Pumpkins are more than just a seasonal decoration; they’re a versatile tool for sensory play!
Sensory activities are important for all children. Engaging our senses helps us learn about the world around us. And using senses to explore helps children learn and grow.
Sensory activities are especially important for children with sensory processing difficulties. These activities can also help calm children who find it challenging to regulate their emotions.
Plus, sensory activities are super fun–especially when they involve pumpkins! These round orange gourds offer a variety of textures, smells, and tastes to explore.
Here are six pumpkin-themed sensory activities to try:
- Pumpkin Paint: Let your child paint a pumpkin with their hands or feet. The gooey texture of the paint is a great sensory experience.
- Pumpkin Slime: Make pumpkin-themed slime by adding orange food coloring and pumpkin-scented oil to your favorite slime recipe. Or, try this recipe which uses actual pumpkin guts to make slime.
- Pumpkin Spice Sensory Bottles: Fill clear bottles with pumpkin-scented items like pumpkin spice, cinnamon sticks, and cloves. Shake the bottles to release the aroma.
- Pumpkin-Scented Playdough: Make playdough scented with pumpkin spice. Your child can shape and mold the playdough while enjoying the pleasant smell. Find an easy pumpkin play dough recipe here.
- Pumpkin Shakers: Fill small containers with pumpkin seeds and shake them to create different sounds.
- Pumpkin Sensory Bin: Fill a bin with pumpkin seeds, pumpkin puree, and other pumpkin-related items. Let your child explore the bin with their hands. Sensory bins are such a great way to explore different textures and really help children with sensory processing challenges. They also tend to be very soothing. Here are five sensory bins to try:
- Pumpkin washing sensory bin: this is a fun take on the traditional sensory bin and uses water and dish soap, mini pumpkins and various scrub brushes and sponges. Find the details here.
- Pumpkin patch sensory bin: made with Cocoa Pebbles and candy pumpkins, this bin offers tactile, scented, and tasty sensory fun. Find it here.
- Jack-o-Lantern sensory bin: orange rice and plastic containers with jack-o-lantern faces offer lots of fun. Learn more here.
- Pumpkin scented sensory rice: this recipe uses rice, pumpkin spice extract and food coloring and can form the basis for numerous sensory activities. Get it here.
- Pumpkin spice moon sand: this recipe makes a soft, edible “sand.” Find it here. The link goes to a page with lots of pumpkin sensory ideas and the moon sand is about halfway down the page.