By now, I think it’s pretty obvious that Miss G and I love to make and give homemade gifts. I love giving something unique that can’t just be purchased at a store, and I think we both love the process of coming up with an idea, collecting the materials, and putting it all together in a fun way. Our gifts are never overly involved {okay, with the exception of the portable activity packs maybe}, but they’re fun and normally aim to inspire play and creativity, which is very much us.
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Today’s adorable little birthday boy recently turned two and loves planes, trains, and automobiles, so Grae and I decided to base our gift around that interest. We picked up a big book of trucks and a wooden vehicle puzzle, then paired them with this fun little construction-themed sensory bin to complete the gift. Grae was quite proud of it all!
Putting our construction sensory bin gift together was pretty simple. We purchased a shallow bin that came with a lid, plus a set of construction trucks, and a couple of sets of decorative rocks. Then we grabbed some sand, a couple of wooden blocks, some wooden building planks, some popsicle sticks, and some black acrylic paint from our craft supply stash and we were ready to begin.
First off, we started with the DIY road signs. After painting our popsicle sticks black, we printed and laminated these awesome signs, then attached them to our sticks with some hot glue and anchored the bottoms in bottle tops so that they would stay upright on their own.
With the signs done, we basically filled the base of our bin with some sand and then positioned our signs, rocks, wood pieces, and construction vehicles on top.
Here’s what it looked like when we were done.
Just for fun, we glued a printable construction area sign to the lid before tying the bin up with some black and white baker’s twine. That’s it! Our construction sensory bin gift was ready for the birthday boy.
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Wow this is so thoughtful. I bet the parents were just as thrilled to receive this as their child was.
Aw, thanks, Fatema! Such a lovely compliment. :)
What a cool gift! Great idea and your site just blows me away! Thanks for the link back, from your newest fan :-)
Thanks so much, Ann! Your printable signs are awesome!!
What would you suggest as an alternative base instead of sand? I don’t have access to sand where I live
Hey Christina! How about pebbles, aquarium rocks, or “sand” cloud dough (4 cups of wholewheat flour combined with 1/2 cup of veg oil)?
I made this recently for my 20 month old for a recent plane trip and he loved it! I made my play dough with coffee grounds which made it firm and gritty. He especially loved transporting the rocks and plowing the “dirt”. Thanks for the inspiration