Fall Sensory Bins

We've been really into "sensory bins" this past month or so.  I try to rotate out some of Cooper's toys every once in a while and he always loves having "new" toys out.  So I've found sensory bin to be a good way to incorporate something new to play with every once in a while.  I thought I'd share a few of our Fall bins.

First up was something things we collected on a walk.  Cooper loves to walk around our block and usually he will pick up all the balls (acorns) that he can.  His hands are usually stuffed full and he has to put some down to pick up others.  So we took a bag with us on a walk and collected a bunch of acorns and  a few sticks and leaves.  Then I put it all in a loaf pan and he got to explore it!

Next up with some Fall filler.  I had bought 2 bags of "bowl filler" from Walmart that included fake pumpkins and pine cones in different sizes and textures.  Then I threw in some "leaf confetti" (that is actually pretty good sized leaves) from Hobby Lobby.  And I added 2 of our small pumpkins from the pumpkin patch.   

Then I had him help me create an orange bin.  I pulled out all of the orange toys I could find and I tried to also have something similar in a different color (orange and blue bowl, orange and purple block, etc.).  I put the orange tissue paper in and then asked him if each thing was orange.  He usually would just say "no" and I'd tell him yes if it was orange.  A few times if I held up a blue and an orange he'd pick the orange on to put in the bin, but it was just a fluke mostly.  But it still started to work on the idea of matching.

A bin full of orange things for Halloween week!

Last up we made some orange rice for our sensory bins.  We don't do a ton of rice because it's a mess and he just wants to eat it.  But I thought it'd be fun to have it as a base for a bin.  We followed this recipe (with rice, vinegar, and gel food coloring) and made some orange rice.  I originally had it in a ziplock bag to shake, but Cooper kept pointing to this container to shake.  So I put it in there and he got to town shaking it up.  We let it dry for a few days to make sure it was ready and then we dug in.

I put it in the bin with a few fall cookie cutters since he seemed to be enjoying those and added 2 of his pumpkins in.  He still really just wants to each the rice (even though I'm pretty sure it tastes like vinegar!) but he'll play with it a little.

These bins have been a fun way to add a little fall to our play and everything we used in them was pretty cheap and easy to find.  I just love all things Fall, so this gave us some fun things to try out in October.