Ocean sensory play

We like to do a sensory activity for every letter of the alphabet, so to continue our letter O exploration, I set up some ocean sensory play.

I love seeing the fun sensory activities that other bloggers do with their kids.  They set out lovely  materials, take stunning photographs, and their kids have a marvelous time.

I grabbed one of our plastic bins and set it up.  I took some sand from the sandbox (gasp! I broke a major family rule here), added some of the shells we use with play dough and some decorative pebbles I got at the dollar store.  Then I added the clear glass gems to give our ocean a shimmer.

We added tinted blue water and I tried to take a nice photo.  Except there’s my shadow.  Boo.

Next, I brought out our ocean animal toys.  I really wanted this to be an opportunity for my Two to explore the sensory bin by himself for a while.  Being the fourth child, he is often at the mercy of his older siblings when it comes to getting his turn at the fun stuff.  I insisted that the older kids be hands off for a while.

It lasted about two minutes.

These first two minutes were a chance for my Two to ask questions about all the animals. “What is this called?”

I can not seem to get a nice sensory bin picture for the life of me.  Of course my kids grabbed our ugly, faded stacking cups to use with the beautiful rocks and gems.

Because these old cups have holes in the bottom — perfect for straining ocean water to get to the treasure underneath.

Here was my one and only photo with some sort of potential.  Check out the glistening sparkles in the water!  Ignore the ugly orange cup and the sad-looking animals who are caught in low tide.

I think we’ve established that photography is not my strong suit.  But the whole point was to give my little guy some time to explore the materials to his heart’s content. And when his older siblings had moved on, he did just that.

For way more interesting (and beautiful) examples of ocean sensory play, be sure to check out these posts!

No Time for Flashcards made an ocean sensory bin using gelatin!

The Imagination Tree created an ocean with frozen rice.

At My Nearest and Dearest, learn how to set up this ocean floor sensory play (with a surprise hidden underneath!).

This is a totally amazing fizzy ocean activity from Fun at Home with Kids.

Love Freebies?

Subscribing to our email newsletter is completely free. And when you do, you'll get access to our library of subscriber freebies! Sign up below to get access to a wonderful variety of math and literacy resources.