Halloween Crafting (Rewind) Week: Spooky Sensory Table

Hi friends! Wow, it's been a while since I have posted any of the projects my kids and I have been working on. We are still here...making...as usual, I just haven't made the time for sharing. Maybe that needs to change...maybe not, I'll have to mull over that for a bit. Either way I have designated this week as a posting week because it's the month of OCTOBER, our most favorite crafting month of the year! All of the projects I will be posting this week are activities that we actually did LAST year but I happened to have pictures and I didn't want the images to go to waste. Maybe next year I will post this years Halloween crafts, only time will tell.

This first project is not so much a craft but it's a nice activity for toddlers/preschoolers that should last through the whole month. Using uncooked black beans as the main ingredient you can make your very own Halloween themed sensory table (and if you've never stuck your hand in a pit of dry beans, I feel sorry for you)!

To our beans I added some tiny black cat and ghost erasers that the kids could dig out using sorting tweezers  then using an egg carton they sorted the erasers by quantity and/or type. This time a year is a great for finding Halloween trinkets that are perfectly sized to throw in a sensory table. Check out the dollar spot at your local Target and see what you can find.

If you can't find anything to your liking you can buy some white beans and use a black marker to draw a face for an instant ghost. I made a small handful of bean-ghosts and buried them at the bottom of the bin so the kids had to hunt for them. 

This activity is extremely simple and yet entertaining for young growing brains. It's pretty easy to come up with sorting or counting games and as a bonus it is themed after the best holiday of the year (in our opinion).

P.S. You can find sorting tweezers at many boutique style toy stores, learning supply store or even online. They are great for fine motor and fun for kids to use. Also, if your curious, our sensory tables were homemade using a bin and turned-upside-down-nightstand we got at Ikea (we got the idea from THIS Ikea hack. They were so affordable we made three!).

Check out some of our other Halloween crafts HERE.

S is for Smelly Sock

We made this Smelly S using:

Chipboard cut from a cereal box for letter base

Orange Construction paper

A pair of old socks and scissors

Glue: stick and hot to adhere socks

Sock books we like:

A Pair of Socks by Stuart J Murphy, illustrated by Lois Ehlert is a great toddler/preschool age read to learn about patterns and matching. The end of the book even has a list of activities that will help children to learn these same concepts. The story itself is told from the perspective of a sock who is on a search for his mate.

Have you seen the Sock Monkey Books by Cece Bell? We like Sock Monkey Woogie Boogie: A Friend is Made. In this tale sock monkey needs a dance partner for a big celebrity dance. Unfortunately all his friends are unavailable which forces sock monkey to hold auditions for a partner (you might recognize some of the contestants like wind-up chattering teeth or a troll doll). When try-outs don’t go so well, however, Sock Monkey has to double his efforts and quite literally MAKE a new friend. Cute story, adorable illustrations.

New Socks by Bob Shea is a fun little read about a little chick who is feeling good in his new pair of bright orange socks. This story might inspire your little ones to throw on their favorite pair of socks and do some sliding across wood floor.


(More about Project ABC)

Milk Money

Recently I was realizing how much milk we go through, when a smart light bulb told me how much all these milk lids sort of looked like giant colorful coins—non choking hazard size coins not to mention the perfect fit for a certain little toy cash register.

This was the birth of “milk money.” I created boy and girl silhouettes from an old profile shot of Hendrix and me which I glued to the milk lid. I also cut out colored numbers to present a number recognition and counting opportunity. Lastly, I covered the top of the lid with clear packaging tape to prevent the image from peeling up. I sort of like the way they came out. What do you think?