Simple and Fun Ocean Themed Sensory Bin

Sensory bins are a great way to keep younger children busy. This ocean themed sensory bin is very simple and fun to make!

After hearing about water beads for several years, I finally broke down and bought some. These were such a hit with all of my kids, including the teens! 🙂

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Ocean Themed Sensory Bin

Note: This activity is not recommended for children who may put small items in their mouth. 

Here are the supplies I used for this ocean themed sensory bin:

• Plastic Box for sensory bin (these are my favorite)
• Water Beads (You can get just blue beads and white beads, or  mixed ocean colors, like these.)
• Baby Sea Life TOOB

How to Create an Ocean Sensory Bin

This sensory bin is super easy to put together!

First, add water to the beads.

One thing that complicated my bin was that I had a container of rainbow-colored water beads.

I had to go through and separate out the clear, blue, and green beads I wanted for this bin. Thankfully, I have older children who were willing to help! 🙂

You can buy a container that just contains ocean colors (like this one), but I just used what I had on hand.

I love the fact that one container of water beads goes a very long way!

One teaspoon of dried beads makes about 2 cups of rehydrated beads. We’ve already used them several times, and the jar is still almost completely full!

After the beads have rehydrated, drain the water off of them. Or, you can leave the water.

I had drained the water off of my beads, and my kids thought it was more fun to have the water, so we actually added some additional water to our bin.

Important Note: Although these beads are advertised as non-toxic, always use supervision with younger children who put things in their mouth to avoid possible choking hazards.

Next, put the hydrated water beads into your sensory bin container.

You could also add various cups and containers to use for scooping up the beads.

My son enjoyed filling a measuring cup with the beads and then burying the animals inside.

Add the TOOB of sea animals.

And that’s it!

This sensory bin is so beautiful and it’s fun to play with! It was definitely a hit with my kids.

I’ve used a variety of containers for our sensory bins through the years, and this one has to be my all-time favorite. It’s just the right size and depth, and it comes with a lid.

If you have more than one of these containers with the lids on, they’re stackable, which is extra convenient!

I keep mine stacked on one of our school shelves so they can be played with during read aloud time or whenever we need a fun diversion.

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