Beach Sensory Bin

It started out as a simple activity, some fine motor practice for the boys, and a few minutes of peace for mom. 
Hammer and nails - check.

Open the pretty parasols, stick them in the Styrofoam - check, umm, no, wait..

Inspiration behind the Beach sensory bin

Batman came back to me, and said, mom, those pretty beach umbrellas really do need a beach to go along with it. <OK, I can take a hint. >

So a simple bin was born, providing hours of fun for my two boys......





.. and tons of fine motor practice with the "pretty beach umbrellas"! 

Of course, then we need a beach towel under the umbrella, a picnic perhaps on the towel, and a chair or two if you don't want to get all messy on the sand!

Batman was more into this bin because he was trying to build as many sand castles as space would allow, with moat, flags, pretty stones...

  
The teeny tiny flower pots, and some small buckets to make the mounds, scrap paper glued on toothpicks for the flag, small pebbles for the moat, a shovel for him, and he was in sand castle heaven...

 
We had some tidal pools in our bin, with the kind of ocean animals we might see in them.
These are the "grow in the water" kinds, and we will play with them later... 

See the net? It's for beach volleyball. But I was not allowed to put in a ball, because apparently it got washed away by the waves, so only the net remains...

My two super heroes had a fun time digging for treasure (pretty stones) in the sand, and I am to make a pirate bin, and use the beach in here....

The only twist in this sensory bin is that I used baking soda (colored yellow) instead of sand. I saw these wonderful post on "bath dirt" and other wonderful tactile bath fun, and wanted to give it a try. So the "bath sand" is getting played in the sensory bin now, and later on will make a transition into the bath tub, along with the grow in the water ocean animals, before it gets washed out!

Linked up to:
Screen Free Activities and Resources, Stress-Free Sunday, Link & Learn, Montessori Monday, Monday Kid Corner, and Tot School Gathering Place