If our "senses" at Kaplan are correct, fall is here and it's time to have some fun with sensory play! Celebrate fall's arrival with your littlest learners and explore the season with this engaging Easy Fall Sensory Bag! While grown-ups may have a long list of things that we love about fall, it's important to remember that infants and toddlers are just discovering what makes fall special and different from the rest of the year.
What is a Fall Sensory Bag?
This Easy Fall Sensory Bag is a great way to introduce the sights, colors, and feelings of the fall season to little learners. This activity is perfect for combining learning and developmental growth with play. When children are given the opportunity to engage in sensory play, they are able to learn from hands-on experience, which gives them the opportunity to think creatively, investigate new ideas, and participate in dramatic play.
Why is Sensory Play Important?
For infants and toddlers, sensory activities are some of the most important to enjoy and experience during their early stages of development. This is due to how sensory development can help them begin to understand the big world around them! They learn best this way, so we always recommend incorporating sensory play with your infants and toddlers. For older learners, sensory play gives them a chance to apply a new level of hands-on knowledge and understanding to things they may or may not already know about conceptually such as fall leaves.
How Can I Use This in My Lesson Plan?
There are so many fun learning activities at your disposal with the Easy Fall Sensory Bag! For infants and toddlers, you can hold or feel the fall sensory bag together or have them hold and feel it on their own. This will allow them to explore the 5 senses at their own pace. Be there to tell them what everything in the bag is to give them greater context to the world around them. Please be sure to supervise them to ensure that they do not try to open the bag and put anything in their mouth.
For older learners, like preschoolers, this could be an excellent opportunity to teach them some of the staples of the fall season! You could incorporate activities like math and have your children use the bag to try and count how many leaves they see, how much candy corn they see, or even how any colors they can identify in the bag. You can also have discussions about the 5 senses by using this activity to explain them all. There is even the opportunity to teach them about the changing of the seasons.
Download our FREE printable below!
Required Materials
- Ziploc Bags
- Cotton Pads
- Acetone
- Bottle of Clear Hair Gel
- Food Coloring
- Gold and/or Silver Sequins
- Candy Corn
- Fake Fall Leaves
- Tape
1Gather Your Materials
Begin by making sure you have everything you need to create your Easy Fall Sensory Bag. This includes your Ziploc bag, acetone, and some cotton pads to put the acetone on, clear hair gel, food coloring, sequins, candy corn mix, fake fall leaves, and some tape to ensure it is all sealed up!
2Fill Your Bag
Begin by laying out your Ziploc bag. Get your acetone and pour some onto your cotton pad. Use the cotton pad with the acetone to rub away any logos or lettering on the bag that could block you from seeing inside the bag. Once the bag is clear, get your bottle of clear hair gel and pour it into the bag. Next, get your food coloring (we recommend fall colors like red, orange, and yellow) and put it into the bag. Now you can seal the bag and mix the food coloring with the hair gel to make it more colorful throughout the bag. Next, open up the bag and pour in your sequins and your candy corn mix. Then, place in some fake leaves and seal the bag.
3Ready for Play
Lastly, be sure that your bag is fully sealed! Do this by making sure the bag is closed and taping the top of the bag completely shut as to help prevent its contents from leaking out during play. Then, you should be good to go and ready for a new easy and fun fall sensory activity!
Fall into learning with fun seasonal activities and experiments! Browse our selection of classroom arts and crafts and related resources to encourage autumn explorations and incorporate engaging activities into your classroom.