Aqua Balls Sensory Bin

This is the cheapest sensory bin I have ever done and the kids love it. I bought a jar of aqua balls from the dollar store. (They're normally used for filling decorative vases, called clear floral hydration beads)

I then added a few cups of water and light green food coloring. Before I added the food coloring the aqua balls were completely invisible in the water. I think that'd be a fun bin to play with, but I wanted some green for St. Patrick's Day, so I'll probably save that for a different day.

I added an ice cube tray for them to place the aqua balls in. They could use the spoon or their hands. These balls are really difficult to pick up because they slip right out of your hand and bounce away. Sometimes I have found that after a few days the aqua balls get a bit of an odor to them. However, for $1 they can be easily replaced for hours of fun.

Ocean Themed Sensory Bin

Materials used: water, food coloring, plastic coins, growing starfish, aqua beads, rocks, small bottle, netting.

I found all of the necessary materials at the dollar store. My favorite part of this bin would definitely have to be the water beads. I am not sure what they are actually called. (Some stores call them hydrating beads, but it depends on the store.) They are usually used to fill decorative vases. They are really fun to hold because they slip out of your hand and bounce. 

Homemade Lava Lamps (Video)

Materials needed: Bottle or Jar, Vegetable Oil, Water, Food Coloring, Alka-Seltzer Tablets

Instructions: 

Fill 1/4 of the bottle with water.

Add any color food coloring. We did red to look like lava and then made a blue one. 
Fill the rest of the bottle with Vegetable Oil. 
Allow it to settle for about five minutes. 
The water and oil should be completely separated with the oil on top. The bottles should look something like this. For the red bottle I ran out of Vegetable Oil, you can fill them almost to the top.

Slime Creatures!

Materials needed: Water, two 4oz bottles of glue, 1 tsp of borax, food coloring, bowl.

Instructions: In a medium sized bowl, pour out two bottles of glue. Fill up those two bottles with warm water and pour those in. Add some food coloring and mix well. I used the gel kind of food coloring, but any kind will work. Mix well. 

In a separate cup pour 1/2 cup of water and 1tsp of borax. Mix until the borax dissolves. Pour into slime bowl. Mix with a spoon or tongs until it starts to clump.

Pasta Play (Sensory Table)

Alright..kids will either really love this activity or hate it! My classroom was about half and half. I took a bunch of different types of pasta and cooked them. I left some uncooked, for a different texture. I gave the kids some forks to twirl the pasta with, along with some different sized cups. Most of the kids ended up making an ice cream stand that sold different types of ice cream. For easy clean up- tape a trash bag to the table. Simply wrap it up and throw it away after.

10 Spy Bottles Ideas

Calm Down Jars

Calm Down Jar

Materials: Jar, Glitter Glue, Water

Instructions:Pretty simple, just fill up a jar with warm/hot water. Add a good amount of glitter glue. I used almost a full small bottle for my jar. (pictured above). Close and shake for a few minutes. If you want the jar to take more than 10 minutes to settle, just add more glitter.

Other comments: If you are using this as a replacement for a time out, I would suggest using a cool shaped water bottle vs. a glass jar. That way if the child is really upset and drop/throw it, you don't have to worry about it breaking. Also depending on your kids, you may want to hot glue the lid on! If you do not want to buy glitter glue, you can use water, clear glue, and fine glitter. However, I had a really hard time getting the consistency correct. You have to shake it a lot harder at the start and for a longer period of time. Good luck :)