Coral Reef Sensory Bin

I loved the idea of making a sensory bin with basil seeds which texture and properties resemble water beads.

I found the idea and the recipe here and here. The recipe is simple: one tbsp of basil seeds, one cup of water and food coloring. Within five minutes the seeds absorb all the water and increase in size. 

So here is our coral reef with fish. My daughter absolutely loved this sensory bin. She liked watching how the seeds stick to her hands and go between her fingers. There was a lot of cleaning afterwards though, so I would strongly recommend putting a plastic tablecover underneath the bin.

Painting on Wet Paper with a Dropper

First, you need to soak watercolor paper in water. Then use medical dropper and liquid watercolors. 

Experimenting with Colors

The idea was to mix colors and watch the result. I used food coloring mixed with water. I added a few drops of dish soap to the bowl with water. The more tools you give your child the more exciting the experiment will be.

We used measuring cups, spray bottle, droppers, ice cube and muffin trays, whisk, funnel and others. We learned to fill a dropper with water, whip up soapy water with a whisk, pour water from one glass to another using funnel. Spray bottle was the favorite. We filled it with different colors and sprayed water on paper.

 

Plastic Sheet Stamps

For this project you need a sheet of plastic. I used a transparent plastic cover from a toy box. First, my daughter covered it with a thick layer of paint and spread the paint with her hands. Then, she turned the sheet over and stamped it on a piece of paper. I washed the plastic sheet and gave it back to her to cover with paint of a different color. She stamped it on the same piece of paper. If you repeat this process a few times you will have a cool textured painting.

 

Sensory bags

I have seen multiple ways to make sensory bags. Many people do them in a zip-lock bag. That wouldn't work for us because my daughter opens them in a second. If I used duck tape to attach it to a wall or the floor, she would only be interested in removing the tape and would not even pay attention to what's inside the bag. Therefore, I made my bags using balloons.

The ingredients are rice, black beans, jingle bells, buttons, marbles and pasta. We filled balloons with all of this stuff together. I thought she might be able to guess what's inside the bags but it turned out to be really hard for her. Whenever I asked: "What's inside?" every time she said the same thing: "Probably rice."

African Savannah Sensory Bin

I have already done an African sensory bin before but I wanted to redo it for a few different reasons. I purchased a few new Schleich toy animals until I had enough to fill my new large size bin.

 

We gathered some grass outside and I decorated the bin with lentils, navy beans and blue Activa sand. I put cups and bowls next to the bin.

My daughter loves to make families with her toy animals. We had a few elephants, giraffes and lions. She found parents for every baby animal. Then she bathed them in sand and fed them using little cups and toy spoons.

 

We tried to memorize names of unfamiliar animals – cheetah and jaguar. We divided animals into groups by what they eat – meat, leaves, grass and fruit.

My other sensory bins with animal habitats:

Forest Sensory Bin

African Swamp Sensory Bin

Indian and Indonesian Jungle Sensory Bin

Tropical Island Sensory Bin

Farm Sensory Bin

Coral Reef Sensory Bin

Frog Pond Sensory Bin

Arctic Sensory Bin

Desert Sensory Bin 

Ocean Life Sensory Bin

African Savannah Sensory Bin 

Painting with a Dropper

We used liquid watercolors, medical droppers and thick watercolor paper. It turned out that filling a dropper with paint was harder for my child than I thought it would be. Even though she did not fully grasp the whole process, it was definitely interesting to her. In the beginning, I was filling the dropper with paint myself and she was squeezing it on a piece of paper. Towards the end of our painting session she was able to fill it with just a little bit of paint.