Simple Halloween Sensory Bag

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Sensory activities are wonderful for young, developing minds and they are a ton of fun to touch! This Simple Halloween Sensory Bag, full of glittering eyeballs, will keep your child’s curious mind occupied, and it’s super easy to put together! It’s also on our list of 31 Super Fun Halloween Activities to do in Preschool!

Sensory bags have been one of my favorite play ideas since my sensory-seeking daughter was a young baby doing tummy time! They’re squishy and stay cool so they’re also a great idea for summer time, or if you live in a hot climate.

There are tons of ways to use sensory bags and endless options of what you can put inside them.  Just don’t use anything sharp that might poke a hole in the bag – I used a pipe cleaner inside one time and my daughter ended up making the tiniest hole in the bag and had a wonderful time pushing the gel out through the hole. This is also why I use 2 bags when I make these now. 

Sensory bags also make a great car travel activity, but be sure to tape it completely down to a piece of cardboard or one of these handy Basic Lap Desks, to prevent any messes.

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Here’s a short list of things you need to make this Halloween Sensory Bag:

QUICK TIP:  This is a good activity to do on top of a plastic tablecloth. I keep a large supply of cheap, plastic tablecloths on hand for anything that has the potential to turn into a mess. In my house, that’s just about everything.

1. TWO (2) gallon-sized Freezer (or heavy duty) ziplock bags
2. 2 bottles of cheap hair gel (from your local dollar store) – enough to fill one ziplock three-quarters of the way
3. Food coloring (optional- to make the bag look more exciting) – they won’t be eating this but if you are dye free in your house (like we are) I use this natural food coloring by Watkin’s instead of regular food coloring.
4. Googly eyes in multiple sizes and/or colors – this is the pack of googly eyes I get from Amazon
5. Masking or Duct Tape (make sure it’s strong)
6. Glitter (optional)
7. Wax craft sticks or Wiki Sticks (optional) – cut in half

How to assemble the bag:

1. If you are making colored gel: mix the hair gel and food coloring in a glass bowl (prevents stains) until it’s the color you want, or partially mix it so the color is swirled in.
2. Fill one of the gallon size ziplocks three-quarters of the way (or less) with the hair gel.  You won’t want to fill it completely because when pressure is applied it’s going to burst.  The stuff inside also does not move around as well if the bag is too full.
3. Add a handful of different sized googly eyes and sprinkle in some glitter.
4. If you are using the Wiki Sticks or wax craft sticks, bend them into different shapes like “U” shapes or squiggly lines. Add them to the bag.
5. Seal the bag completely.
6. Use a long piece of masking or Duct tape, the length of the zipper, and fold it over the top of the bag/zipper to help keep the zipper from unzipping.  Say that 5 times fast, sheesh!
7. Put the bag full of gel into the empty ziplock bag and seal it. You’ll need to fold the top of the first bag down so you can close the second bag. Do the same thing with the tape for the second bag.   This might seem like a lot of sealing but I have a very rough preschooler and I learned the hard way that it needs to be double sealed.
8. Lay the bag flat on a table surface or the ground and it’s play time. You can also tape it to the table or ground if you don’t want it picked up.  
9. Practice moving the eyeballs around or making faces with the eyes and the wax sticks.  The eyeballs can also be sorted by size or color.  Or you can have your child practice writing letter or numbers on the bag with their finger.

Some other options for this activity:

• Tape the bag to a window or sliding glass door. The daylight shining into the bag makes the glitter sparkle extra!
• Make smaller, different colored batches of hair gel then put them all into the bag. The colors will eventually get mixed. together but it looks neat for a while.
• Make the hair gel orange and make jack-o-lantern faces.
• Add some marbles! They are fun to roll around.