Thanksgiving Sensory Bin

Ugh I know it's been awhile.  There's lots going on in my house right now...hopefully I can start being a better blogger soon!  For now, here's the Thanksgiving sensory bin I created for my son.  He absolutely LOVES it!  Basically, I raided the dollar section at Target (as always).  There may be 1 or 2 things from a craft store too.  He plays with it daily.  He tells me he wants to play "rice" haha.

 He really enjoys all the small things in there such as the rice, tiny plastic leaves, fake cranberries, and small felt pumpkins.  They are great for scooping up with his trucks!

Yes, that is orange rice.  Where did I get orange rice? Nowhere.  I had to make it.  I found a recipe for pumpkin spice scented rice at Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails.  I did find that after following the directions, my rice still smelled like disgusting wet rice.  I had to add more spice which in turn meant adding more food coloring.  Messy, stinky, but in the end, it smelled good.  My only complaint (I feel dumb for not thinking of this before) is that my dog wants to eat it.  I can't blame him.  It smells good.  So, I suggest either not doing this if you have a pet or keep a watchful eye on everything.  We usually put my dog in his crate and my son knows the lid has to go right back on when he's done.  He's also very careful about spilling it.  I just make sure to pick up any stragglers because of the dog.

Here's a sneak peek at some of the things I have for his Christmas sensory bin (not everything in each packet ends up in there...that would be a LOT of erasers haha).

I haven't decided what I should do as the main component.  I try to avoid rice.  I really meant to do dried corn or even popcorn for the Thanksgiving one...butttt I forgot!  I thought about cotton balls (snow) but I want to save that for a winter bin.  I MIGHT do cinnamon scented rice or at least put some cinnamon sticks in it.  Another idea is those clear or white stones you can buy to put in a vase.  I might do those and maybe I could find some that are red or green as well.  Or beads!  Ugh so many ideas and so little time to shop!  What's in store for your Christmas sensory bin?