• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Fantastic Fun & Learning

Fun learning activities and things to do with kids

  • About
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy and Disclosure
  • Themes
  • Holidays
  • Printables
  • Concepts
    • Alphabet
      • Letter A
      • Letter B
      • Letter C
      • Letter D
      • Letter F
      • Letter G
      • Letter I
      • Letter J
      • Letter K
      • Letter M
      • Letter N
      • Letter O
      • Letter P
      • Letter Q
      • Letter R
      • Letter S
      • Letter T
      • Letter U
      • Letter W
      • Letter Z
    • Art
    • Crafts
    • Fine Motor
    • Gross Motor
    • Phonemic Awareness
    • Phonics
    • Math
    • Outdoor Play
    • Science
    • Sensory
  • By Age
    • Baby
    • Toddler
    • Preschool
    • Kindergarten
  • By Month
  • Books
    • Books and Activities
      • Book Lists
      • Book Related Activities
You are here: Home / Book Studies / Jack and the Beanstalk / Jack and the Beanstalk Sensory Bin and Story Retelling Activity

Jack and the Beanstalk Sensory Bin and Story Retelling Activity

By Shaunna Evans 30 Comments ยท This content may contain affiliate links.

TwitterFacebookPinterestEmail

This month the members of the Poppins Book Nook are reading and sharing about fairy tales. We had so much fun with our Jack and the Beanstalk activities last year that I thought we’d revisit this story again in a different way. As usual I wanted to come up with something that both the toddlers and preschoolers could enjoy and learn from together. This Jack and the Beanstalk sensory bin and retelling craft was just perfect for all of the kids.

Jack and the Beanstalk Pretend Play and Sensory Bin

FIND ALL OF OUR JACK AND THE BEANSTALK ACTIVITIES IN OUR PRINTABLE LESSON PLANS.

I started with a 15 quart plastic bin to house sensory bin components. Then we added pinto beans, green glass  beads, lima beans painted gold to represent the magic beans, our alphabet leaves from last year’s Jack and the Beanstalk reading activities, and some green scoops.

The toddlers loved this sensory bin, and they both spent a lot of time throughout the week pouring, scooping, and digging for magic beans. Tinker also enjoyed searching for the alphabet leaves and asking us to name the letters for her. Of course, I supervised the kids closely to make sure none of the contents were put in their mouths.

Jack and the Beanstalk Sensory Bin

For the story retelling and pretend play component we re-purposed the craft we used for our Jack and the Beanstalk math activities last year.

I cut a hole in the lid of an oatmeal canister and inserted the cardboard tube. Then I covered the canister with green felt and placed the whole “beanstalk” in a corner of the sensory bin.

Jack and the Beanstalk Retelling Activity

The printable we used for last year’s games included retelling pieces that are great for classroom use and would have worked well for this activity, but when I saw these adorable Superhero Clothespin Wrap Dolls on Twodaloo I immediately wanted to make something like them for us to play with here. With a couple inexpensive materials I created the main characters from the story.

Visit This Heart of Mine for the full tutorial. You’ll want to see how easy it is to make your own. Mine are not nearly as crafty and fantastic as the ones at Twodaloo or This Heart of Mine, but they held up to a lot of pretend play and I think they’ll get a lot of use as we create more friends for the girls to add to their collection.

Here’s our full cast of retelling characters…

Jack and the Beanstalk Story Retelling Characters

The clothespins helped them stand up in the sensory bin, so that gave Lovey even more ways to play and interact with the characters.

Jack and the Beanstalk retelling pieces

The Giant kept watch over the castle, and Lovey had fun going back and forth between retelling versions where he was a nice giant and an angry giant.

Giant craft from Jack and the Beanstalk

Below are a few of our favorite versions Jack and the Beanstalk.

 

We repurposed some of the materials from this sensory bin in our Jack and the Beanstalk math activities. Here’s a quick glimpse.

 

GET A FULL WEEK OF JACK & THE BEANSTALK THEME LEARNING AND PLAY

Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.

 

This set includes active hands-on learning ideas and the following printables:

1) My Beanstalk science activity

2) Jack and the Beanstalk Shape Building Mats (in color and b/w)

3) Climb the Beanstalk Alphabet Game (4 versions in color and b/w)

4) The Giant’s Gold class book covers (in color and b/w) and page template

5) Hen and Eggs Beginning Sound Sort

6) Jack and the Beanstalk vocabulary cards (in color and b/w)

7) I Found Magic Beans counting activity and recording sheet (in color and b/w)

8) Climbing the Beanstalk counting and number sequencing activity

9) Shake, Drop, Add Math Game with game mat (in color and b/w) and recording sheet

GET YOUR LESSON PLANS

Jack and the Beanstalk Theme Lesson Plans

All of our products are also available on Teachers Pay Teachers if you prefer to shop there.

