We all know the importance of play in the classroom, and one way we can bring more play into our classroom is with our stem bins or morning bins or morning tubs. Whatever you call them…
PLAY IN THE CLASSROOM!
Yep. Kids need to play. Yep. Many of us teach in districts where this isn’t allowed. Yep. Many of us know we should be doing more play-based learning, but we’re bound by district rules, mandates, and curricula. Yep. We know we can be creative and make curriculum play-based, but it’s hard when you’re being watched daily by district people and checking that you’re on the right lesson on the right day. I share that to say this: don’t assume it’s the teacher who doesn’t want to have play in the classroom. It’s probably more of being stopped by district rules.
That said, now we have more PLAY in our classroom with our morning bins! I actually say each morning: “After your journal, you may read or play!” And let me tell you, that feels amazing!
Morning Tubs/STEM Bins Set Up
When I decided to bring morning tubs into the classroom, I wanted a simple system that the kids could manage. So we use these storage boxes from The Container Store. They’ve helped us so well over the last few years. They’re easy for the kids to carry, easy to open and close, and they stack well.
Each box contains different objects for the kids to play with.
So, what’s in the bins? These are all items that the kids can use to build, stack, sort, connect, and play with. We also have magna-tiles, different kinds of blocks, dominoes, and so much more!
Click the image to see these and many more toys that we use for our morning tubs!
We also use our Build It Up! resource in our STEM bins. Kids love these, and they’re perfect for STEM bins and morning bins!
How Do The Kids Use STEM Bins
Here’s how our morning arrival works: (For details on morning work and morning arrival, visit the blog post at the end of this post)
- Put away your backpack.
- Greet your teacher
- Eat breakfast if you want.
- Journal (or name-writing practice if you haven’t earned your journal)
- Read OR PLAY!
The beloved journals have not gone away. Students must still do their journals, and then they can play! So they can read or play after doing their morning work, which is their journal. These pictures illustrate this very well: you see students reading, playing, writing in their journals, and working on the names! And you should also know there is A LOT OF TALKING! And that’s what we want. Conversations are a MUST for student learning.
There are no task cards or required activities for them. They are simply playing and exploring. They are building fine motor skills, critical thinking skills, and problem-solving skills. And they’re having FUN!
Students choose one box to play with. They play as long as they want, clean up, and get another box. They can also read books, play alone or with friends, or sit wherever they want to read and play! It’s all about choices!
Clean Up And Storage
When the clean-up song comes in, students clean up their materials and place the toys back into the boxes, and return the boxes to the shelf.
