When I think of Halloween, I think of colors like black and orange and items like ghosts and pumpkins. I also think of eating oodles of red candy because they're my favorite!
So, I tossed all of those Halloween images and colors together (minus the red candy because that would be a waste!) into this super simple Halloween sensory bin with water. It's a perfect activity for toddlers and preschoolers, in particular.
The best part is that you only need a few materials to set this sensory activity up. Yet, the kids will work on fine motor skills, imagination, math, and more! Let's take a closer look at what you'll need...
A version of this post originally appeared on the CBC Parents website.
What You'll Need for this Halloween Sensory Bin
To put this simple Halloween themed bin together, we used:
- Water in a large plastic container or bin
- Black liquid watercolors - You could probably use washable paint as well.
- Acrylic pumpkin table scatter - I found this at Michael's, but have also seen similar at the dollar store. You could substitute foam Halloween shapes.
- Acrylic ghosts table scatter - Something else I found at Michael's. You could substitute foam Halloween shapes or similar.
- Plastic mini jack-o-lanterns - I found these at Dollarama. You could substitute foam Halloween shapes or similar.
- Kitchen utensils (e.g., ladle, big spoon, plastic bowl, whisk) - I like to add these to any sensory soup style sensory bins for some easy fine motor practice.
First you need to mix your water with a generous amount of black liquid watercolors (or washable paint, if you're going that route). Then simply add some Halloween items and it's time to play. You can also toss in your kitchen utensils at this point too. It should look something like this:
The sensory bin looks a bit eerie up close, doesn't it? It's like the ghosts are going ooOOOoooOOoo...
Time for Some Halloween Water Play!
Much like any of our water sensory bins, the boys went straight to scooping, pouring, stirring, and mixing with the kitchen utensils.
My boys really enjoy scooping up all of the little Halloween items and putting them into the bowl, occasionally alternating with some scoops of water. Sometimes they would also count the items as they transferred them from the container to the small bowl.
But, perhaps their favorite part, though, is dumping the bowl when it is full and starting the whole process over again. Scoop, fill, pour, and repeat.
And that's it for this Halloween sensory bin for toddlers and preschoolers. As you can see, it's super easy to put together, offers lots of opportunities for building fine motor skills, and is lots of fun.
