Our Five Ring Circus: Five Favorite Halloween Sensory Play Activities

Friday, October 28, 2016

Five Favorite Halloween Sensory Play Activities

Happy Friday, my friends! 

Can you believe it's already Halloween weekend? Time is flying by at rapid speed this year! I'm switching up my Friday Favorites a bit this week in honor of the upcoming holiday and sharing our five favorite Halloween Sensory Play Activities! 


DIY Corn Pit

Corn Pit

Kids LOVE these at pumpkin patches! So why not give them one at home? It's so easy and so cheap!

DIY Corn Pit

A baby pool, a 25 lb bag of whole corn kernels (less than $10 at a feed supply store) and a few sand toys are all you need to give your kids an at-home Corn Pit!  I tossed in a few spooky spiders to make it a bit more festive!

Corn Pit
Corn Pit
DIY Corn Pit

It's such a simple idea and it provides hours upon hours of entertainment!



Edible Pumpkin Patch

Edible Pumpkin Patch Sensory Bin

I shared this idea last year and it became an instant hit with my kids! I filled our sensory bin with Cocoa Krispies, "planted" a bag of candy pumpkins, gave the kids a basket and scoops and let them play (and eat)!

Pumpkin Patch Sensory Bin


Spooky Slime

My kids love playing with slime and it's so much fun to spruce it up for a holiday! Here are our two favorite Halloween versions:

Googly Eye Monster Slime

TO MAKE THE SLIME: 8 oz white glue (I used two 4 oz bottles), 1 tsp Borax (found in laundry detergent aisle), 1 cup warm water, green food coloring, and Googly Eyes
  1. Empty glue into a large bowl.
  2. Fill glue bottle(s) completely with warm water (you will use 1/2 cup water), shake, then pour into the bowl that contains the glue.  Stir. 
  3. Add several drops of neon green food coloring to the glue mixture.  Stir. 
  4. Mix 1 tsp Borax into 1/2 cup warm water. Stir until the Borax dissolves.
  5. Slowly pour the Borax solution into the glue solution while stirring. Keep a close eye on this process!  This is where the science aspect of it begins.  You will see the glue solution almost immediately begin to form into a solid as it meets the Borax solution!
  6. Dig in and knead the slime!
  7. Add the googly eyes to the top of the slime mixture. 
Homemade Slime

Spooky Spider Slime

TO MAKE THE SLIME: 1 bottle of glitter glue, 1 cup warm water + 1-2 TBSP warm water, 1 tsp Borax, and spider rings

  1. Dissolve 1 tsp Borax in 1 cup warm water.
  2. Pour glitter glue into large bowl.  
  3. Add 1-2 TBSP warm water and stir again.
  4. Slowly pour Borax solution into the glue solution while stirring.  You will see the glue almost immediately start to solidify!
  5. Form a ball with the Glitter Slime and knead! 
  6. Mix in the spiders.
Halloween Slime Recipe


Play Dough Pumpkins Activity Tray

3 of my 4 kids still love Play Dough!  I'm going to be honest. Sometimes we make our own play dough. But other times we stick with the store-bought classic because it's just easier!

Play Dough Pumpkins Activity Tray

I found a divided appetizer tray at the dollar store a few years ago and I was immediately inspired to use it for play dough and crafts.  I put a little ball of play dough in the middle spot and add all the embellishments around the outside.

Play Dough Activities

For the Halloween Play Dough Activity Tray we use:
  • Orange play dough
  • Green pipe cleaners
  • Small sticks (we used wood chews for small animals from the pet store)
  • Beads
  • Googly Eyes
My girls always have so much fun creating little pumpkins and stamping patterns into the pumpkins with the beads!

Halloween play dough activities
Halloween play dough activities
Halloween play dough activities
Halloween play dough activities

I filled our play dough activity tray at the beginning of October and it stayed on our art table all month long!


Homemade Play Dough Pumpkins Favors

These adorable play dough sensory play favors were inspired by our Play Dough Pumpkins Activity Tray! Liam has so much fun playing with play dough and I thought they would be a cute favor for his preschool class. We handed them out today at his Halloween Party!

Homemade Play Dough Pumpkin Favors

First, I whipped up a large batch of homemade play dough using this recipe:
  • 4 cups flour
  • 4 tbsp cream of tartar
  • 4 tbsp oil
  • 1 cup salt 
  • 2 3/4 cups boiling water
  • red + yellow food coloring
  1.  Mix four, cream of tartar, oil and salt in large bowl.
  2. Boil the water then mix in red and yellow food coloring until you get the perfect shade of orange.
  3. Pour the water into the flour mixture and stir until it turns into a dough. 
  4. Knead the dough for several minutes. If it still feels sticky, sprinkle in a bit more flour and continue to knead.
After we made the batch of play dough, we rolled the dough into balls and decorated them with googly eyes, bead noses, pinto bean mouths (I wanted black beans but they were sold out everywhere), stick stems and pipe cleaner leaves. I slid each pumpkin into a clear favor bag and tied it up.

play dough party favors

They were perfect for Liam's preschool class! If the play dough is stored in a ziploc bag in the fridge, it will remain usable for 6+ months!

Liam, Lily and Lexie have been enjoying these Halloween Sensory Play activities all month long and I am so excited to share them all with you!


We have a busy Halloween weekend ahead of us. I'm volunteering at Lexie's school Halloween Party tomorrow. In the evening, I'm taking the kids to Trick or Treat at Grant's office. And we still have to fit in a trip to the pumpkin patch and carve our pumpkins! My kids are eagerly counting down the days until Halloween! What's on your agenda this weekend?

 

Let's Be Friends!







9 comments:

  1. I've recently gotten over my OCD a little bit and started doing some fun sensory boxes. Yeah, I know come on Jess. I bought some black beans and put them in a bucket with little pumpkin buckets and scoops. Emmy was entertained for 40 minutes. It was awesome!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my gosh these are some amazing ideas!! I love the DIY corn pit! And the play doh activity, my kids would love! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy Friday! I feel like October flew by faster than any other month this year. I love that you made a corn pit at home. How fun! I’m sure that provides hours of entertainment for littles. Mason would be all over that spooky slime. He recently made slime in the science lab at school and he has been wanting to make some at home since. We may have to make the Spooky Slime this weekend! These are all great and your kiddos are as cute as ever!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You are so creative!! I have done slime with my daughter before and she loved it - maybe time to do it again!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love these ideas so much! You are so creative!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Such a good idea. Elin would have loved me to make her that corn pit!! She loved something similar at a pumpkin patch we visited.

    ReplyDelete
  7. What an awesome group of ideas! I LOVE the edible pumpkin patch!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. So many amazing ideas. Emily played in a corn crib recently and lets just say I am still finding it :P. Hope your weekend was great!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Look at you, so crafty and creative!
    The corn pit idea is awesome! I know Marcus and Julia would probably both love to spend afternoons in that!

    ReplyDelete

I love hearing from you! Let's chat!!!