Homeschooling

The Day the Crayons Quit Sensory Bin

Building a sensory bin around a book is a genius idea. Reading aloud is so incredibly valuable for our children. Not only will The Day the Crayons Quit Sensory Bin encourage you and your children to read aloud together, it will also provide positive sensory input. Plus, your kids will be working on fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, gross motor skills, observation, and color theory.

Bright and engaging colors, a variety of interesting textures, and a story to tell, retell, and imagine will make this a sensory bin your kids won’t want to leave. The value of sensory input for children cannot be overstated. The same can be said for literacy. This activity encourages both.

About The Day the Crayons Quit

A delightful book, The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt and Marichelle Daywalt, tells the story of a time when all the crayons were dissatisfied with their lot in life. Each of the crayons leaves behind a letter to explain their plight and a dissappointed young man must convince them to take up their posts again so that he can color. The book covers themes like communication, feelings, empathy, and respect.

Why Connect a Sensory Bin to a Picture Book

The beauty of reading picture books to children is that the pictures help to bring stories to life for children and help them engage with the story even as they work separately on the skill of picturing a story as they read. Reading out loud to your children has immense value because they can hear and understand far more than they can read on their own. So by reading, you are providing an enriched literary experience they will come to crave for themselves.

When you add a sensory bin to the picture book experience, you are extending the magic. You keep the story alive in their minds and give them one more way to explore the concepts introduced by the book. As they play, they replay or continue the story in their heads or outloud with each other. This gives kids practice using vocabulary, communicating with each other, using imagination, and exploring the world.

The connection between the sensory bin and the book strengthens neural pathways in the brain and improves comprehension through play. It’s a new way to process and work through new information.

How to Make a “The Day the Crayons Quit” Sensory Bin

Supplies Needed

Step-By-Step Instructions

Fill the sensory bin with rainbow rice.
Add rainbow pom poms and number mini erasers.
Add small bowl, tongs, magnifying glass, and dice.
Set the book next to the bin.

Suggested Activities to Go with The Day the Crayons Quit Sensory Bin

Read the book.
Roll the dice and find a matching number mini eraser with the magnifying glass.
Roll the dice and use the tongs to place the correct number of pom poms in the bowl.
Use the magnifying glass to take a closer look at the book.
Locate a color in the book and find the matching colored pom poms.

How to Play with A Sensory Bin

Sort and organize. This is such a valuable activity for kids. You can sort items in the bin by color, type, or size.
Encourage your children to enjoy free play in the bin and see how they approach the experience. Let them run their hands through the rice, scoop and pour it, and play for as long as they like.
Compare and contrast. Talk about how the textures, colors, shapes, and sizes of each object compares to the others. Use descriptive words like smooth, soft, fluffy, or bright to describe the objects and compare them.
Gather and distribute. Move all of the pom poms to the bowl. Then dump the pom poms and move all the number erasers to the bowl. Use tongs, tweezers, or thumb and index fingers to work on fine motor skills a variety of different ways.

Sensory Bin Variations

You do not have to use rainbow rice. You could use rainbow pasta, rainbow beans, or a different sensory bin filler in primary colors.

Be creative! You can find mini crayon erasers and all kinds of things to use in your sensory bin if you have the room in your budget, but you can also pick things up at yard sales, at thrift shops, and from around your home. For this sensory bin focus on primary colors or rainbow colors to go with the theme of the book.

Add funnels, scoops, tweezers, measuring cups, spoons, and other tools to help your child experience the different materials in the bin.

Learning Extension Activities for The Day the Crayons Quit

Create Your Own Follow-Up Story: The Day the Crayons Were Happy

The Day the Crayons Quit Coloring Page

Make Crayon Ornaments

How to Melt Crayons and Make New Ones

Fall Bucket List

By Sharla Kostelyk

Fall is by far my favourite season. The beautiful colours, the crisp air, and anticipation of change to come.

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” ~ LM Mongomery from the book Anne of Green Gables

For years, I’ve created Summer Bucket Lists for the kids, but only recently realized I should create a fall one too. There are so many seasonal activities that can be done in these gorgeous months.

I chose activities for this list that were a good mix of things you can do at home and things to do in your community. I also tried to incorporate the use of as many of the senses as I could.

This fall, get the whole family engaged in the season!

