Raise your hand if fall is your season!
The fall weather, food, and accessories are what I love most about fall.
And the other thing I love about fall is making fall-themed sensory bins to go with my fave books.
In this blog post, I will share my top ten best fall-themed sensory bin fillers to help you figure out what to put in your themed bins.
What Makes a Sensory Bin Filler?
If you are new to using sensory bins, check out my page with all the details HERE.
Your sensory bin filler is the part of the bin that provides the tactile experience for your students. When your students touch the fillers in the container, it will alert the senses to the different textures. The filler portion of the sensory bin is the foundation for the experience!
Top Five FAVE Fall-Themed Sensory Bin Fillers
- Popcorn – this filler is excellent for farm-themed bins or if you want to stick flashcards or printables in the container because they will stay in place!
- Fake leaves- you can often find these at Dollar Tree during fall, but they are also on Amazon. You can read more about how to use these in a sensory bin HERE.
- Orange and yellow shredded paper – I found mine on Amazon, but any craft store will have it. Shredded paper creates a texture that makes it easy to lay props on top of the paper.
- Orange, red, yellow, and green pom pom balls can be your bin’s leaves. Check out this blog post for how you can create this engaging leaf bin! You can reuse the red and green pom poms to make an apple sensory bin. Check out the details HERE.
- Acorns – if you live near an open space where acorn trees grow, you can collect some and use them in your bins. And, there are always fake ones you can buy! This set on Amazon has a variety of mini pine cones, acorns and leaves.
Themed Therapy Fall Sensory Bin Companion
If you need fall-themed sensory bin materials to use with your fillers, check out this fall-themed sensory bin companion. It comes with a variety of printables related to fall vocabulary that also comes with cheat sheets so you can use them in mixed groups with ease!
More Fall-Themed Sensory Bin Fillers
6. Plastic Mini leaves – these can be great for adding some texture and color to your bin.
7. Green dried lentils – use the lentils as a grass filler or just to create some texture at the bottom of the bin. Then, layer with some fake leaves or other filler elements.
8. Oatmeal – is a taste-safe option for your students who put things in their mouths. This can be a great filler for an apple pie sensory bin.
9. Hay or raffia – if you are doing a pumpkin, farm, or fall festival type of bin, this filler works perfectly! To add to the bin, you can usually find mini fake hay bales at craft stores during the fall season.
10. Dye dry pasta – when you aren’t sure what filler to buy, use some leftover pasta and dye it orange, yellow, brown, green, or red to add to your bin!
Need More Fall-Themed Ideas for Your Speech Therapy Caseload?
If you need some more ideas for sensory bins, check out this post for an apple theme.
This blog post will also find more great fall sensory bin examples.
For your language groups working on receptive and expressive noun functions, you can make a fall bin specifically for that goal!