Fall Sensory Bin

Sensory play is one of my favorite activities to do with my littles, so I wanted to share a quick and simple fall sensory bin with you!

My favorite sensory bins are the ones that you can throw together quickly and on a budget. All of the accessories for this sensory bin were purchased at Dollar Tree, making the total cost of the project $6.00. I purchased two packs of leaves, two door hangers with bells, and two pumpkins. Score!

My littles have played with this sensory bin several times. One loves the bells and constantly shakes those around, while the other grabs as many leaves as possible and throws them into the air.

   You could also add real fall leaves to the bins for even more fun! 

Five for Friday {Giraffe}

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. This week we have enjoyed fun in the snow (see last post) and we have learned about the letter G for giraffe!

{one} 

We made a fun giraffe craft with Cheerio's. I love how it turned out!

{two}

We worked on fine motor activities. 

{three}

We played with beans and Play-Dough.

{four}

We made the letter G with pattern blocks and read giraffe books.

{five}

Tomorrow we are picking up Maggie and Molly, our miniature schnauzers! We are super excited!

Dollar Tree Goodies

I thought it would be a good idea to share some of the teaching goodies I have found lately! This first post will highlight some of the goodies that I have purchased at the Dollar Tree.  This is not a sponsored post and I am not getting paid for it. I'm just a teacher who loves to find deals!

This first picture highlights LOTS of items! When I started staying at home with my 3 1/2 year old, I stocked up on school supplies for us to do a little bit of "school" each day. 

• Beans, scoops, measuring cups (playing with beans)
• Books
• Ice trays (to use with pom poms and tweezers)
• Clothespins (to write letters on)
• Pom poms (ice tray activity)
• Containers to hold items
• Alphabet letters
• Wooden masks
• Glue
• Seasonal items (some Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, & Easter)

I know it's a little early for Easter. But, I couldn't pass these few items up! We'll use the foam shapes for crafts. I'm not sure what we'll do with the Easter eggs just yet, but I could see them being fun in a center in a classroom.

Here is an up close photo of the books I purchased (for upcoming animal studies!) and wooden masks for crafts.

I picked up these cut-out's yesterday. I'm not quite sure how I'll use them. I've made others with uppercase and lowercase letters to match them. I've also put numbers on one and dots on the others to match. I haven't quite figured out what I'll do with these, but I am sure it'll be something cute!

I saw these pink baskets and had to get a few! Us teachers with our baskets, right?! I'll save them for when I go back into the classroom.

I bought these word strips to use when we do our clothespin fine motor skill activity. They should be a little more sturdier than the paper I've been using. I also bought the shoe cut-outs for future use as well - maybe for a bulletin board?

I also thought these tactile letters were really neat! 

We all use dice (or number cubes, I've heard them called!) in our classrooms for multiple uses. I needed to pick some up for an alphabet game we play. Not a bad deal - 10 pack for $1.

I also thought these magnifying readers may be neat to use in a small guided reading group! 

I'll share some other goodies I've gotten at different places soon! I know I always get ideas when I see what other people buy and how they use them!