Halloween Bins
Jack-O-Lantern Bin
Objective: Fill up the Jack-O-Lantern cups with the orange rice and black beans!
Basic Materials:
A scoop of any kind, a bag of black beans, two cups that I drew Jack-O-Lantern faces on with a sharpie, and some orange rice dyed naturally with food coloring!
Benefits:
This transfer activity is great for hand-eye coordination, promotes focus, concentration, and is good fine motor practice with the scooping, and grabbing at the rice.
How I Interact:
I provided her a quick demonstration of filling the cups up with the rice/beans using the coffee bean scoop, and handed it to her to attempt the task herself. Then I let her play and interact with the materials on her own with minor intervention to instruct her to keep the rice inside the bin. Saying so as I put it back in and asking her to help! Which most of the time she will do willingly or without instruction.
Worm & Eyeball Bin
Objective: Remove the eyeballs from the bin and place them into the pot! Use tongs, a spoon, or just little hands!
Basic Materials:
This bin consists of a bag of cooked and naturally dyed spaghetti noodles using red and blue food coloring, tongs, a spoon, toy pot, and some rubber eyeballs from the Halloween section of our local craft store! Alternatively, you may try using bugs i.e. toy flies, centipedes, or spiders.
Benefits:
This ghouly Halloween themed bin is one your little will either dive right into and enjoy or prefer to partake from a comfortable distance. Spaghetti noodles make for a great toddler sensory experience as they explore their sense of touch and even sound as they squish it around. The eyeballs and tongs are great for squeezing, and make for good fine motor practice, exercising those small muscles in the fingers and wrist!
How I interact:
I quickly demonstrated scooping with the spoon, the eyeballs from the “worms”, and plopping them into the pot, and then let her have a go. Yumi found this bin absolutely off-putting. She put her little hands in the noodles, made a face of disgust, squeezed a few eyeballs, scooped a few into the pot, and was all done.
It is important to note that for any interaction to be beneficial, your little one should be free to engage or disengage when they feel. Never being forced to interact with the materials, which is a big part of why I aim to keep them minimal effort on my part, quick, and reusable. Should she take a keener interest in a particular bin, or is just having a bad day, we can revisit or simply move on.
Eyeballs & Bubbles Water Transfer Bin
Objective: Fill up one cup or container with water and transfer it to the other, and repeat!
Benefits:
A simple fine motor activity great for keeping them busy! This exercise teaches them a big practical life skill as they work on the ability to control the motion of the water. Getting a large amount of it into the other container requires a great deal of focus and coordination!
Bin Materials:
This bin consists of a generous squirt of dish liquid, which gives an added element of bubble fun. Some water, a large towel, cups for transfer (any containers and/or cups will do), some green food coloring, and lastly the rubber eyeballs!
How I Interact:
A demonstration is offered to show her pouring the water into one cup, and then back into the other. Reminding her to keep the cups over the bin as she attempts to pour herself. Beyond that I was an observer. Yumi enjoys a good water bin, and spent time scooping and pouring the water in and out the bin, not intentionally attempting to pour into any one container. This she seems to be more intentional about when we do this activity on a dry tray with just the cups and water. She liked squeezing the eyeballs as they bulged and slipped from her fingers flying across the room! Of course she dipped her face in the bin, something I haven’t quite figured out, but another successful bin in my book!
