A Deep Blue Sea Bin is an awesome small world sensory bin to set up for your kids if you’re studying an ocean theme or an underwater theme, or if you’re observing Shark Week!
We’re on a roll with our water play activities this week! The weather has been so warm here, and I’ve been having a blast, thinking of ways for the kids to stay cool in the backyard, while learning and having fun.
Tday was the third time that I switched up the contents of this water bin and turned it into yet another awesome, sensory bin to entertain the Hooligans.
Earlier this week we had an Ocean Bin and a Dinosaur Water Bin, but I think today’s may have been the most popular yet.
I left the pebbles and rocks in from the previous two days and added several large flat rocks from our beloved stone and rock collection. I had to dismantle a small Inukshuk to get the stones but it’s ok. The garden has sprouted up so much, we couldn’t see the Inukshuk anymore anyway.
I scooped all the pebbles and rocks over to one side of the basin to make a “shoreline”, and stacked the larger flat rocks along the opposite side to form a “rocky cliff and caves”.
Five or six drops of blue food colouring, some boats, a deep sea diver , a couple of sea-shells and a few plastic marine animals (similar to these Toobs on Amazon.com (affiliate link), and we were good to go.
This little guy spent most of his day here, staging boat wrecks, dives and rescues.
He loved the tiny lobster.
And he claimed that the octopus was the lobster’s mama.
After nap-time he was the first one out the door, literally running to the back of the yard where to where we had the bin set up under trees, and he was still there when his Mom and Dad showed up to take him home.
Making a simple water play bin is such an easy and inexpensive way to provide hours of open-ended imaginary play for your child. There’s no need to purchase anything special.
I collected most of the rocks at the beach one day last summer, including a bucketful of the tiny pebbles. Just wash them up first so they don’t muddy up your water. Then look around your home and garden for interesting items to fill your bin with. If you’re like me, you’ll have as much fun putting it together as your child will have playing with it.
Will you make a water play bin? Have you made one? I’d love to see your photos! Feel free to link them up on my Happy Hooligans facebook page!
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Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
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An Everyday Story
Ok after seeing three really cool water bins I’m ready to give one a go. I’ve tried dry sensory/imaginative play bins and my little guy was not particularly interested but I think he’ll go for water. Thanks
happyhooligans
I hope he loves it, Kate. You’ll have to let me know if it was a hit!
An Everyday Story
I’ve got one planned for our play group next week. I know the littles will love it!
Cat
I made something similar this morning, I thought my three year old daughter would love it. Her favourite game is playing with little plastic animals-lining them up along the windowsil and using blocks to balance them up high (not sure why!). She also LOVES making “potions” at the sink. So I thought I was onto a winner here. She looked at the blue water shark infested sensory bin I made, asked lots of questions and then.took it apart, took each pile of stones and shells out, then added cotton reels, a dinosaur and a rhino and then lost interest. Does it take a few goes to get them interested or shall I try something else?!
happyhooligans
Sometimes it can take setting the same activity out a few times before it interests your child. I think it’s great that she asked lots of questions. That shows interest. and I also think it’s good that she took some things out and added some things of her own. It sounds like she was curious. That’s a start! Can you leave the bin out throughout the day? That’s what I do here, so the children can come and go from it. At times they get bored and run off and do something else, and they return to it when they feel like it.
Is it possible that your child isn’t big on waterplay? It sounds like she really likes the game she’s made up at the window-sill. What if you incorporate some of those favourite items into a sensory bin? If the bin had water in it, you’d need heavier items (that don’t float) to stack the animals on. Rocks for example. Maybe tint the water her favourite colour and see if that interests her? If not, you could try a dry bin with beans or lentils or rice to scoop and pour and run her fingers through. Again, you could put her blocks and animals in there to pique her interest the first time.
If she likes scooping and pouring, you could try adding a ladel/jar etc to the water bin as well. That’s the nice thing about these bins. There are no rules as to what to put in to them. You can make them as simple or complex as you like, and fine tune them to the tastes and interest of your child.
Let me know how it goes for you!
spdmama
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frontpoarchthing
This idea is wonderful! I’m a Pre-K teacher and made my first sensory bin not to long ago using rocks, sand, and construction vehicles and it was a HIT! especially with my boys. I can only imagine how well a bucket full of water and ocean items would go over! Thanks for sharing!
frontpoarchthing
This idea is wonderful! I’m a Pre-K teacher and made my first sensory bin not to long ago using rocks, sand, and construction vehicles and it was a HIT! especially with my boys. I can only imagine how well a bucket full of water and ocean items would go over! Thanks for sharing!
Blayne
Hi Jackie! Just found this via Pinterest tonight. This is just the greatest water play bin!! I love it! I literally want to jump in and play with it. It looks so realistic!! I will be coming back to this in the future for sure. Your hooligans must have LOVED it! 🙂
happyhooligans
Glad you found it, Blayne! It was one of our favourites last year. When the weather warms up, we’ll definitely be setting this up again!
Devon
Hello! I saw this on Pinterest this morning and set one up in the afternoon. We don’t have a water table but just used our really large clear storage bin from Ikea stacked on a couple of crates. Perfect height for my 2yo to stand and my 5yo to squat/kneel/stand 😉 I stole large rocks from our garden and added shells, small rocks and sand to the “ocean floor” along with plastic sea creatures, some blue water beads, and our playmobil pirate ship with pirates, swords, and treasures of course. My 2yo LOVED it and wanted to get in (but was talked out of it – no room!) and my 5yo was a little annoyed she had to share it with her little brother lol. It was great fun! I simply put the lid on it for more play tomorrow since we are having a few warm & dry-ish days here in Aachen, Germany this week. Thank you for sharing!