October Sensory Tub

Emily has asked every day for the past week, when I was going to put our October sensory tub together (black beans laying on the counter were a constant reminder to her).  Yesterday I had her help me round up all our Octoberish items and put our sensory tub together ~ of course I had to throw in a few surprises! 

 

Our October sensory tub includes the following:

• Plastic bat, snake, scorpion, ant, spiders and flies from Dollar Tree
• Cat, spider and jack-o’-lantern erasers from Dollar Tree
• Pumpkin, scarecrow, Indian corn buttons from Michaels
• Felt owl stickers from Michaels
• Clip on spiders from Michaels
• Eyeballs from Michaels
• Small tin container from goodwill store
• Copper scoop ~ which I have had forever
• A skeleton from Familyfun.com ~ I reduced it 25%, laminated it and cut it
• Black pot from Michaels
• Black beans
• Seek and Find cards ~ just to make it a little more educational!

(click on the picture above to print) 

The kids (including the little furry one) have been having lots of fun exploring the sensory tub. 

~Cindy

Pumpkin Pie Play Dough

October makes me think of……trips to the pumpkin patch, pumpkins lined up with smiling faces, and the smell of pumpkin bread baking in the oven. 

Autumn is one of my favorite times of year!  Yesterday the kids and I pulled out the fall decorations and made a batch of pumpkin pie play dough.

What You Will Need:

• 2 cups of flour
• 1 cup of salt
• 2 tablespoons of cream of tarter
• 2 tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
• 2 cups of water
• 12 drops of red food coloring and 30 drops of yellow food coloring

What You’ll Do:

1. Combine the dry ingredients in a nonstick saucepan. Add the oil, water, and food coloring and stir until smooth. Stir constantly with a rubber spatula, cook the mixture over medium heat until it forms a ball, about 3 to 4 minutes.
2. Turn the dough onto the counter, let it cool slightly, then knead the dough until it has a smooth texture, about 1 minute.
3. Pull out some fall cookie cutters and have fun!

I added some small sticks (stems) and pieces of green pipe cleaner, that I wrapped around pencils (vine), to our play area so the kids could make little pumpkins.

~Cindy

Autumn Sensory Basket

This week we have been enjoying the book Sara Squirrel and the Lost Acorns by Julie Sykes and Catherin Walters.

I made an autumn sensory basket and included items to go along with the story.

 

The basket includes:

• Silk leaves from Michaels
• Plastic gourds from Michaels
• Real acorns
• Acrylic acorns from Michaels
• Wooden apples from Walmart
• Small pinecones from our Hemlock tree
• Mushroom that I made out of felt
• Butterfly from Michaels
• Red pop-poms (berries)
• Squirrel and mouse made out of straw (I think??) from Michaels

In the story Sara Squirrel and the Lost Acorns, Sara who is always very hungry, discovers that she has run out of acorns. 

 

Sara sets out to gather some acorns in the deep woods.  As Sara is traveling to the woods she is stopped by some of her friends who ask her to gather some items ~ a juicy berry, a crunchy leaf, and a tasty mushroom.  Sara is happy to help her forest friends, but has some trouble gathering all the items.

Aiden and Emily searched for each of the items as we read the story

  

and placed them in a basket as they found them.

Throughout the story there are pictures of butterflies so I included a butterfly in our basket.  We took turns hiding the butterfly and searching for it.

I have other activities planned around the story and our sensory basket that I will share in my Preschool Corner post later this week.

~Cindy