Fall Apple Sensory Bin for Toddlers and Preschoolers

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Inside: This fall apple sensory bin is not only for preschoolers, but it can easily be adapted for toddlers, too. Lots of hands-on play!

Once we are officially into the fall season, we start our apple theme. Because we teach both toddlers and preschoolers, we are always looking for ways to be able to adapt our activities for both age groups.

I was thrilled when my co-teacher came up with this fun fall apple sensory bin! We were able to swap the smaller apples for the larger ones on the days our toddlers were in the classroom.

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Both age groups got to explore their 5 senses! (The taste came afterwards when we made our yummy applesauce.) What a fun way to welcome fall!

Fall Apple Sensory Bin for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Fall is the perfect time to explore. We see beautiful colors, we hear the birds and the squirrels, we smell the crispness in the air, and we taste the freshness of pumpkins and apples and other bounties of our fall harvest.

Last week’s focus was on apples. We asked our 3 year olds’ families to pick out an apple from a farm, backyard, or store and bring it to school. We compared our apples in size, shape, and color. We had a taste test and made applesauce.

We spun paper apples in salad spinners to display on our paper tree.

And then we introduced our fall apple sensory bin.

What we used in our sensory bin:

dry oatmeal
pretend apples (use larger apples for those under 3, or if your child is still putting things in his mouth)
small burlap bags
cinnamon sticks
various tin scoops

Then we added child-size cookware to make “pies”.

Sensory bins like this allow for lots of scooping and sifting and pouring.

The added cinnamon sticks provide a pleasant apple pie scent.

How we adapted this for our toddlers:

We substituted larger plastic apples for the smaller ones. We talked about how they were just pretend, so they weren’t for tasting. But if they did want to taste a real apple? They were given that opportunity, of course. Apple slices for anyone who desired!

Fall Apple Sensory Bin for Toddlers and Preschoolers