Fun Kids' Birthday Parties

Your guide to throw age-appropriate home-made fun kids’ birthday parties​

Chemical reaction meet Sea Life: Sensory Bin for Preschoolers

Does your child like sea animals? Elevate their interest to a new level with this effervescent sensory bin that uses a simple, yet exciting chemical reaction. You can make a sea theme by combining this bin with the other ocean sensory bins: Gooey Sea Animals and Clean the Ocean.

Chemical reactions meet sea life

What is a sensory bin?

Sensory bins are containers filled with a range of materials that engage children’s senses. From water and sand to rice, flour, dry beans, shaving cream and more—these engaging bin fillers offer endless possibilities for creative play, tailored to your child’s age.

What makes sensory bins so irresistible to children?

Sensory bins offer a range of sensory experiences for all the five senses: sound, smell, taste, sight and touch. This sensory input provide children an opportunity to fully immerse in the present moment. As they immerse themselves into play, they pay attention to the different materials they are manipulating in a calm and relaxed way.

Why are sensory bins the perfect activity for birthday party celebrations?

As mentioned before. children get involved in play using all their five senses. If the sensory bin is big enough for 3 to 5 children to play simultaneously, then fun is almost guaranteed throughout the entire party.

Chemical Reactions Meet Sea Life sensory bin Recipe

In this activity, I used baking soda (or bicarb soda), blue food coloring, and white vinegar as the main ingredients. When mixed together they create a fizzy reaction. My son called that a volcano! The result is a fun and bubbly experience for the touch, sight and sound. Children will be stunned as they pretend they are little scientists using pipettes and droppers.

What you will need?

  • 1 Plastic container, not too large. I used a 31cmx41cm or 12″x16″
  • Optional: 1 other plastic container that is larger than the other one. It is just to keep everything in a same bin.
  • 1/2 liter or 2 cups of white vinegar
  • 500 g or 1lb of baking soda
  • Ocean life figurines
  • Blue food coloring
  • 2 droppers
  • 4 Pipettes
  • 1 small bucket or jar
  • 1 Plastic cup
Chemical reactions meet sea life ingredients

How to make it?

  1. Dye the vinegar by adding a few drops of blue food coloring. You can put as much or as little as you like.
    Colored water
  2. Add your sea life figurines into the plastic container.
    Chemical reactions meet sea life ingredients: add figurines
  3. Cover all the animals with baking soda.
    Chemical reactions meet sea life ingredients: cover animals with baking soda
  4. Put your (not so) small container into the bigger one. Add the small bucket of vinegar and the cup with the droppers and pipettes to the side.
    Chemical reactions meet sea life ingredients: put everything together
  5. Done! Let the kids be captivated watching sea creatures amid this magical chemical reaction.
Chemical reactions meet sea life: chemical reaction
Chemical reactions meet sea life: let kids watch the magic

My son had a blast! He was a completely little scientist exploring the baking soda and the vinegar. He didn’t doubt a second in using his hands to touch the paste of the mixture and he started making up his own stories using the ocean life figurines. Not before long, he took baking soda with his hands and drop it directly in the vinegar. “A volcano!!!” That was his reaction when he saw the vinegar starting to bubble out of the bucket! Since this was so much fun, he decided to pour a lot of vinegar into the box to make the sea animals swim in fizzy water. He had a great time and so will your children during the birthday party! This is a win-win birthday party activity. It has fine motor skills, pretend play and science!

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