I love sensory bins, and this post illustrates why beautifully. They aren’t just a chance to scoop and pour ( although don’t discount the importance of that) they are also a chance to make believe, create a new mini landscape and practice imaginative play. Children love to explore so when you create a sensory bin allow them to add to it as well; it’s not a static item but rather a dynamic experience for them to create with.
Thanksgiving Sensory Tub
- Gather your materials. You will need a big pan or plastic tub, some multicolored unpopped popcorn, red quinoa, and brown rice. You will also need some fall leaf confetti and scoops. Obviously, you don’t need to follow our contents exactly, but I do love the corn since it ties into other Thanksgiving crafts so well. Orange lentils, wild rice, flax seeds, etc… all have a fall feeling to them too.
- Pour the dried grains etc.. into the tub. Have your child help with this, my son loves ” cooking up” the sensory bins.
- Add the fall confetti. Be careful some of ours were pretty small, fabric leaves are another larger option for younger children.
- Add the scoops and containers and start playing.
- Follow your child’s imagination, we went and got some construction vehicles.
I get asked all the time what I do with these tubs after he’s done playing. I pop them into Ziplocs and keep them, and pull them out for quiet play time often. The variety keeps him interested, and as long as you seal the bags from moisture and insects, you can keep them indefinitely.
Thanksgiving Books For Kids
This book list contains affiliate links.
The Little Engine That Could Saves the Thanksgiving Day Parade by Watty Piper is unremarkable. The story is about a school band who has a flat tire and hitches a ride on the train to get to the Thanksgiving Day parade on time. My son liked the instruments and the train but the story was pretty boring. It was obvious to me why this was one of the only Thanksgiving books left at my local library. If you have a child who is wild about trains, I would maybe check it out of the library, but it’s not worth purchasing in my opinion.
Thanksgiving at the Tappleton’s by Eileen Spinelli is a really cute story that offers many opportunities for parents to talk about lying, disappointment and what matters at Thanksgiving. The Tappleton’s Thanksgiving dinner goes haywire. First, the turkey falls in the pond. Then, there are no pies left at the bakery. Then it gets worse. No one wants to be the person to ruin the holiday dinner and keeps it a secret that the part of the meal that was their responsibility is ruined. Of course, this means they end up eating liverwurst and pickles for dinner. Grandma saves Thanksgiving by reminding then that it doesn’t matter what they eat but who they eat with.
Patty’s Pumpkin Patch by Teri Sloat is a great alphabet book and story in one. Readers follow a pumpkin patch from planting the seeds until after Halloween when they gather the seeds for the next planting. I really like how this book combines an alphabet book with both upper and lowercase letters corresponding to some animal or insect in the story. I also like the easy rhythm of the rhyming text and the engaging and detailed illustrations. All in all, I think this is a great fall book!
Sofia's Ideas says
I used to have rice bins for my kids all the time and would add different themed toys into them but I never thought to change up the rice with other grains, etc. I love this idea and I’m going to go add this to our current unit study ASAP! Thank you so much for this post, and I love the pictures. I’m so glad I fell upon your blog!
Cara says
I’m putting mine together today as well. I love your incorporation of red quinoa and brown rice. Just perfect for “harvest.” We haven’t read ANY Thanksgiving books yet, but the ones you mentioned sound just great. Time for a trip to my local bookstore!
Zombie Mom Comics says
Cool idea! The pic is too cute!
Teri says
Inexpensive bird seed would be another great addition, as well as acorns & small pine cones 🙂
Kimberly says
I find sensory tubs more relaxing than my children! They really are a great way to get centered. Thank you for the reminder! 🙂
Momof1 says
He looks so cute in the photo !! Love the idea !
Sharon says
I’ve been reading your blog for at least a year and sent links to sensory tub posts to friends many times. “What a great idea! Your kid will love this!” Today I finally bought beans and did one for my daughter and I will admit that I don’t have the patience to keep hearing beans hit the floor. She enjoyed it, but this is going to have to be an outdoors-only activity for us from now on. I was so excited to help her set it up, but then it took A LOT from me to let her keep going. Oh, so messy!
Lin says
I let the 5 yr old sit at the table, but the 18mo. old I definitely sit on the floor with his sensory tubs. And being that it’s now almost winter, we bring the snow INSIDE in tubs to play with. That way we get to enjoy more of God’s creation and not be so cold! If you don’t like cleanup, put them on the floor with a blanket or shower curtain, just like you would do to play legos.
Eddie says
I love this bin! I’ve been gathering fall-type things but hadn’t figured out how to pull it all together. I love th e idea of the corn! Thanks!