TwitterFacebookPinterestEmail

Filed Under: Jack and the Beanstalk, Literacy, Poppins Book Nook, Preschool, Pretend Play, Sensory, Toddler Tagged With: fairy tales for kids, Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack and the Beanstalk activities, Jack and the Beanstalk craft, retelling activity, sensory bin

Previous Post: « Back to School Tips and Traditions
Next Post: Fall Craft for Toddlers and Preschoolers: Leaf Sun Catcher »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jackie Higgins

    September 4, 2013 at 7:26 am

    I can’t wait to make one of these. I think my son could play with it for hours. Thanks for the tips. I featured this on Mom’s Library today at ready-set-read. Thanks for linking up.

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      September 7, 2013 at 8:57 am

      I hope your son enjoys them as much as we did! Thank you for the feature.

      Reply
  2. Jolanthe

    September 3, 2013 at 7:32 pm

    LOVE, love, LOVE this!! You did such an amazing job pulling it together!!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      September 7, 2013 at 8:58 am

      Thanks, Jolanthe! It’s got me thinking of all kinds of storybook sensory bins. Glad you enjoyed this one!

      Reply
  3. Laura

    September 3, 2013 at 1:16 pm

    Shaunna, thank you so much for posting! So very creative, and fun, and pretty, and educational! Loooove it!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      September 7, 2013 at 9:00 am

      So glad you enjoyed this!

      Reply
  4. Jill

    September 1, 2013 at 1:36 pm

    What a magical sensory bin!! The beanstalk and the dolls are just adorable ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      September 7, 2013 at 9:08 am

      Thanks, Jill! I love how all of the pieces came together.

      Reply
  5. Kali @ For the Love of Spanish

    August 31, 2013 at 9:53 am

    I love all these ideas!!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      August 31, 2013 at 8:29 pm

      Thanks, Kali!

      Reply
  6. Carisa

    August 28, 2013 at 10:29 am

    Oh my word, this is amazing! So needed this idea when we had our Jack week! Might have to have another week in the future! We loved all of our Jack activities!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      August 31, 2013 at 8:48 pm

      Thanks so much, Carisa! I love all the sensory and messy play you’ve been including lately. I bet you guys could have a lot of fun with another Jack week. There are so many neat versions of the story to read and compare. We’ll be revisiting the theme again for sure.

      Reply
  7. JDaniel4's Mom

    August 28, 2013 at 8:39 am

    This is amazing! I love how 3-D dimensional it is.

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      August 31, 2013 at 8:49 pm

      Thank you! It was definitely a different kind of sensory bin than we’ve had before, but it turned out really neat.

      Reply
  8. Ann @ My Nearest and Dearest

    August 27, 2013 at 7:43 pm

    What a cute and original sensory bin! You’ve got me inspired to make some sensory bins based on books. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      August 31, 2013 at 8:49 pm

      Ooh, I bet you’ll have some great ones!

      Reply
  9. Suzy

    August 27, 2013 at 3:29 pm

    This bin is incredible! I *LOVE* it!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      August 31, 2013 at 8:49 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  10. Jodie @ Growing Book by Book

    August 27, 2013 at 3:01 pm

    Love this! I especially love the clothespin people! Just pinned to my sensory bins to extend stories board!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      August 31, 2013 at 8:50 pm

      Thank you! They were easy to make and the kids love them…which makes me very happy!

      Reply
  11. Katie @ Gift of Curiosity

    August 26, 2013 at 10:01 pm

    This is so cute! I’m sure all the kids loved the bin. I haven’t shared Jack and the Beanstalk with my kids yet, but this is a great idea for extending the learning.

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      August 31, 2013 at 8:51 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  12. Dyan

    August 26, 2013 at 9:07 pm

    Could this be any more awesome?! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      August 31, 2013 at 8:51 pm

      You’re so sweet! Thank you! We had fun with this one for sure!

      Reply
  13. Dusty @To the Moon and Back

    August 26, 2013 at 4:01 pm

    This is super cute! I love the gold beans and the clothespin dolls!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      August 31, 2013 at 8:52 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  14. Sarah

    August 26, 2013 at 7:30 am

    I love this! It is a simple and great way for the kids to interact with the whole story. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      August 31, 2013 at 8:53 pm

      Thanks, Sarah! It was a great tool for helping Lovey practice retelling. Now she wants to know what story we’ll be making a bin for next!

      Reply
  15. Ashley

    August 26, 2013 at 6:31 am

    Very cute sensory bin! Love the little dolls!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      August 31, 2013 at 8:53 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Search

Join in the fun!

Facebooktwitterpinterestinstagram

Subscribe via Email

Hi, I’m Shaunna!

Welcome to Fantastic Fun and Learning. Here you'll find plenty of great ideas for fun learning activities and things to do with kids.

Popular Right Now

Reindeer Books

Gingerbread Man Books

Tinfoil Process Art Christmas Ornaments

Our Recent Posts

  • 8 Great Hanukkah Activities for Preschool
  • Teaching Kids About Hanukkah
  • Reindeer Books

Copyright © 2019