In this paper, we introduce a grid-based key pre-distribution scheme in wireless sensor networks, which aims to improve the connectivity and resiliency while maintaining a reasonable overhead. We consider simplification of the key establishment logic and enhancement of the connectivity via plat polynomial assignment on a three-dimensional grid for node allocation and keying material assignment. We demonstrate that our scheme results in improvements via a detailed discussion on the connectivity, resource usage, security features and resiliency. A comparison with other relevant works from the literature along with a demonstrated implementation on typical sensor nodes shows the feasibility of the introduced scheme and its applicability for large networks.