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Apple Pie Sensory Bin

BySarah McClelland Updated on

Bring a cozy feeling into your fall sensory play activities! Our Apple Pie Sensory Bin is a fun and engaging way to celebrate the season while encouraging hands-on exploration.

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Apple Pie Sensory Play

Sensory bins offer kids a fantastic opportunity to explore textures, practice fine motor skills, and engage their senses. They can scoop, pour, sort, and manipulate the materials, promoting curiosity and creativity.

This apple pie-themed sensory bin adds a seasonal twist, allowing kids to explore an autumn-inspired activity. Add this hands-on activity to our Preschool Apple Theme Pack for a fantastic fall theme or center.

Grade Level: Preschool, Kindergarten, and 1st grade, specifically ages 3-7.

Apple Pie Sensory Bin Supplies:

  • Oats (grocery store)
  • Red and bright green pom poms (craft store or online)
  • Cinnamon sticks (grocery store)
  • Brown and tan felt (craft store)
  • Silicone muffin cups
  • Tongs or scoops

You can find similar materials online or at local craft, dollar, and grocery stores.

How to Set Up the Apple Pie Sensory Bin

Base Layer: Pour the oats into a large sensory bin or tray to create the “pie filling.”

Add Apples: Use red and green pom poms as the “apples” to sprinkle throughout the oats.

Cinnamon Sticks: Scatter the cinnamon sticks to represent the delicious spice in apple pie.

Crust: Cut strips of brown and tan felt to act as the “pie crust” and place them around the bin.

Muffin Cups: Add silicone muffin cups to allow your child to “bake” their own mini apple pies.

Tools: Include tongs or scoops for additional fine motor practice as they pretend to pick and scoop the apples or add ingredients to their pies.

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Things to Do with this Fall Sensory Bin

  • Scooping and Pouring: Kids can use their tongs or hands to scoop the oats and fill their muffin cups with “ingredients.”
  • Sorting Apples: Challenge children to sort the red and green pom poms by color, practicing early math and sorting skills.
  • Pretend Play: Encourage imaginative play by asking them to create their own apple pies, discuss the ingredients, and even “sell ” them at an imaginary bakery.
  • Counting Practice: For older children, have them count the pom poms as they add them to their pies or practice simple addition and subtraction by “baking” different amounts of pies.
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More Apple Activities:

Apple Life Cycle: After enjoying the Apple Pie Sensory Bin, extend the activity by discussing the life cycle of an apple using our free printable pack.

Apple Science: Do apples sink or float? Take an Apple taste test and more with our fun apple science activities.

Balance an Apple: Defy gravity (or learn more about it) with our free balancing an Apple printable!

Ten Apples STEM Challenge: Can you stack ten apples like in a favorite fall book?

Apple Volcano Science Experiment: Combine science with sensory fun by creating an apple volcano. Kids will love this bubbly reaction, perfect for fall STEM learning.

Apple Oobleck: Extend the apple fun by making homemade oobleck for even more fall sensory play with a dash of science. Learn about non-newtonian fluids.

Apple Playdough: Make homemade apple-scented playdough and create parts of an apple with a free printable!

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More Fun Sensory Activities For Fall

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Printable Preschool Apple Theme Pack

Get ready to explore apples this year or check out our growing Preschool STEM Bundle, which has 20+ themes for year-round use.

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 to the learning time. 

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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.

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

  7. 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

  9. 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.

  11. 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!

  12. 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. 🙂

  14. 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.

  16. 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.

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

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

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