Fall Bucket List Ideas:

Visit a local farm.
Go apple picking.
Smell pumpkin spice.
Jump in the leaves.
Drink apple cider.
Roast pumpkin seeds.
Make leaf rubbings.
Bake something with apples.
Have a family board game night.
Go for an outdoor scavenger hunt.
Challenge a corn maze.
Visit a fall festival.
Make fall leaves slime.
Go for a crisp walk outside.
Make a toilet paper bird feeder.
Carve pumpkins.
Eat candy corn.
Bake a homemade pie.
Watch a football game.
Go on a fall picnic.
Eat a candy apple.
Paint with pumpkin puffy paint.
Cuddle under a blanket.
Play with a sensory bin.
Explore pumpkin pie scented moon dough.
Bake pumpkin muffins.
Bake sugar cookies with maple icing.
Go on a hayride.
Host an apple bobbing.
Create a fall sensory bag.

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Our other seasonal bucket lists:

My Fall Feelings Mini Book

By Sharla Kostelyk

This fall feelings mini book allows children the chance to process their thoughts and feelings about different events that happen in the autumn. When kids practise talking and writing about their emotions, they are better able to manage them in a healthy way.

The pages include some common autumn scenarios such as raking leaves, going to the pumpkin patch, and playing in the leaves.

It also gives students the chance to express what they like about fall and what they don’t like about fall. For some students, it may be easy to think of things they like about winter and they may need some prompting. For others, it may be their favourite season and they may need help to come up with things they don’t like!

My Fall Feelings Mini Book:

Supplies needed:

My Fall Feelings mini book printable pages. (download here)
scissors
pencil or pen
markers, crayons, or pencil crayons
stapler and staples

Instructions:

Download the My Fall Feelings mini book.
Print out the pages.
Cut apart the booklet pages.
Let your student decide how he or she feels about each fall activity and draw the corresponding face on the child on that page. Your student can use the Emotions Word Bank for ideas (for words to use and for faces to draw).
When your student has completed the book, stack the pages together with the cover on top and staple on the left side to create a little keepsake book.

After your child or student has filled out their booklet, it’s a great time to sit down with them and debrief. If there are some seasonal scenarios that seem to have potential to cause them some distress, together you can brainstorm ways they can better manage those feelings if they arise.

Download your free printable mini book for kids and be signed up for our sensory solutions and activities emails.

Mini books for other seasons:

Other free emotions printables that are perfect for fall:

Family Conversation Starters

By Sharla Kostelyk

Taking the time to ask questions and listen to their answers is a great way to get to know your family members on a deeper level and spend some quality time together. With the help of these printable conversation starters for kids, you can start having meaningful discussions with your family on a regular basis.

Using conversation starters with your kids can be a powerful tradition to start. The connection in relationship grows as communication gets stronger.

Conversation Starters for Kids

Supplies needed:

Printable conversation cards
Cardstock
Basket or jar
optional: laminator

Instructions:

Download the conversation cards and print them out on cardstock so that you can use them over and over again. If you want, you can also laminate them to make them more durable.
Cut out each card around the outer border.
Place the cards in a basket or jar.
Pull a card from the basket and let each member of your family answer the question.

Where to Use Conversation Starters

These simple cards can be used in a variety of places to get your kids talking!

Around the dinner table
In the car
Before tucking your kids in at night
At a sleepover or birthday party
Between homeschool lessons or after school
At the grocery store

Benefits of Conversation Starters

These printable family conversation starters are a great way to improve your family’s connection with each other. And while you might not need to use conversation cards to get your family talking, sometimes they’re helpful in starting a new conversation. There are a variety of great benefits to using talking points on a regular basis, including:

Getting to know your children better. Your kids are constantly growing and evolving. And that means they may like something one day and hate it the next! With the help of these fun questions, you can constantly learn more about your kids’ daily lives, their hopes and dreams, and the emotions they’re feeling.
Creating a stronger family bond. The questions on these printable cards are perfect for starting a conversation between family members. That means they can be the start of a deeper discussion among each member of the family. As you interact with your kids during these discussions, you’ll be showing each of your children that their opinion is important and valued, helping strengthen the overall family bond and encouraging connection.
Cultivating gratitude. Helping your kids practice gratitude is important as they grow older. You can use conversation starters to help steer your family’s conversation toward topics that center around thankfulness, allowing you to incorporate gratitude into your daily life.
Developing imaginative thinking. Using their imagination is a great tool for helping your kids improve their creative thinking skills. Not to mention that conversations centered around imaginative thinking are fun! Fun conversation starters are a great way to help your kids practice using their imagination each day.
Increase vocabulary and communication skills. The art of questions and answers is a learning opportunity for children both in terms of expanding their vocabulary and developing their communication skills.
Managing emotions. Kids can often feel big emotions. So learning how to manage their emotions, regulate their thoughts, and practice empathy are all important lessons to teach your kids. Conversation starters that center around emotional events are great ways to help your kids work through their feelings and understand how others might feel in a similar situation.

