We LOVE sensory bins. Lately though, our sensory bins have become a bit of a blend of fine motor activities and other repurposed toys that seem to fit with the other items in the bin. Since our kiddos have never gone to daycare, they are home all day which translates roughly into they are bored with their toys unless we rotate them on a regular basis. So, in addition to sensory bins, we rotate through toy bins. And, recently, I’ve found they enjoy a themed bin so I decided to make a sort of hybrid Halloween themed sensory/toy bin – and it was a success!

Here’s what I put in the Halloween Themed Bin:

Dollar Tree Halloween Finds:

• Big Halloween Bucket (or two)
• Little Cauldrons
• Mini Halloween Buckets (3-pack)
• A Bag of Plastic Eyeballs
• A Bag of Plastic Bones
• Plastic “jars” with lids that have spooky decor on them (Snake Venom/Bones)
• Fake Books that open (A Book of Spells and a Witch’s Guide to Brooms and Wands)
• Halloween Bouncy Balls
• Mummy Wind-Up Toy
• Creepy Face Sticker Book
• Mini Halloween-themed Fairy Garden Figurines (they come in a 3-pack)
• Various Halloween Stickers

Other Dollar Tree finds that complement this bin:

• Scooping tools like a mini scoop, big plastic tongs, and big spoons are useful for scooping up pom-poms, eyeballs, bouncy balls, and bones to make and mix spooky concoctions in the cauldrons and buckets.
• Whisks are fun to stuff full of pom-poms. How many can we get to fit? Can we put all of the orange and black pom-poms inside the whisk?

I also had a Michael’s coupon so naturally I had to bring home a cat skeleton and a little orange velvety unicorn skeleton. The boys like to stuff pom-poms into both of these skeletons and put them around the living room to “decorate”. I also threw in a couple of Halloween light wands I grabbed from Michael’s. I can see the boys playing with this bin throughout the year since Halloween is one of their favorite holidays. I might throw in some costume headbands and glow bracelets. There are so many fun things to add to keep the kids enjoying this bin for the next couple years!