August Sensory Bin: Back to School

Pin It Preschool starts on Monday for Madelyn. My friend’s two children will be coming 3 mornings a week for FUN learning activities as well. Since the main school focus of summer was to concentrate on getting curriculum, schedules, lessons, etc. together for Samuel and Sarah, I am left with this weekend only to gear up for preschool. Luckily this is our second year for this, so I don’t need to do a whole lot.
Sensory bins are a favorite in my house. Seriously, I have our August box set out for Monday, and the kids are eagerly waiting to open it up as if I’ve wrapped a Christmas present for them. Last year I only did a few of these because of how messy they can be (on top of the other messes involved with teaching preschool…a VERY messy job) depending on the theme and objects involved. This year I am going to try to do 1-2 per month and I’ll probably only use it for a center once a week.
Our August theme is …BACK TO SCHOOL! (some ideas came from Counting Coconuts)

Contents of bin:
Ripped up magazine paper
Scissors for cutting magazine paper
Lacing string
Numbers from an old calendar that have been hole punched for lacing
Pencils
Erasers to put on and match to pencils 
Pencil sharpener
Paper clips for linking and patterns
Pencil box
Magnetic letters that can be used on the tin pencil box
Strips of paper with kids’ names that they can use with the letters
Notebook
A few crayons

The scissors will be removed at the first sign of anyone attempting to cut off fingers, hair, anything other than magazine paper. Other than that concern, which will be discussed before any use of the bin begins, this back to school fun starts in less than two days!