is different from a lot of the games or activities we typically do at home. She needed a little coaxing and demonstration on ways to play with this exploration bin.

We talked about the different items she collected, how we could arrange them, which bugs might live under rocks or in the grass, and talked about different ways to sort the bugs. How many had wings, how many were colorful, how many could bite people (her idea, not mine), and which ones we have seen in real life.

We came back to this bin after lunch and brought out the magnifying glasses, but I left my phone inside and didn’t take any pictures. That was fun and I would highly recommend. This was a good way to demystify some of the bugs there were unfamiliar or a little scary. We thought of several questions to research when we came inside and that seemed helpful to ease some of her worries about the bugs we have seen outside recently. One of her favorite things was to make the bugs crawl on me! If you have a little one who gets nervous about bugs, this was a fantastic way to get Vaila laughing while holding a (pretend) bug.

Our butterflies were getting nectar from the flowers Vaila set up.

I hope you get a chance to set up this Bug Exploration Bin soon. These are the same bugs from the Bug and Insect Rice Sensory Bin, so you can create multiple ways to play with them. I love finding new uses for the toys or supplies we already have, so most, of the items you see linked in the blog posts will be used in again.

Now you know how to set up a fun and easy exploration bin. Please don’t forget to comment what your child likes to collect or did like to collect when they were younger. I’d love to hear and maybe get a laugh!

Here’s to seeing more butterflies this year! We’ve already seen a few and the kids have been completely enchanted.

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