Fall Sensory Tub

I’ve loved the idea of sensory tubs ever since I first heard of them last year, but I haven’t really put any together before now!  Well, I actually did try one once, but it wasn’t great.  I grabbed what I had on hand (shredded paper and hair things like ponytail holders and hair clips) and threw one together.  It wasn’t that great…really…

I’ve looked at several ideas online, but top of the list for me is Counting Coconuts!  There you’ll find what I consider to be the very best themed sensory tubs.  So, that’s been my inspiration.  I would love to come up with my own ideas—just takes time and a little extra money.  For now, I’ve put together a fall sensory tub inspired by Mari-Ann’s on Counting Coconuts.  I used silk fall leaves like Mari-Ann did, but I did find my own items to put in with them…thanks to a Hobby Lobby fall sale when I was in the US!

The tub contains:

Silk fall leaves—about half of them were found at Dollar Tree, and the rest I had in storage…not sure where I got them!

An orange-pumpkin scented candle from Hobby Lobby.  Every time we take the lid off our tub, this wonderful scent comes out!

A plastic red apple…not sure where I got that.

Felt pumpkins and gourds from Hobby Lobby.

Corn on the cob decorations from Hobby Lobby—they’re beaded and have a very unique texture.

Acorn, pumpkin, gourd decorations.  These came as part of a small fall bouquet—I just took them apart.  They’re coated with some sort of fake sugar-type stuff, another cool texture.

I later included two “rakes,” which appear to possibly be novelty back scratchers (they can’t be real back scratchers…they’re too small and flimsy).  For our purposes, they’re rakes!

I was so proud of my first real sensory tub, because it is beautiful to look at, has lots of interesting textures, and smells delicious.  You can even make a nice sound by rubbing together the “sugar” coated items…not sure if that’s good for them, but Gabriela discovered that sound herself!  The first time I presented this sensory tub to Gabriela, she played with it for 1 minute and was done.  For the next few days, she refused to play with it, and  I was very disappointed.  My other 2 children happily offered to play with it in her stead!  After I added the rakes, however, Gabriela changed her mind.  Now she loves it!  She uses the rakes, but she also puts her hands in and examines what she finds.

Because this is my first tub and I have limited materials right now, it’s going to last until Christmas.  While in the US, I collected several seasonal things that I can hopefully use in future tubs.  I just need to come up with other stuff as main filler (in place of the leaves).

For even more sensory tub ideas, check out the linky list at Our Worldwide Classroom.