Fall Sensory Bin Preschool Ideas
As we slip into Fall and inevitably begin spending more time indoors, I start to look for fun, inexpensive, low-prep Fall Activities for my little ones to do. One of my daughter’s favourite types of activities is sensory play, and it is so good for her fine motor skills! If your little one also loves a good sensory bin, then I’m sure you’ll love these easy Fall Sensory Bin Ideas I’m sharing!
This is a growing collection of Fall Sensory Bin Preschool Ideas, so you may want to pin the post to come back to each year as I add new ideas and inspiration!
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I hope this collection of Easy Fall Sensory Bins inspires you and reassures you that it doesn’t have to take lots of time or money to create a fun and engaging seasonal sensory bin!
Some of these activities use a Tuff Tray. I absolutely love our Tuff Tray from Amazon UK. It is just so perfect for these kinds of sensory activities.
If you’re on the fence about getting one check out, Is it Worth Getting a Tuff Tray? A Mom’s Honest Tuff Tray Review. It has honestly been one of the best things I’ve bought for my kid’s learning.
Alternatively, If you are Unable to Buy a Tuff Tray where you live, a large tray with strong edges, like this one from Amazon, would also work well for all these activities.
Frozen Fall Sensory Bin
For something a little different, this Fall Sensory Bin has frozen fall leaves and acorns for your little ones to defrost!
It’s bright and colorful, interesting, and helps your Preschoolers develop an interest in STEM activities.
For this Fall Sensory Set-up, I provided a bowl of warm water with a few leaves and acorns floating in it. There were some bowls and scoops, and a few small medicine syringes that you can pick up from a pharmacist.
I popped a couple of tubs of water with leaves and acorns into the freezer overnight and then added them in too.
My Preschooler loved testing which items floated, and for how long, as the leaves started sinking over time. She also loved melting the ice back down to the water and ‘rescuing’ the acorns and leaves.
If you’re interested in more water play activities, check out these!
Fall Farm Sensory Bin
A cute, little, Fall Farm Sensory Play set-up that you can put together in less than 10 minutes!
Small world play is so good for our little people. Not only does it fire up their imaginations and help with problem-solving skills, but it helps them learn about the world around them. In this case, they are learning about Autumn farming activities and what happens on the farm at this time of year.
Small World play is also great for developing fine motor skills and social skills, as they take turns with the other children around the Tuff Tray.
This Fall Farming Play was fairly easy and quick to set up.
I used a mixture of cereals that I had in the cupboard to provide different colors and textures for the different fields of crops. Cocoa pops made great soil and then I added in some carrot tops to be harvested.
I think I’ll use some dried lentils to add a splash of orange to the tray next time I do it.
However if you want to keep it completely taste-safe for young toddlers, you can stick to cereals and other food.
Lastly, I just added in some tractors, farm animals, and farmer figures and it was ready to go.
If you’re interested in more Sensory Farm Play Activities take a look here!
Rice Sensory Bin for Fall
A lovely quick and easy Fall Sensory Bin, there are a number of simple fillers you could use for this one instead of rice! Red lentils, dyed chickpeas, or corn would work too.
It’s got such a lovely texture to run through your hands. The toddler’s I childmind loved transferring the rice from one bowl to another and mixing everything together as they explored the different colours and textures.
Fall Themed Baking Sensory Bin
Of all these Fall Sensory Bin ideas, this one is my favorite. This was partly because it looks the prettiest, but also because it held my little ones’ attention the longest!
My Preschooler loves any kind of baking, real or sensory play baking! She had great fun with this one, as did the little toddler I was childminding.
I put some yellow and green cupcake cases into a muffin tray to start. Then I put a bowl of orange lentils, and one of brown linsead. I just used the seed as it was what I had, but cocoa pops would work just as well.
Then I added some Fall leaves, pine cones, acorns and mini pumpkins.
As I don’t live close to many trees, I used artificial Fall decorations, like these from Amazon, instead and found they worked really well.
5 Minute Fall Sensory Bin
This 5 Minute Fall Sensory bin is so quick and easy to set up!
I used some brown linsead that I had in the back of the cupboard as the base for this one. You could just as easily use cocoa pops, orange lentils or any other Fall-coloured base for it.
Then I added in some Fall Forest items. Since I live in an area that’s a little short on trees, I used artificial leaves, pine cones, acorns and mini pumpkins, like these from Amazon. However, it would probably look even better with real ones!
Fall Leaf Painting
You really can’t let Fall pass you by without painting fallen leaves! It’s a classic Fall Activity for Toddlers and Preschoolers everywhere!
Since I don’t have many trees near where I live, I tried this activity with artificial leaves. It didn’t make such great leaf prints as real fallen leaves do, unfortunately.
However, my little ones still really enjoyed painting the leaves themselves to make Autumn art pieces. And they used the leaves as inspiration to paint their own Autumn leaves pictures.
If you’re interested in more fun Painting ideas take a look here!
Fall Trucks Sensory Bin
A quick and easy Fall Sensory Bin, this one was just brown linseads, Fall-coloured pom poms and some trucks.
You could also use cocoa pops for this one if you prefer, or orange lentils.
A bigger container would have made this activity better, so there was more room to move the trucks around, but it was still enjoyed for a good while by the toddlers I childmind.
It would also have worked well on my Tuff Tray, so I think I’ll try it there next time.
Fall Color Matching
This is a great activity for little ones who are just starting to learn their colours.
I just set our a few sheets of coloured paper in Fall colours and a basket full of fallen leaves for them to sort.
This is a great one to have set up in the corner of an early years classroom, or, as I did, in the corner of my kitchen for my daughter to do while I made breakfast this morning!
It’s brilliant as you don’t need to explain what to do with this activity. Your little people will usually figure it out themselves. A great opportunity for problem solving!
If you’re interested in more color learning activities, take a look here!
Fall Themed Hide and Seek
One of the quickest and simplest sensory bin here!
This is simply rice dyed rice, a mix of yellow, orange, red, and brown, with some Fall themed items hiding in it to be found! You could add a sheet with pictures of the items so your little one can match the item when they find it too!
We love a good Fall Sensory Bin here, so be sure to check back each year for the new ones as we add them! And if you need any more Fall Activities, be sure to check these out!