My kids love all sorts of sensory bins, from a simple rice bin with kitchen tools to elaborate themed bins. Last year for Emmett’s birthday I assembled Bluey themed sensory dough jars as party favors which were a huge hit with his guests.

I wanted to do another Bluey themed sensory bin for my kids and decided to use “Rug Island” episode as my inspiration.

In this Bluey episode, other than the Heeler family, there are two main “characters” – felt pens and the iconic Kiwi rug. I went through a few different ideas of how to represent the felt pens within this sensory bin because I wanted them to be small enough that they fit with the Bluey figurines, and also actually connect to each other to align with the episode storyline.

The round 1×1 Lego-Style bricks were the perfect solution, especially since they came in multiple colors! I found that one set was a good amount to create a base for play.

For the sensory bin container, these scrapbooking organizers are perfect. They are the perfect size to store away in the closet and work great for an individual child to play. I also like that they have a latching lid for closing up the sensory bin between playtimes.

There are lots of Bluey family figurines currently available. Some include accessories, and others include Bluey and Bingo’s friends. Any set will work for this bin because it is all about the kids’ imagination so they can include whoever they want in the story.

For the iconic Kiwi rug, I took to Canva to re-create the rug and then sublimated it onto a drink coaster. While this might not be practical for everybody, it can also be printed out onto paper (cardstock would work best for a bit of weight), or get the kids involved in drawing their own rug to use.

The final item that I included in my Bluey sensory bin was a piece of fabric about 4″x4″. This could be used in a variety of ways – tied around the characters as a cape, used as a knapsack to hold some of the felt pens, or laid next to the rug as an expansion to the play area.

I presented the sensory bin to my kids as-is, but we also have a bunch of tools that they could add into their play. This set of sensory tools is one of our favorites, we also love these scoops.

Both my kids had fun creating their own Rug Island story and I look forward to having this sensory bin in our play rotation.