Create Your Own Conversation Starters

My printable conversation cards for kids come with 30 fun and thought-provoking ideas for sparking a conversation with everyone in your family. But you can also create your own conversation starters with blank cards. If you’re struggling to come up with additional questions to ask your family members, try these fun topics and ideas:

What do you look for in a friend?
If you could make a new family rule, what would it be?
What is your favourite thing about your siblings?
If you could create a new school subject, what would it be?
What is something you don’t need, but you’re happy you have?
If you pet could talk, what would it say?
What is one nice thing you could do for someone tomorrow?
If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?
What feeling makes you the most uncomfortable?
If you could create a new holiday, what would you celebrate?
What are you good at?
What do you wish you were good at?
When was the last time you made someone smile?
What would your dream house look like?
If someone wrote a story about you in the newspaper, what would the headline be?
What is your biggest goal in life?
Who is your best friend? Why?
What do you like to do at recess?
Would you rather be forced to whisper or scream all day?
What is your favourite chore?
Could you go an entire day without talking?
What do you think about before you fall asleep?
If you could build your own zoo, what animals would you have?
What is your favourite day of the week? Why?
What is something kids understand better than adults?
When you make a new friend, what’s the first thing you ask them?

For a limited time, I’m offering these conversation cards for free. Simply enter your email below. They are also available for purchase in our shop.

Check out some of our other family connection ideas:

Indoor Photo Scavenger Hunt

By Sharla Kostelyk

Coming up with fun ways to keep your kids entertained while you’re stuck inside is the best way to keep them off their screens. And when I’m looking for a way for my kids to have fun on a rainy day, there’s nothing better than a scavenger hunt. Instead of printing out a traditional scavenger hunt to entertain your kids the next time they’re stuck indoors, try doing an indoor photo scavenger hunt instead. This fun game is perfect for keeping your kids occupied on a hot summer day.

Indoor Photo Scavenger Hunt

Supplies Needed:

Printable scavenger hunt sheet
Camera or cell phone

How to Play:

Print out the scavenger hunt sheet and give it to your kids.
Ask your child to use a camera or cell phone to take pictures of the things around the house that represent each of the words on the list.
Place a check mark next to the item after it is found.

How Do You Do an Indoor Scavenger Hunt?

Creating an indoor scavenger hunt is as easy as setting up a hunt outdoors. Since each of the items on the printable list are open-ended, your kids shouldn’t have an issue finding something to match everything on the printable. The printable indoor scavenger hunt for kids includes 16 clues:

Noisy
Bumpy
Squishy
Delicious
Garbage
New
Beautiful
Loved
Light
Old
Precious
Build
Sock
Piece
Writing
Button

As your children search around the house to find matches for each item, they’ll need to think about different things that could match the descriptive words. If you think your kids might have a hard time coming up with something to take a photo of, it might be a good idea to come up with some suggestions for them. Or set out items that match the words in plain sight so they can be found more easily as your kids are searching.When your child finds an item that matches the word, they can take a picture of the item and place a check mark in the box next to it. After the scavenger hunt is over, you can sit down with your kids and look at all the photos they’ve taken. Let them explain why they chose the item in each photo and how it matches the word on the list.

As your kids play this fun game, you’ll notice that they get to practice a variety of skills. Scavenger hunts are a great way for your kids to hone their:

Creative thinking skills. The open-ended clues on this printable scavenger hunt are perfect for encouraging your kids to think creatively. And if you have more than one kid doing the hunt at the same time, you’ll get to compare their answers to see how creative each child can get. It’s fun to see the different perspectives each player has on the clues provided to them.
Observation skills. Since this scavenger hunt will take place in the house, it’s likely that your kids are pretty familiar with their surroundings. That allows them to use their observation skills to match items they know are in their home to the clues on the list. Before the scavenger hunt starts, let your kids look over the list and come up with some ideas for each picture. This will allow them to think critically about each clue and give them time to come up with a create picture idea for each item on the list.
Photography skills. Taking pictures isn’t just a fun way to play the game, it’s also a great skill for your child to learn. From making sure the item they want to photograph is in the frame to figuring out which buttons to press, there are several aspects of picture taking your kids will need to learn. These basic skills can help them develop their photography as they grow, which may even lead to a new creative hobby down the road.

