Seasonal sensory bins are always good fun, equally delightful for little tots as they are for preschoolers. This one gets an October twist with an orange and black background, and Halloween goodies tucked inside.

To prepare the rice, place white rice in a zip-top bag and shake with orange food coloring – I achieved a nice orange by mixing the yellow and red from Color Kitchen. Spread on a foil-lined baking sheet and let dry.

Fill a tub with the orange rice on one half and dried black beans on the other – it’s getting spooky in here!

Next I placed a few odds and ends in the bin, like mini pumpkins and gourds, and foam in the shape of jack-o-lanterns. I added a whisk and spatula, then presented the bin to Travis after a morning at school.

He loved sprinkling the black beans onto the rice for a startling contrast. Pretty soon this was an imaginative game of making pumpkin soup.

The texture of the dried beans was a big hit…

…as was the sound they made when sprinkled on top of the pumpkins, making this bin a delight for auditory senses as well.

You can keep bins like this around for a couple of days for children to return to. Later, we added some wobbly Halloween stickers and a few more pumpkins to our “patch.”

What else would you add to your Halloween sensory bin? Please share in the comments!