Last updated on October 24th, 2023
Inside: A fall sensory bin that incorporates beautiful fall colors, leaves, pinecones, and pumpkins into an exciting sensory activity for your little ones.
Autumn Sensory Bin
Autumn is always such an exciting time of year – leaves are changing, pumpkins are everywhere, and the crisp smell of fall greets you every time you step outdoors. I wanted to put together a sensory bin that incorporated some of these elements for my little one to explore.
What You Need For Autumn Sensory Bin
- pinecones (real or fake) we got ours at Hobby Lobby
- leaves (real or fake) we got ours at Hobby Lobby
- mini pumpkins
- table scatter: leaves, pumpkins, gems – I found mine at Hobby Lobby
- empty rectangular bin
- muffin liners or other cups
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- clear bottles
- tweezers
Ways to Play With Autumn Sensory Bin
There are a few different ways that your child can play with this sensory bin.
One way is to use the measuring cups, measuring spoons, and tweezers to fill the clear plastic bottle or muffin liners. This is such a fun fine motor activity for little ones – they always seem to love collecting things and piling them up. Mine kept gathering items into one bottle and then pouring them into another.
Another way is to simply explore the objects. You can talk to them about the five senses (well, not taste!) that they are experiencing in interacting with each object. Example: how the pinecone or leaves feel, the sound the leaves make crunching, etc. You could also practice vocabulary with the different items in the bin – chances are some of these items (or at least the names of them) are new to your child – this would be a good opportunity to teach them some new words.
An additional way is to use the tweezers to pick out specific colors to place in coordinating muffin liners to practice color sorting. This idea is similar to our Fall Color Sorting Activity that we did a couple weeks back.
You could also practice counting while picking items up with tweezers and dropping them into the bottle. Or you could line items up to count and group like items together.
Really, the possibilities are endless. Probably the best way is to just let your child lead and see what sort of play they come up with on their own while exploring this sensory bin!
Play Again
What I love about these easy set up bins is that they are not messy, the items don’t expire (like say, cereal sensory bins would), and they can be set up easily over and over throughout the season.
We store our items in gallon Zip-locks inside the yellow bin and keep it on a top shelf in the playroom closet. This way, when the mood strikes or we are bored and out of ideas, I can pull the bin down, empty out the Zip-locks and let my toddler play without any real effort on my end with set up.
Be sure to check out these other fun fall activities and fall treats here on the blog! Let me know how your fall sensory bin turned out by leaving me a comment below.
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