Toddler Activity: Fall/Halloween Sensory Bin

I have started to be more conscious of the activities I do and make with Lucas, since his understanding of the world around him has been growing leaps and bounds.  I discovered sensory bins through our play group, and Lucas always seems to gravitate to them when we are there.  So I made this bin when I was in a bind the other day to entertain him.  It was a cold and wet day, and we were both a tad bored, and I was not in the mood to drive to the mall for a walk. 

I used lentils, and yellow split peas to keep the colour in theme, and filled it with holiday things that I already had at home.  I placed a large sheet on the floor to help with the clean up, and the kid loved it.   I used a measuring spoon as his digger, and he really enjoyed playing with it, and I got dinner done in the process.  The bin garnered about 20 minutes of play a day, which is a feat of attention span for this little guy.  Now that Halloween is over I'm going to change up some of the sensory items to leaves and tree parts for our tree week crafts!

These are great ways to introduce new words, textures, and a sense of play.  On the first day I had gently warned Lucas that the moment he threw the lentils in the air, or any of the objects for that matter, that play time would be over.  When it happened, the box was removed, I told him why, and sat him in his high chair as I cleaned everything up; all the while I explained to him the importance of rules, and cleaning up.  By the third day of playing with the box, Lucas no longer threw anything in the air, and when he was done playing he turned to me and said all done, and even wanted to help me clean up.  All in all quite the success!

I have more bins planned, and will be posting them as we play with them, along with our experiences.