Fall Sensory Bin - Wellspring Home Co

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Well, it’s that time. It may still be a million degrees outside, but on the inside the summer decor went up, and the fall decor came out!

Which also mean, our summer sensory “Ocean Rice” went up, and out came our “Fall Rice!”

I’ve been collecting treasures from the Dollar Tree for a few weeks (and if you don’t know how my Dollar Tree + Sensory Bin love originated, you can check that out here!) and my 3.5 year old has asked me basically every day since…”mommy, is it time for our Fall Rice yet?”

Fall is the last season I needed to do! I started putting a seasonal flare on sensory bins last Christmas (blog to come!), because I wouldn’t be me without a seasonal touch! Truly it’s been so fun…it’s fun and creative for me, fun and exciting/new for my toddler, and I get compliments on these bins all the time.

Alright, you ready? Because this might be my favorite one yet!

First, let me preface this with two things…1. I am not a “spooky” person. I LOVE fall, but I don’t care too much for spooky decor or Halloween themes. However…if you are a spooky person, I highly encourage you to check out the Dollar Tree right now, because they have some killer sensory bin accessories in the Halloween section! 2. I got all my supplies at Dollar Tree (well and Aldi for the pasta!), but I’ll link some Amazon options at the end if you’d rather just have some things delivered!

Ok back to business

First up – dye the rice. Easy enough, and of course I went with Orange and Red! All you need is rice, 1-2 tablespoons of white vinegar (I did 1 tablespoon per 1 bag), food coloring, and ziplock bags. For this batch I used 3 bags of rice from Dollar Tree…I dyed 2 orange and dyed 1 red. Honestly could have done 1 red, 1 orange, and left 1 white. But I didn’t, whoops!

After your rice is all beautiful, lay it out on a cookie sheet and let it dry.

Once it’s completely dry, pour that rice into your desired bin (you absolutely could do a bigger bin and have more room for play. But we keep this sitting out on our IKEA kids table so that it’s easily accessible and always within reach, and thus I just stick with a small bin).

And then comes the fun part – start adding in all your treasures!!

Pretend pumpkins were an obvious must and are great for burying, digging, sorting, etc. How cute is this fall pasta from Aldi?!? Obviously I didn’t use much of it in this bin, only pulled out a few pieces, but I’m saving it for a rainy day and maybe we’ll just have fun with a pasta sensory bin!

Any type of cup, container, or scoop is always a hit. So finding these mini pumpkin buckets and the *plastic* cork jar were a huge win!!

We also have these tiny trucks that inevitably make it into every sensory bin…but I mean who can blame a child, they’re literally the perfect size! So the mini tractor was a must for this bin!

That’s literally all there is to it…see, easy and fun! And truly so entertaining for a toddler. My 3.5 year old will come back to this all throughout the season to play. And that’s what I really love about doing the seasonal bins (aside from the fact that I’m just a seasonal gal!) – if he has started to get bored with the previous season, pulling out a new one with new colors and new toys/accessories just re-ignites the excitement and sparks imaginative play! Which is just a win-win all around.

P.S. see that cute little football? Guess what…it’s an Easter Egg!! Spring time at Dollar Tree was another Sensory Bin jackpot because of all the eggs which are perfecttt for sensory play. BUT it got even better…they had themed “eggs!” This football also came with a baseball, soccerball, and basketball, and this is when I found my clam shell “eggs” for our Ocean Rice! Basically what I’m saying…is keep your sensory bin eyes peeled at all times!