Suds in the Sensory Tub
While there tends to be a great emphasis on the various dry materials you can use in your sand and water table, it can be fun to change up the wet ones as well! Amanda Morgan, educator and creator of the blog Not Just Cute, provides her students with a stimulating sensory experience using simple color and baby soap:
- Step One: Add several drops of washable liquid watercolor paint or food coloring into your water. Remember though, the goal is to make this exercise "irresistible", not stain your students' hands!
- Step Two: Add several drops of liquid soap. As you add the soap, test the water frequently to make sure suds appear when stirred, but that your students can't get carried away and create mountains of bubbles. Morgan highly recommends using baby soap so that if students should rub their eyes, etc. it won't hurt them.
- Step Three: Add fun objects for play! Morgan suggests providing funnels, ladles and other large spoons, water toys, laundry caps and scoops that have been re-purposed for classroom play, recycled water bottles, etc. She also had great luck adding flat marbles for the children to use to weigh down the bottles and enhance sensory play!
Be sure to read Morgan's full post for pictures and details! While you may need to plan extra clean-up materials, this sensory tub activity is sure to be a hit with your students!