Fall Sensory Box

FALL IS HERE!!!  And the leaves are changing and the weather is finally getting chilly here in Colorado.  This makes me so happy because fall is my favorite season!  I love the colors, the smells, the crisp air, and yes, a pumpkin-spiced latte on an occasion or two!  So, Because of all this I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to build a fall theme sensory box for my 2-year-old. 

My 2-year-old daughter has a speech delay, so I’m always on the hunt for new ways to add practice to our playtime.  I have found sensory boxes to be a great way to practice speech and have fun doing it! 

Sensory boxes have been a favorite in our house for many years now and I enjoy making them. If this is new to you, don’t stress over it, let me show you some fun ideas that you can recreate for your kiddos. The one thing that I have learned over the years is that you don’t need to make them expensive, you can use whatever you have on hand. 

For this fall box, I decided to make an “On the Farm” theme. I used popcorn kernels, pumpkin gems, and small plastic animals, all of which I had on hand at home. If you notice you need to get some things here are some things that I found that we use over and over.

Here are a few ideas on how we used our fall sensory box:

1. Use the pumpkin gems for counting. I hid them in the corn kernels and my daughter would “dig” to find each gem. As she found them she would place them in a silicone muffin cup (You can use anything you have). Then after she found all the pumpkins, we would take them out of the muffin cup, 1 by 1, and count them. She loved this and kept wanting to do it over and over.

2. If your pumpkins are different colors this would be a great way to have them sort through the different shades. You can hide them in the popcorn or just lay them on top. I placed them on top of the popcorn and used our little sensory tongs to have my daughter pick up the pumpkins and sort them in the muffin holder, saying the color of the pumpkin as she sorted.  Then we counted the pumpkins to see how many of each color we had of each.

3. The small farm animals are a great way to practice saying the name of the animal and then making the sound the animal says as you play on the farm. This is a great way for us to practice speech sounds.

4. Another great way that we love to do this is to pair the theme of the box with a book. Storytime and playtime all in one. We picked On the Farm by Susanna Davidson. As an animal would pop up in the story we would act it out in the box with our plastic animals.

These are just a few ways we loved playing but, the options are endless and there is no wrong way. And let me just warn you…you will find yourself playing with the popcorn kernels as well.  It is so relaxing, and now I get why the kids enjoy them. 

Ready to build your own fall sensory box? Below are a few of the items that we used so you can create your fall sensory box for your little one. 

What you will need:

I linked our favorites from Amazon if your interested in purchasing #AD

• Small box plastic bin with lid
• Popcorn kernels 
• Pumpkin gems 

-or-

• Pumpkin candy (cheaper at the store)
• Small plastic animals
• Our favorite tools 

Pour your popcorn kernels into your box and place the items however you like!

Can’t wait to hear how your little ones loved this fall sensory box.  If you love this idea and want to see more join us over on Pinterest where we are always pinning fun ideas.

What items will you put in your sensory box?

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