Simple Thanksgiving Sensory Bin

 

We haven’t really done a lot of sensory activities for Thanksgiving, but when I saw these super cute “dancing” turkeys at the dollar store, I knew I HAD to use them somehow. I ended up making a Simple Thanksgiving Sensory Bin for N, and it was great fun!

I didn’t expect the turkey to actually be intact after N played with it – and it wasn’t 😉

 

(N was 1 year and 3 months old.)

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

 

Materials for Simple Thanksgiving Sensory Bin

• Shoe box sized storage bin.
• Solar dancing turkey.
• Red and orange rice.
• Dry black beans.
• Dry corn kernels.
• Applesauce cups.
• Wooden fork {or you’d possibly call it a spork?} (optional).
• Whisk (optional).
• Shower liner, towel or similar to play on (optional).

 

I had the rice and black beans left over from our Halloween Sensory Bin and added more of a Thanksgiving-y touch with dry corn kernels left over from when I made FROZEN chocolate popcorn.

 

 

Uncharacteristically, N didn’t dive right in with his hands but used the wooden fork first.

 

 

He didn’t bother with it for long, though – feeling sensory materials with your hands is always the most fun!

 

 

He didn’t dump the sensory bin, he just gently and deliberately pushed some of the rice, beans, and corn out on the shower liner he was playing on. The rest stayed in the bin 🙂

 

 

He probably spent the most time during this activity picking up handfuls of beans, rice, and corn from the applesauce cups and dropping them on the shower liner. He’d hold out the applesauce cup for me to refill it for him and then start over.

 

 

He also spent some time using the whisk to stir the dry materials and seemed to really enjoy the sound it made on the plastic.

He barely looked at the turkey at first, and I don’t even know how the tail broke off in the first place, but when it did, it caught N’s attention.

 

 

As it turned out, the turkey fit into the applesauce cup a lot more easily without the tail 🙂

 

 

When N went back to the wooden fork for a while, he found it pretty amusing that beans and corn kernels would get stuck in between the tines all the time. Trying to get them out was good fine motor practice!

 

 

Despite {or maybe because of?} the simplicity of the sensory bin and the limited number of materials, N explored everything in a variety of ways, and it kept him busy for more than 20 minutes! That’s a great success in my book 🙂

 

Have you set up a Thanksgiving Sensory Bin for your kids? What did you put in it? Leave a comment below, I’d love to hear from you!

 

Here are a few more simple sensory bins your kids may enjoy:

 

Farm Animal Sensory Bin with Real Grass

Simple Football Sensory Bin for Toddlers

Yellow Sensory Bin

Spider Sensory Bin

FROZEN Winter Sensory Bin from Learning 2 Walk

5 Simple Sensory Bins for Babies and Toddlers from Learn Play Imagine

 

 

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