Tips for a Fun Indoor Photo Scavenger Hunt

This simple game can be played just about any time and without much prep work. But to help the game run more smoothly, try some of these simple scavenger hunt tips:

Laminate the sheets. With the help of a laminator, you can use your scavenger hunt worksheets over and over again. Run the printable sheets through the laminator, then let your kids use dry erase markers to check the boxes as they find each item. If you don’t have a laminator, try using plastic sheet protectors to hold the worksheets instead. Your kids can check the boxes using dry erase markers on the plastic page protector instead of on the paper itself.
Use child-friendly cameras. If you’re not comfortable letting your child use your phone or camera to take photos, consider investing in a child-friendly camera. These kid-safe cameras typically feature a hard case that’s durable enough to withstand drops without breaking.

Grab your free printable indoor photo scavenger hunt checklist. Just enter your email below.

Check out some of our other fun family scavenger hunts:

Fun Alphabet Scavenger Hunt

By Sharla Kostelyk

While worksheets and books are a great way to help your kids learn the alphabet, all that busy work can quickly get boring. That’s why it’s important to incorporate interactive learning into your curriculum. Active games are a great way to help your kids learn and play at the same time. With this fun alphabet scavenger hunt, your kids can practice reading letters and words while playing an entertaining game.This is such a fun way to learn! Our family has always enjoyed scavenger hunts. You can find all our favourites here.

Alphabet Scavenger Hunt

Supplies needed:

Printable scavenger hunt pages
Pencil or dry erase marker
optional: plastic sheet protector or laminator if using a dry erase marker

Instructions:

Download the printable scavenger hunt and print out the pages.
Ask your child to find the items on the list.
When they find an item, they can mark it off by putting a check or X in the box next to it.

Alphabet Scavenger Hunt Printable

This printable alphabet scavenger hunt is perfect for preschoolers who are just beginning to learn their letters or beginning readers in kindergarten. The printable scavenger hunt features each letter of the alphabet, along with a simple word and picture to correspond with each letter:

A for art
B for book
C for clothes
D for door
E for empty
F for furniture
G for gift
H for hard
I for ice
J for jar
K for kitchen
L for letter
M for move
N for nine
O for orange
P for pencil
Q for quiet
R for ring
S for soft
T for toy
U for up
V for vegetable
W for water
X for exit
Y for yard
Z for zipper

As they play, preschoolers can identify each letter and say the sound that it makes. After that, they can use the pictures as clues to help them determine what they need to find for each letter.

And Kindergarteners can read the letter and the word next to it to find each item on the list. The pictures next to each letter and word can provide context clues to help them figure out what each word says.

After identifying the letter and word they need to search for, your kids can start looking around their surroundings to find the different things on the list. When they find something, they can mark it off the list using the blank box next to each letter. After all the boxes are checked, the game is over.

Scavenger Hunt Ideas

After printing out your scavenger hunt pages, your kids can have a blast learning and playing! Try these tips to ensure your kids make the most of their printable worksheets.

Laminate the pages to reuse them. Your kids can play the game over and over again if you laminate the pages. After printing the scavenger hunt, laminate each page. Then, let your kids use dry erase markers to check off the items when they find them. After the game is over, simply erase the marks so the pages can be used again.

Use a page protector. If you don’t have a laminator at home, you can still preserve the sheets for future use. Just place the pages in a plastic page protector. Your kids can use dry erase markers to check off each box. And you can erase the marks when they’re finished playing.

Discuss each letter and word before you start. When your kids start playing the game, they may get too excited to listen and think about the words on the page. Before you send your kids off the begin their search, it’s a good idea to go through each letter and word so they understand what they need to do. Give them a chance to read the letter and word, as well as look at the picture next to it. Then discuss different things they could search for that go along with the word and where they might be able to find those items.

Encourage creativity. This open-ended game is perfect for encouraging creativity with your kids. Make sure they know that the words for each letter can be interpreted differently, allowing them to find a variety of different items for each letter. The word art, for example, could be a picture, painting, or even an art supply.

Include older kids. While this game at a glance is for preschoolers and early readers, older kids can get involved so that the whole family can play. With older kids, just encourage them to think outside the box. Be creative.

Take the hunt outside your home. There’s no reason your kids need to restrict their search to your home. You can take the printable hunt with you as you’re out and about. Try taking the pages to these places to give your kids a chance to search for new items on the list:

library
in the car
grocery store
doctor or dentist’s office
a walk around the neighbourhood

Change up the game each time. After your kids have played this scavenger hunt game once, you might think there’s no use in keeping the printable sheets and using them again. But there is a simple way to keep the game fresh each time you use it and challenge your children to think outside the box. Just tell them they can’t use the same item more than once. So, if they found their bedroom door for the letter D last time they played, that door is now off limits for the next round! This easy tactic will make the game more challenging each time your kids play, forcing them to use their critical thinking skills during each round.

Check out some of our other scavenger hunts: