Underwater World - Indoor water sensory play in the sink

This was actually so much fun to create and collect all the cute bits I needed to create a little under water world for Lil A and I knew she would love it. She asked for days afterwards if she could play with it again and would be at that sink for ages.

I've seen a few of these around (although for the life of me I cannot find them to show you as they looked so much fun) and thought they were a brilliant idea to contain some sensory fun and also great for hot weather or rainy days. Great for the imagination, sensory play and also ideal to keep away from Lil E who would just try and eat the small blue beads!

I think her face says it all here. Oh and don't you just love her hair she styled herself!?

The coloured beads are decorative beads used in florists to fill up vases of flowers or empty vases for decoration. You can also pick them up at most home stores and I've even found some in the Pound shop before - bargain! I then added her large shells that had been collected from various Cornish beaches by her Grandad on holiday and lots of little shells she had collected herself from Southend beach. Then I added some plastic fish and toys from her bath and it was colourful and complete. There was so much more I could have added but the sink wasn't big enough! I think what fascinates them is not just the water but all the different colours and textures they get to play with, plus the novelty of playing in the sink, of which she has done on occasion without much structure!

Next I want to expand this activity to include the kitchen sink where we can do some water 'cooking' using cooking utensils and things to float in the sink to fish out. I got this idea from the following blog:

http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2012/07/cooking-in-the-sink-sensory-pretend-play.html

And then also expand on this water play to include lots of water experiments to help Lil A learn and understand what materials float and sink and why this might be. As done on the following blog:

 

 

 

http://handsonaswegrow.com/2012/08/water-play-experiment-float-sink/

Aren't they fab ideas!? I would love to see more ideas for some water sensory play :D