Jesus at the temple sensory bin

As I thought about how to make a Jesus at the temple sensory bin, I wondered just what I would really want in a sensory bin like that. I want it to contribute to the Bible lesson, but I also don’t want it to just be a rehash of other Bible sensory bins.

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Jesus at the temple sensory bin supplies

I reused the beans I used for the Roman mosaic craft. They’ve been sitting in my craft supplies for years, and now I’m finding new uses for them.

• dried beans, in particular, this time I used dried lentils and pinto beans (I don’t think those are pinto, but in my search of Amazon I am not finding them, also let’s be honest, it’s just the goal of two different beans, not two particular ones). They get you a couple of different textures.
• Bible buildings (if you buy the Jesus at the temple unit, there are a few included in the unit, but not the full set)
• Bible finger puppets and this Nativity finger puppet set (I used figures from both for this one)
• boy wooden doll figure (you could make a boy figure, OR just use the Jesus figure from the Bible finger puppets, which is what I did for the pictures)
• plastic trees– obviously not necessary, but I like the added little bit

Building the Jesus at the temple sensory bin

I poured the beans into the bottom, mixing it all together with my hands. Then I got distracted swirling it about to get the perfect mix of beans.

Yes, adults enjoy sensory bins too.

Or this adult does.

But continuing on.

Then I started sprinkling buildings into the town. I have a small sensory bin box, just a large Tupperware I found at the store one day. This is the closest I found on Amazon that is more or less the same size. This is slightly nicer quality than what I’m using, which is a bit sturdier to stand up to young kids.

My bin only fits about four buildings in it. Unlike many of my other sensory bins, once I’ve put the buildings in, I can’t put the lid on the box with the buildings in there.

I threw a couple of the plastic trees in there to help create a bit more to interact with in the bin, and I liked the way they looked.

Finally, I put a half dozen Bible figures in the box. I like to have a variety of people for Mary and Joseph to be wandering around asking where Jesus is.

I love how easy this will be to recreate the story

You can put the Jesus figure in the temple, and have lots of buildings for Mary and Joseph to look through.

I love how you can rearrange the beans to create roads or different things.

Hmmm, now I wish I’d thought to get a picture like that.

You could easily use this as a way to tell the boy Jesus at the temple story. I could see acting it out with the figures as you tell the story to a class full of preschoolers. Then as you let them have free time to allow them to play with it and interact with the story.

More great Bible lessons

• Books of the Bible cup game
• Paul’s journey to Rome
• Fall of Man Bible story bag
• “Never will I leave you” printable Bible verses
• Dealing with being judged as a parent