Whenever I want to set up a simple activity for my kids, my go-to is always some kind of water sensory play.
They just love anything with water, especially when they have tools to scoop and pour with. And I love the simplicity of it, but also the versatility.
Seriously, you can transform an ordinary water sensory bin into something more colorful by adding some loose parts (e.g., LEGO sensory soup) or by adding some color to the water (e.g., lavender sensory soup). Or you could even add a scent (e.g., scented snowflake sensory soup). Or do with a combo of all of the above!
But, I wanted to keep things super simple with by adding some colorful stones. The result is this colorful rainbow water play sensory bin. Pair it with some kitchen tools and you can sneak in some fine motor skills practice too!
What You'll Need for this Rainbow Water Play Sensory Bin
The inspiration for this activity is this pretty polka dot soup from Fun at Home with Kids. Here's what we used for out sensory bin:
- Water - How much you'll need depends on the size of your sensory bin container.
- Glass stones in a variety of colors - If you don't have glass stones, you could substitute pom poms, buttons, or similar.
- Kitchen utensils - We used a plastic bowl, a ladle, a whisk, and a large plastic spoon. Feel free to add whatever you'd like!
Simply fill your container with water, add the glass stones and kitchen utensils and then it's ready for play.
While the colorful glass stones sink to the bottom of this sensory soup, they certainly do transform the water, as you can see below.
My Kids Love Playing with Sensory Soup Bins!
Any time I set up a sensory soup bin, my boys always attempt to scoop up all of the loose parts (no matter what they are!) and scoop them into the provided plastic bowl (assuming I've provided one, which I did for this activity). Here they both are, armed with big spoons for scooping:
And pouring.
Once all the glass stones had been collected and added to the bowl, the boys decided to mix it all up with a whisk.
Stir, stir, stir.
K even went in for a "taste." Please note, no water was consumed. Nor were any glass stones ingested, so don't panic! That's why I said "taste" not taste. Consider that my disclaimer...Besides, my kids are always closely monitored.
Overall, my boys enjoyed this rainbow water play sensory bin activity. And it was a great way to work on a variety of fine motor skills using the real kitchen tools.
