Explore Natural Materials in a Jar

Playing with, exploring and mixing up natural materials like said, soil and stone is a lot of fun for kids, and you can make it an easy science exploration without a lot of effort, as shown in this tutorial from Preschool Toolkit.

You probably have all the materials you need in or around your house, and you can take the time to explore the materials before putting them in the jar, predict what might happen when you add water and shake the jar, think about how long it might take for the water to become clear again and other topics (there’s a good list to get you started on the site).

Make this a fall activity by adding crushed dry leaves, or putting in small leaves to see if they float and what happens when you shake the jar with all the other things in it.

How do you explore nature with preschoolers? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

[Photo via Preschool Toolkit.]

A few years ago I shared some pumpkin themed sensory activities for kids, but I wanted to get a little more general and do some fall sensory ideas that can take you from Halloween al the way to Thanksgiving.

Playdough is a classic sensory activity, especially if kids can help make it, too. These playdough recipes from The Montessori Twin Mama are fall colored and scented with cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and apple pie spice (I honestly don’t know what the difference is!). Or try this fun maple playdough from Happy Toddler Playtime.

Throw together some cookie cutters, googly eyes and other fun things to make an easy fall playdough tray (similar to what I did on this Halloween playdough activity).

How about some fall themed slime? Natural Beach Living gave a basic slime recipe a fall twist with food coloring and glitter. Leaf shaped sequins make it even more fun. Little Bins for Little Hands also has a cinnamon slime, which is great for fall but can also carry you all the way through Christmas.

Raising Wild Things Sensory has some great easy to make fall themed sensory bottles, which you can add fall things to, or pompoms or whatever kind of I spy items you might want to include. They also have a fun apple moon sand sensory bin that has me wondering if you could add something scented to moon sand (I always hated the smell!).

And of course there are all kinds of sensory bins you can make for fall. I like this apple picking one from Happy Toddler Playtime that uses fake leaves and little apple toys. It has the added challenge of trying to pick the apples up through a mesh of branches — kind of like a low-tech game of Operation!

You can also do a short-lived sensory bin with real leaves, or use any kind of beans, brown rice, oats or lentils to make your base. Some more great ideas can be found at Fab Everyday. Their post includes some specific Halloween and Thanksgiving themed sensory bins, too.

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