All-in-One Fall Sensory Bin

 

 

We recently had a good friend visit us from overseas. She doesn’t have children but was very interested in our sensory activities and asked to take part in one. I decided to make a fall sensory bin with orange, red and yellow goop for E and our friend, C, to enjoy together but things turned out a bit differently than I’d expected 😉

 

(E was 3 years and 10 months old.)

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

Pin it for later!

 

 

 

For our All-in-One Fall Sensory Bin, we used

• Aluminum pan. {I chose it just for a change from our usual sensory bins, and I was able to just throw the whole thing out when we were done – a definite plus with all the sensory materials we ended up using with this activity.}
• Cornstarch.
• Water.
• Liquid watercolors.
• Shaving cream.
• Baking soda.
• Vinegar.
• Colored rice. {Read my Blue Rice Sensory Tub post to find out how to make your own colored rice.}
• Fall cookie cutters. {The set is called Halloween Cookie Cutters but has several fall designs as well.}
• Artificial leaves similar to these.
• Acrylic leaves, acorns and pumpkins.
• Spider ice “cubes” {made in this ice cube tray}.
• Measuring cups, scoops, containers.

 

 

 

Like I said, I made the goop from cornstarch and water first. It looked great at first glance but unfortunately, it was way too watery – and I was out of cornstarch!

 

 

E and C were having none of my explanations, though, and insisted on going ahead with the activity. And so they did.

They started by dumping the watery goop into the pan.

 

 

It still felt interesting, it just wasn’t goop.

 

 

E scooped up some of the concoction and put it into a small container that she closed and put aside.

 

 

Since I figured that baking soda and vinegar reactions are always a blast {Check out my post 10 Fun Ways to Use Baking Soda and Vinegar for more ideas!}, I put some baking soda into a bowl for them to use.

At first, E sprinkled the baking soda on top of the “goop”, then decided to dump it all.

 

 

E and C mixed everything with their hands and had great fun exploring the properties of this new mixture.

 

 

It’s fair to say that C had just as much fun as E did!

 

 

Now E had an idea and asked for shaving cream – one of her favorite sensory materials!

It was thoroughly mixed into the cornstarch/water/baking soda mixture

 

 

before E started pouring vinegar into the pan. When shaving cream is added to the basic baking soda and vinegar reaction, it makes for big, long lasting bubbles.

 

 

They had used about half of a can of shaving cream at that point but that wasn’t enough for E. She asked me to get a fresh can.

 

 

I’d forgotten all about the colored rice from our Fall Rice Sensory Bin I’d put into a bowl and set aside but C hadn’t – she decided to pour it on top of everything that was already in the pan, then they both played with the cookie cutters and artificial leaves.

 

 

 

Clearly, there still wasn’t enough shaving cream. E and C added more and rubbed it into their hands

 

 

but couldn’t keep them out of the sensory mixture for long.

 

 

At this point, C remembered the spider ice “cubes” I’d shown her earlier that I’d experimented with.

 

 

I’d originally had other plans for them but how could I resist finding out what happens when you add ice to the mix of sensory materials?

 

 

After C had played with the ice for a while, she was done with the activity and left it all to E.

E asked for a paper towel to wipe the all-in-one mixture from her hands and arms, then noticed that it was really fun to put paper towels into the mixture in the pan and let them become a part of her sensory play.

 

 

When E was finished, too, this is what was left behind:

 

 

This all-in-one sensory bin was definitely full of unexpected fun!

 

 

 

What’s your favorite sensory material? Have you mixed several of them like we did? Tell me about it in the comments!

 

 

 

If you like this post, click here to subscribe to my newsletter and receive an email once a week when new posts are published, or to my RSS feed.

Also make sure to follow me on Pinterest to stay up to date with all we do, and for lots of great ideas from others!

If you prefer Facebook, I’d love to connect with you there: Like and drop me a line on my Facebook page, where I share my own posts and those of others every day!