There are so many things that I love about the upcoming season change, but perhaps my most favorite thing about fall is the colors. Hues of red, orange, yellow, and brown mix with what is left of the green leaves. There's just something so magical about it, don't you think?
So, to capture the spirit of fall, I put together this fall leaves sensory bin with water.
This quick and simple autumn sensory play idea encourages fine motor practice and is a great reflection of the swirling, colorful leaves of fall.
What You'll Need for this Fall Sensory Bin
This fall leaf sensory bin is super duper quick to put together, just like our other sensory soup bins. (Hint: it's basically add everything into a bin and mix it up!) Here's what we used:
- Water - How much you'll need will depend on the size of your container.
- Liquid watercolors - I used a mixture of orange and yellow to achieve the golden color. As an alternative, you could also use food coloring to tint the water.
- Acrylic leaves - Mine are from Michaels, but you can usually find these at the dollar store now as well. If you don't have acrylic leaves, foam leaves are a great substitute.
- Kitchen utensils - I added a whisk, a ladle, a large spoon, and a large plastic bowl, but other things to add are measuring cups, measuring spoons, etc.
First you need to fill a container with some water. Then add some liquid watercolors or food coloring and mix until the water is the color you're aiming for. Obviously, you'll want to go with a fall inspired color. We went with a golden orangish color. Then add the acrylic leaves and kitchen utensils.
The finished sensory bin should look something like this:
And here's a close up photo of the leaves in the colored water, with a little hand sneaking in there, ready to play.
Alternatively, you could set this activity up in a water tray or water table instead of in a sensory bin container.
This Fall Leaves Sensory Bin with Water is Great for Working on Fine Motor Skills!
My youngest K was having one of his rare nap days. That means that my oldest son J got the chance to enjoy this autumn inspired sensory bin all by himself.
Probably his favorite thing to do was to scoop up the water and the leaves into the provided bowl. Seriously, he had a blast with doing this over and over. First you need to scoop...
And pour...
And fill up the bowl as much as you can, bit by bit.
Sometimes, you can skip the ladle and just use your hands to grab the leaves. Whatever works, right?
Then, once all the leaves were successfully transferred to the plastic bowl, J happily mixed his soup together using the whisk. He loved to whisk slowly and gradually increase his speed. Then he would happily tip the bowl, dumping all the leaves out and start the process all over again.
J had so much fun with this fall themed sensory bin! So much so that it inspired lots of other sensory soup activities, many of which can be found here.
But how could he not enjoy it? I mean this fall leaves sensory bin with water looks so incredibly inviting, don't you think? Hopefully, your kids love it as much as my son did.
