Water Sensory Play - Edx Education

Sometimes going big with your sensory play set up can make the play that bit more exciting. That’s exactly what we did with this awesome sensory ocean and the kids loved it!

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What you need:

– large sensory table or bin (ours is the Edx Education Sand and Water Table, large size)
– Coral Reef Bulk Bag by Safari Ltd.
– blue water beads (available on Amazon) – ensure you fully supervise when using water beads as they cannot be consumed and are a choking hazard
– selection of containers, water play tools and kitchen utensils (mainly from Dollar Tree)

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How it works:

I love setting up small worlds and sensory bins for my kids. They are easy to make and provide hours of hands-on fun. For this large sensory ocean it was simply a case of soaking some blue water beads overnight. And then putting the bin together the next day. I added the beads and some extra water to the bin. And then I scattered the coral reef figures around the bottom of the bin. I also prepared a fun selection of containers and water play tools for my kids to use with the set up.

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At first both kids were simply happy to get their hands in the bin and explore the contents. They excitedly tested out the feel of the water beads, scooping them up in their hands and letting them drop back into the water.

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Then they noticed the fun selection of toys sitting at the bottom of the ocean. My 2 year old loved all of the ‘fishes’, whilst 5 year old big bro thought the treasure chests and scuba divers were really neat.

It wasn’t long before they spotted all of the containers and tools for them to use. They could have spent hours simply scooping and transferring the water beads and water into all of the different containers.

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This was such a great fine and gross motor skill workout.

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Big bro then announced that he wanted to make his own little aquarium which I thought was an awesome idea. He chose a container, drained water into it (he said his fish didn’t want any water beads in their home), and then added a beautiful fish, a treasure chest and a scuba diver to the aquarium.

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He was so proud of his creation!

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As time went on they continued to explore the different tools.

I strongly recommend stocking up on different water play equipment, my kids love testing out all of the different utensils. You don’t have to spend much, just head to your local dollar store and get things like colanders, slotted spoons and tongs.

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I loved watching baby sis delicately navigating the tongs to pick out one water bead at a time to fill her pot with!

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As the play was naturally winding down I decided to throw in a little game.

We played I Spy with my Little Eye in the ocean. They loved racing to find all of the different types of Safari Ltd. figures. Big bro even worked on his numeracy with some counting.

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This was such a successful play set up for my two littles. There were so many skills being developed and they loved working with a big sensory bin for a change. I saw them working their fine and gross motor skills hard, as well as growing in sensory confidence and of course developing team work and social skills. We can’t wait to play more with this over the coming weeks!

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Original Author FIND THE LITTLE MIND– Lucy, a Mum of two who, out of nowhere, developed a passion for creative play. A Physical Education teacher by profession who has lived in England, Canada, Thailand, and now the States.

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