Rosh Hashanah Theme: Sensory Play

We've recently done our first homeschool theme transition here! Anytime I switch a theme, I do a little bit of playroom revamping as well. I very rarely completely move stuff around or swap out all the toys and materials for a variety of reasons. One reason is that my son, at two, is growing more and more independent and not knowing where things are or where they go can lead to frustration or anxiety. Another is that he also knows what he likes, and likes what he knows (don't we all?) so having all of the toys and books he was enjoying suddenly moved to another room or space would be disorienting. On the other side of the coin, doing toy and book rotations on a regular basis keeps us from having to have everything out at once in our small space and also adds an element of novelty to something that we already have but may not have played with in a while.
With Rosh Hashanah coming in just weeks, this felt like a good time to transition into that theme--and one of my favorite components of teaching/learning about Rosh Hashanah is exploring apples. For the sake of this theme, rather than posting our learning activities day by day, I hope to put together some posts on different areas of play and learning. This one will focus on sensory play with a couple of homemade ideas you can incorporate into some of your own apple or autumn or Rosh Hashanah themed fun.
Happy homemade and hands-on playing!

Autumn Apples Sensory Bin

I've seen several variations of this floating across the internet this year and done a similar sensory bin for a preschool classroom that I called "Parts of an Apple I Spy." That one used dried lentils as the main filler and then toy apples, pipe cleaner "stems," black bean "seeds," and artificial leaves. I included magnifying glasses for the sensory play detectives to use and it was a huge hit. Here, I used dried oats as our main filler and added some small scoops, dishes and cinnamon sticks to the mix along with the toy apples and artificial leaves. I love that the cinnamon sticks give it such a delightful smell, adding more senses into the play experience! Most items here were purchased at some point at the dollar store, and like all of my sensory play items, I try to only purchase things I can use in more than one venue. Some prefer not to use food items for sensory play as it can be wasteful in a sense. I know there are some moms/teachers who will give these oats a second life as a cookie or breakfast, ensuring that their little sensory explorers carefully wash their hands prior to playing. I will likely set these aside for repeated sensory play use as I do with all of my dry ingredients, storing them between uses in a sealed ziplock bag. One obvious benefit to using items that are edible in sensory play is that your material is also taste-safe for those who may be inclined to explore them orally. As an alternative to oats or other food items, you could also shred recycled paper as a filler.

"Apple Pie" Playdough

Apple Pie Playdough in its "natural" state

I revisited my favorite standard playdough recipe here as a base, opting out of adding any color at this point. I added a decent sized teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, though you could use cinnamon, cloves, allspice, ginger, nutmeg and any other components of that traditional apple pie aroma that you have on hand. I love to introduce homemade playdough in its most minimal state at first and allow the opportunity for little hands to dictate what type of play happens with it. My son will naturally gravitate toward adding tools and small toys.

He is really into this playdough press right now! 

We added red food coloring to this portion of the dough, mixing it inside a ziplock bag to prevent staining our hands. He told me he is making "Shabbos cake!"

Invitation to Play: Parts of An Apple Playdough Provocation