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Preschoolers love sensory bins so an Autumn Sensory Bin was the perfect supplement to the Autumn themed unit our preschool girls are working on. As soon as the four-year-olds saw it on the table they went right over and dug their hands in. They touched, dug, scooped, poured, played, and just had fun with it!
Putting a sensory bin together is so simple and you can put as many or few items as you want into it. I have found that the easiest thing to do is to use items you already have on hand, if you can. Everything I used for this sensory bin I already had, so I didn’t need to buy anything new.
Here are the materials I used for the Autumn Sensory Bin:
- Small plastic bin with a lid
- Popcorn kernels
- Felt leaves
- Artificial leaves
- Red, orange and yellow colored craft sticks
- Pumpkin and corn on the cob (from the Learning Resources Farmers Market Color Sorting Set
)
- Small plastic cups
- Ghost rings
This time of year is also perfect for an Apple Sensory Bin!
Just in case you are wondering….
What is a sensory bin and what is the purpose?
A sensory bin is a fun way for children to use their senses to learn. It’s a group of materials that are put in a bin or large container to allow young children to explore and experiment while using all their senses. They can touch, feel, smell, hear, and sometimes taste the items in the bin. Children can also pour, mix, pretend, create, play, count, move, match, stir and more.
Sensory bins can be used to further develop these and other skills:
- Fine Motor (ex: use tongs to pick up items and transfer them)
- Counting (ex: how many red apples, how many green apples, etc.)
- Sorting and Classifying (ex: sort into other bowls, ice cube trays)
- Patterning (ex: red, green, red, green)
- Matching (ex: find the items that match)
As you put your sensory bin together be creative. And as your children explore, have fun learning with them!
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