The under-the-sea sensory bag is a project easily adapted for your toddler, preschooler, or school-aged child! With both a beginner and an advanced option, kids can get creative and make a project to provide hours of fun. Working on fine motor skills, this activity also allows for the use of scissors, measuring, and hand sensations to improve sensory development. Have fun and let us know how it goes!
Materials:
-Quart or gallon-sized Ziploc bag
-Blue hair gel (or shampoo)
-Silver and blue sequins
-Silver and blue glitter
-Scissors
-Plastic fish and ocean animals (optional)
-Ocean animal bubble stickers (optional)
For advanced bag:
-Sand
-Seashells (real or from a craft store)
Steps for Beginner Bag:
Step 1- Let’s get started! Grab your empty Ziploc bag and open it up. Put your supplies on a surface that is okay to get messy!
Step 2- Using your blue hair gel, squeeze it into the bag until it is about one-quarter full!
Helpful tip: Mark lines for halfway and one quarter on the bag for your child to pour it in up to the line!
Step 3- Let’s add some bling! Use your glitter and sequins to add some beautiful blue and silver decoration.
Step 4- Seal your bag tightly and squish the glitter into the gel.
Helpful tip: Get the air out of your bag before sealing it to increase the sensory experience!
Step 5- Let’s not forget about our sea creatures! You may choose to add plastic animals into your ocean scene. If you have bubble stickers instead, use your scissors to cut around each one, leaving the plastic on the back. This will allow you to keep your stickers from sticking inside the bag. Now, place the animals in your glittery gel ocean!
Step 6- You are done! Make sure to get all the air out again by laying your bag flat on a table and pressing out the extra air. Time to play!!
Helpful tip: For babies or toddlers, tape the bag to a table using painters tape on all four sides! Now they can squish without the worry of any mess!
Steps for Advanced Bag:
Step 1- Ready for a harder challenge? Let’s make our advanced sensory bag! Using your measuring cup, measure out ½ cup of sand and pour it into an empty Ziploc bag.
Helpful tip: Ask your parents for help measuring out sand if you need it!
Step 2- Time to add our seashells! Use seashells of all sizes to add to your bag. Feel free to also use bubble sticker shells in your sand!
Step 3- Let’s put in some “water”! Using your blue hair gel, squeeze in an equal amount to your sand. Your bag should start to look like an ocean scene!
Step 4- Now we can decorate! Get creative adding glitter or animals to your bag! You can use blue and silver sequins, glitter, animal bubble stickers, or all of them!
Step 5- You are finished with your ocean scene sensory bag! Don’t forget to squeeze out all the air and then you can play!