Looking for ideas for a fun Halloween sensory box or sensory table for toddlers and preschoolers? Not too creepy but still tons of Halloween fun, then these Halloween sensory bins are a visual and tactile treat for the senses. Explore several ways to experiment with texture that will have your kids digging in for hours. Sensory bins are great for Halloween sensory fun!
Halloween Sensory Bin Ideas
These newest Halloween sensory bin ideas explore three wonderful textures that kids love. See how to set up each unique Halloween activity below. If you are interested, also check out our list of Halloween sensory activities!
1. Halloween Sensory Bin with Colored Rice
This Halloween sensory bin includes colored rice (we dyed our rice orange) and fun Halloween accessories suitable for preschoolers. We used some plastic spiders!
Rice is one of our most favorite sensory bin fillers. It feels amazing on the fingers and you can scoop it and dump it for hours. You will find a super fun collection of easy to make rice sensory bins for quick play. One large bag of rice can last for quite a while!
It’s super easy to store rice and re-use it. Simply, empty your sensory bin into a gallon zip-top bag and store in a plastic storage bin with your favorite sensory bin accessories.
LOOK: How To Dye Rice
There are so many things you can add to a Halloween sensory bin with rice.
- Add tongs (from the dollar store) for fine motor play!
- Add die for math fun! Roll the dice and count the spiders.
- Add plastic letters for an alphabet adventure.
- Pair with a kid-friendly book with a spider theme. (See end of post for book suggestions)
Go ahead and add your colored rice (or any of the other Halloween sensory ideas) to a large black, plastic cauldron!
2. Halloween Sensory Bin with Paper
If you have to limit the type of sensory bin fillers you use with your kiddos, this crinkle paper Halloween sensory table idea is perfect. Plus, you will find a fun Halloween printable hide and seek activity that you can laminate and add to your Halloween sensory bin.
Grab your free Halloween Sensory Bin printable pack below and set up a special activity for your next Halloween center. You can even print out two sets for matching. Kids can pull out an item and circle it on the sheet provided or just go on a treasure hunt.
Provide a cauldron to collect the items and have kids tell a Halloween story using each of the pictures! Take turns going back and forth.
3. Spaghetti “Worms” Bin
Fill your sensory bin with cooked, cooled spaghetti dyed with food coloring (green or black) to resemble slimy worms. See how to dye cooked pasta. Add in plastic spiders, eyeballs, small skeletons, or rubber insects. Make sure to have tweezers or tongs on hand for picking up “worms” and other objects.
4. Pumpkin Guts Bin
Combine sensory play with a pumpkin investigation! Spread real pumpkin guts (seeds and stringy insides) on a try or in a shallow container. Provide spoons and small cups for kids to scoop seeds and explore the texture. For older kids, pair it with a counting seeds activity!
5. Witch’s Brew Bin
Young kids will love this spooky theme water sensory bin. Fill a bin or water table with water tinted with green or purple food coloring to resemble a witch’s brew. Add in plastic eyeballs, rubber worms, and small toy cauldrons. Ladles, small cups, and funnels are fun for potion-making.
TIP: Try these fun science potions for kids when you are finished!
6. Spidery Slime Bin
Add a batch of our clear slime to a bin with plastic spiders, insects, or mini skeletons. Use tongs or tweezers for pulling out objects from the slime.
LOOK: How To Make Clear Slime
7. Sensory Sand Graveyard
Fill a bin with homemade kinetic sand as the base for digging. Bury skeletons and add in small tombstones, and mini shovels. Kids can use shovels and scoops to “dig up” skeletons and buried treasures.
LOOK: How To Make Kinetic Sand
8. Candy Corn and Pom-Poms Bin
Use candy corn or pom-poms in orange, yellow, and white colors as your filler. Combine with plastic pumpkins, Halloween-themed toys (witches, cats), or small skeletons. Provide scoops, spoons, and containers for sorting, pouring and counting.
Helpful Sensory Bin Resources
There’s so much more to learn about sensory bins and sensory play!
Printable Halloween STEM Activities Pack
150+ Pages of Halloween-themed materials!
This Halloween project pack is suitable for home, school, and group use for kids in grades Kindergarten through elementary but is scaleable for many ages and abilities.
What’s Included:
- 25+ Halloween theme science and STEM activities with printable sheets, instructions, and helpful information all using easy-to-source materials perfect for limited-time needs. Includes a Halloween engineering pack with fun, problem-based challenges for kids to solve!
- The skeleton activity pack includes building a skeleton challenge and a coding challenge! Try a skeleton bone bridge-building STEM challenge!
- Halloween theme brick printable activities for hands-on learning with math that is perfect for early finishers or home fun and reinforces basic math concepts.
- Bonus fun pack includes games and activities to round out your Halloween theme, such as I Spy, bingo, matching, Would You Rather cards, scavenger hunt, word search, A-Z Halloween hunt, and a coloring page.
- The Halloween STEAM Pack includes artist-inspired projects by Warhol, Lichtenstein, and more!
