# Halloween Sensory Bin > Fill a deep bin with black beans, creepy-crawly rings, garland, muffin liners and a pumpkin for open-ended scooping and pretend baking. Add simple color, number and pattern games along the way. - URL: https://www.funlittles.com/halloween-sensory-bin/ - Ages: 2–5 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: medium - Time: prep 15 min, activity 30 min - Works for: one-on-one, small group · one batch serves about 2 kids - Skills: sensory-exploration, fine-motor, colors, number-recognition, counting, patterns, vocabulary, pretend-play - Cautions: ingestion-risk, food-dye, corn ## Materials (one batch) - Dried black beans - 1 piece Deep clear storage bin - Plastic creepy-crawly rings and toys (spiders, scorpions, bats, snakes) - 2 piece Orange and black tinsel garland - Paper muffin liners - 1 piece Small pumpkin - 4 piece Foam pumpkin cut-outs (optional) - 1 piece Ice tray (ours is an orange pumpkin-shaped tray) - Plastic spoons and forks (household) - 1 piece Tape (household) - 1 piece Scissors (household) - 1 piece Marker (optional) (household) - Candy corn (optional) - Extra small toy animals (optional) ## Safety - Dry beans and small plastic rings are choking hazards. The author says sensory activities are great for kids who no longer mouth, so only offer this to children past the mouthing stage. - Supervise sensory play at all times, and stay within arm's reach of toddlers. - Dry beans are not food. Don't let kids eat them. - Candy corn is optional and real candy. The author's toddler ate quite a lot of it, so leave it out if you don't want kids snacking from the bin. - Spilled beans on the floor are slippery. Sweep them up as you go. ## Before you start - Cut the orange and black garlands into smaller pieces. - Write single-digit numbers on the foam pumpkins. ## Steps 1. Pour the black beans into a deep bin together, and let your child feel them and pour them between their hands. 2. Add the creepy crawlies: spiders, scorpions, bats and any stray animals. 3. Adult: tape the garland pieces and numbered foam pumpkins to the insides of the bin. 4. Add bunched muffin liners, spoons and a pumpkin, and 'bake' bean cupcakes with creature toppings. 5. Make 'soup' by pouring beans and creatures on top of the pumpkin. 6. Play I Spy: hide a few orange scorpions or purple bats and ask your child to find them. 7. Point at the numbered pumpkins and say each number out loud. 8. Put the creature rings on your fingers in a pattern, alternating orange and purple. 9. Scoop beans into alternate slots of the ice tray, saying 'full, empty', then dump them out. 10. Keep scooping, pouring and feeling the beans while you chat. ## Tips - Use a really deep box instead of the usual flat storage container to cut down on spills. It looks a bit uncomfortable, but the kid has never complained! - Bunch several muffin liners together so they are firm enough to hold the black beans. - First, all she wanted to do was peel the tape off the number pumpkins. She peeled, I stuck them back while saying the number out loud. Slowly that became a game that really helped with recognizing a couple of numbers. - Pattern recognition kind of went over her head. It may be better for older toddlers. - Most of the play is scooping, pouring and feeling the beans while chatting a lot. Sneak in a few learning activities here and there. - The best part of actively playing with your kid is hearing them talk and hearing their imaginations out loud. - Expect beans on the floor. Another reader's black beans mostly ended up there. (from readers) ## FAQ **Do kids try to eat the candy corn?** Yes. The author's toddler ate quite a lot of it. Leave it out unless your kids aren't fans of candy corn. **How do I keep the beans from spilling everywhere?** The author uses a really deep box instead of a flat storage container. It still gets spills, but fewer. ## The original post by TurkeyMom (2014) Pinterest and the blogosphere is set ablaze with [**Halloween crafts**](https://www.funlittles.com/halloween-craft-for-kids/) and [**Halloween activities for kids**](https://www.funlittles.com/category/halloween/). We are no exception. Instead of a Halloween craft, we are starting off with a Halloween sensory bin which I know will be a hit with my toddler. She loved our **[Fall sensory bin](https://www.funlittles.com/fall-sensory-bin/)** so much that I had to go back to Dollar Tree to throw together a Halloween sensory bin for her. Sensory activities are great for kids who no longer mouth. My toddler doesn't ( for the most part) and I'm very glad to fully take advantage of all the benefits sensory activities have to offer. Simply put, they keep the child engaged and learning. A simple sensory tub with favorite materials creates curiosity and hence the invitation to play is explored and enjoyed. The base for sensory activities is black beans. If you are feeling brave or lucky enough to have kids who don’t like candy corn, throw in some of those for color. Since, this sensory bin is going to be a simple one, baby A and I did it together. We poured the black beans together and she played with just those for a while feeling them and pouring them between their hands. Then we added some creepy crawlies in there but didn’t stop with only spiders. We even have a stray rhino in there. After adding all the creepy crawlies, I cut out some orange and black garlands into smaller pieces and stuck them to the insides of the bin. I have to add that I had my sensory bin under the Halloween Tree. Remember our Fall Tree? No ? I thought so. [Click here to see what I'm talking about](https://www.funlittles.com/fall-activity-for-preschoolers/). That Fall tree has transformed into our Halloween Tree. How we played and learned with be the rest of the post. Baking became inevitable since we had muffin liners in there. I bunched quite a few because it had to be firm enough to hold the black beans. Here are some cupcakes with creature toppings.. We also made “soup” by pouring beans and creatures on top of a pumpkin. After some serious cooking, we moved on to some colors and number recognition..Since the bin is brimming with colors, especially orange, black and purple I focused on those three colors for the day. I would hide few orange scorpions and asked her to find them.We had purple and green scorpions too. This game of “I SPY” turned out to be fun for the kid. We spent a lot of time looking for “ orange scorpions, purple bats, black spiders “ etc. For numbers, I just wrote down the numbers on foam pumpkins and stuck them to the insides of the box. First, all she wanted to do was peel of the tape from the pumpkins. She peeled off, I stuck them back while saying the number out loud Slowly that evolved into a game. Eventually she got tired of the game and she did not peel off anymore. She picked up her spoon and started simply pointing at numbers. I’d say the peel of tape game did really help us in recognizing a couple of numbers. Another learning activity we “tried” to do was simple patterns. I cut up two garlands into smaller pieces and used them to make up a simple pattern and stuck the pieces to the insides of the box. Then I repeated the patterns out loud to her while pointing at the colorful pieces. After a while she gravitated towards the creature rings. Since the plastic bugs in there were actually rings, we put on our rings in a pattern alternating orange with purple. One the rings were played with, ice trays seemed interesting for her. Since she was clearly very excited with playing with the ice trays, we scooped in beans, dumped them out. While scooping the beans in alternate slots in the ice tray, I repeated "full, empty". All the learning activities did not take a long time since most part of the sensory play was essentially scooping, pouring, feeling the beans while chatting a lot. That’s the large chunk of it. Since I usually actively participate in her play, I try to sneak in a few activities of my own here and there. The best part about actively playing with your kid in my opinion is to hear them talk, hear their imaginations out loud. That is definitely worth all the time I put into the set up ( which actually is not that much) Ways to involve older siblings in creating the bin - Have him/her glue any materials in a pattern. eg -here the garland pieces in a pattern of her/his choice - Write a few single digit numbers on foam for his/her younger sibling - Math via counting and number recognition - Language – learned new words : scorpion, black beans - Pattern Recognition : This one kind of went over her head I think. May be good for older toddlers. Thanks for reading Thanks for stopping by our little space here. 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