You will surely want to dig your hands into this fun apple theme sensory bin! Cloud dough or moon sand is an awesome and simple sensory play recipe that is quick to whip up. Our apple pie scented cloud dough is also taste safe! Add in some play accessories and you have an easy apple pie sensory bin for the kids to enjoy this fall!

Enjoy Apple Theme Sensory Play For Fall

Young kids love theme sensory play ideas for the changing seasons and holidays. There are tons of fun ways to engage toddlers to preschoolers with sensory play while even including simple science concepts. Adding an apple theme is the icing on the cake!

Our cloud dough recipe below really is the easiest sensory play recipe, and makes for a great sensory bin filler. It’s a bit on the messy side, so you may want to put a blanket or tablecloth under your apple pie sensory bin. However, the cloud dough will sweep or vacuum up nicely.

This cloud dough recipe will make a taste safe, sensory play material for all kids. It won’t be yummy and really shouldn’t be consumed like a snack. However, if you have kids who like to taste their play materials, this apple pie cloud dough recipe is a great alternative!

Only 2 basic ingredients, flour and cooking oil make it simple to make anytime. We added gems to our apple pie sensory play. Try apple chunks if you need a taste safe alternative for toddlers. And of course we added apple pie spices.

The Benefits Of Sensory Bins

Are sensory bins worth it? Yes, they are worth it. The more basic you keep the sensory bin, the better off you are. Remember, you create a tactile experience for your kids, not a Pinterest image. While we have fantastic pictures of sensory bins, they only stay that way for a minute!

Sensory bins are awesome hands-on tools for children to learn about their world and senses! Sensory play may calm a child, focus a child, and engage a child.

Here’s what children can learn from sensory bins:

Practical Life Skills ~ Sensory bins let a child explore, discover and create play using practical life skills (dumping, filling, scooping) and learn valuable play skills.

Play Skills {emotional development} ~ For both social play and independent play, sensory bins allow children to play cooperatively or side by side. My son has had many positive experiences with other children over a bin of rice!

Language Development ~ Sensory bins increase language development by experiencing all there is to see and do with their hands, which leads to great conversations and opportunities to model language.

Understanding 5 Senses ~ Many sensory play bins include a few of the 5 senses! Imagine a bin of brightly colored rainbow rice: touch the loose grains against the skin, see the vivid colors as they mix together, and hear the sound of sprinkling over a plastic container or shaken in a plastic egg!

Helpful Sensory Bin Resources

There’s so much more to learn about sensory bins and sensory play.

Get Your Free Quick Start Sensory Bin Guide

How To Make Apple Pie Sensory Bin

Supplies:

  • Flour
  • Cooking Oil
  • Apple Pie Spice {or combination of spices on hand}
  • Large Bin {for play}
  • Red Gems or Acrylic Apples from Craft Store or Apple Chunks {taste safe}
  • Bowls and Spoons for Apple Pie Making

1. Make apple pie cloud dough

STEP 1. Mix 5-6 cups of flour and one cup of cooking oil together in a large bin. It will be messy at first!

The mixture should hold together pretty well when squeezed into a ball. It will be pack-able and mold-able too. Once completely mixed it becomes less messy on the hands.

STEP 2. Sprinkle in your spices to the desired scent and get ready to fill the house with the wonderful smell of apple pies!

2. Fill Your Sensory Bin

Add in red gems, small plastic apples, or even real apple chunks for a fun apple sensory bin.

This scented apple pie sensory bin is perfect for a Fall Day!

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3. Time To Play!

Cloud dough provides tons of tactile sensory play. Scented apple pie sensory play is also perfect for the body’s olfactory system! Spices are a a great way to incorporate scent into a sensory play experience! We love lemon scented rice and cinnamon scented rice too!

Check out all the fun things you can do with cloud dough!

Great options for pretend play with our apple pie cloud dough! Provide a pie plate for kids to make their own apple pies.

TRY: Apple Sauce Oobleck for a combination of science and sensory play.

Have Fun Baking A Cloud Dough Apple Pie

If you are busy baking apple pies this Fall, keep your kids busy with their own apple pie baking experience!

We filled the dish with a “crust” and then we spread out the “apples”. It really felt like crust and since we were using flour and oil, and it felt like we were really baking!

Now I can’t wait to make a real pie or crumble with him after we pick apples this fall. We scooped and filled and patted and spooned more crumble on top. Of course it had to bake (for like 10 secs) and we had to try spoonfuls of it!

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It is fun to mold and holds it shape for a bit (not great for really sculpting though like play dough)!

We enjoyed about 45 minutes of apple pie sensory play which is great for young kids! You can easily leave it out for more play the next day.

TIP: If the dough feels dry, add a touch of oil to get it to the right consistency again! We think it’s the perfect, last-minute sensory play idea!

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More Fun Sensory Activities For Fall

Printable Preschool Apple Theme Pack

Get ready to explore this year with our growing Preschool STEM Bundle!

What’s Included:

There are 4 fun preschool themes to get you started. This is an ” I can explore” series!

Each unit contains approximately 15 activities, with instructions and templates as needed. Hands-on activities are provided to keep it fun and exciting. This includes sensory bins, experiments, games, and more! Easy supplies keep it low cost and book suggestions add the learning time. 

20 Comments

  1. I really love this sensory play idea! I will definitely be using it. It is perfect.

  2. This is a really different idea and I love it! I am going to try this with my daughter. And this is perfect as fall is just around the corner.

  3. I am going to try this tonight with my kids + the babysitting kids! Thank you for sharing!

  4. What a FUN sensory activity for September – LOVE it!

    I am featuring this on TGIF today. Thanks for linking up and sharing your creativity with all the rest of us. Have a GREAT weekend,
    Beth

  5. Love this sensory idea. Just in time for fall. Thanks for being our featured guest host at Artsy Play Wednesday. Pinned to my sensory board as well.

  6. I just love this! 30 minutes is also a long time span for my kids to play as well. I can see how this could really entertain a child! So creative! Thanks so much for linking up to this week’s Discover & Explore!

  7. This looks like so much fun … definitely a rich sensory experience! I featured your post and photo in my 30+ Apple Sensory Tubs post today. 🙂

  8. Love this idea! My girls will have so much fun with this “pie”. Thanks so much for sharing in the Discover & Explore linky. I’m featuring this post today.

  9. I like how you plan to pair this sensory play activity to baking a real apple pie in the fall to add real-life experiences to learning. We do a lot of cooking in my home daycare. I know a few center-based educators who are not allowed to do this in their classrooms.

  10. Love the “apples” in the apple pie! and the flour and oil crust – perfect!

  11. Pingback: Sand Dough Sensory Play Geometric Shapes Activity
  12. Pingback: 20 Engaging Apple Sensory Bin Ideas for Your Preschoolers

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