Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Beach Theme Sensory Table


With summer quickly approaching I'm thinking of all things summer so I put together a beach theme sensory table.  For the sand I used brown rice (had no sand on hand and the rice is an easier clean up anyway!)

Here's what I included in our beach theme sensory bin which was all purchased from the dollar store:
Bag of shells
Bag of small stones
Gems
Flamingos
Summer Cups
Shot Cups
Cocktail Umbrella's

I used our water table to set this up and it always works out great!  On the other side of the water table I put in some water and added in blue food coloring.  For the water section I threw in some plastic alligators and some other sea creatures like turtles, dolphins, fish, etc.


After putting in the rice I laid out the shells and added the gems so that Tiffany could bury and find hidden treasure!  I really liked the cocktail umbrella's as it added a cute touch to the beach theme.

Tiffany first played with the shells and the rice but quickly became interested in the water.  She gave the alligator a shell to 'sun bathe' on and it was at this point that I gave her some other sea animals.  Tiffany also enjoyed taking the stones from the beach area and putting them into the water.  The umbrella's also made their way down to the water and animals.  The large summer cups were great for pouring and filling with the stones and shells.  It's always interesting to me to see what will grab my daughter's attention.  No doubt it was the water!  She stayed with this activity for an hour and toward the end she went back to the 'sand' side and hid the gems and asked me to find them.  After that Tiffany used the little plastic shot cups and started sorting the gems by color!






I think it's safe to say that this sensory play was a favorite!  

Do you have a favorite sensory bin?  I would love for you to share in the comments below or on our facebook page


17 comments:

  1. This one looks like fun! My daughter would have mixed the "sand" and the "ocean" to make a big sloppy mess, lol, but I love the creative play it inspired!

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    1. Well, Emma - my daughter has done that just not with this sensory activity and only because I warned her! I did a sensory activity with black beans and water and all I can say is yuck! Never again, I learned quickly, lol!!

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  2. What a fun idea! I definitely need to get a water/sand table...

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    1. I was just telling someone else how this water table was one of those really good investments! We even use it indoors during winter months!

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  3. What a lovely idea. My children would love this. #pintorials

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  4. This is interesting! Not thought of using rice as sand! Thanks for sharing it with us! #Pintorials.

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  5. Such a great idea to use rice instead of sand! My kids also love water table! Worth to invest! Thanks for sharing it with us! #Pintorials.

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  6. Love this fun summer themed sensory bin! I featured it this week on TGIF =)

    Have a great weekend!

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    1. Thank you Beth for the feature! Great weekend back attcha!

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  7. My kids would have so much fun with this! Love the beach theme and the little umbrellas.

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  9. We love sensory play. Thanks for sharing on the #ParentingPinItParty

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  10. Thanks for linking up! You just inspired me to go pick up a water table!

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  11. Such a simple activity and so much fun! I love it! We're featuring you at Family Fun Friday this week at Happy and Blessed Home. Thanks for sharing :)

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