Two mini citrus scented colored soap foam sensory bins for toddlers and preschoolers. Your kids are going to love these!
Our go-to sensory play activity is usually something with water or something with soap foam. Especially in the summer. Both just feel so cool and refreshing on a hot day.
And soap foam is just one of those homemade sensory play materials that my kids love. They seriously can't get enough of it.
Now if you've never played with soap foam before, then you're missing out. It is delightfully fun to play with. It's also ridiculously easy to make, especially since exact measurements don't matter too much. And, if you know me, then you know I don't measure things much even when I cook, which drives my husband crazy...
Anyway, I recently made two mini sensory bins with citrus scented and colored soap foam for my kids and they loved it! They smell sooooo good.
Citrusy Colored Soap Foam: What You'll Need
Here's what you'll need for this colorful soap foam sensory play:
- Soap foam - Made by mixing liquid soap with a splash of water until it forms a nice bubbly foam
- Pink or red and orange liquid watercolors or food coloring - We are making coloured soap foam after all
- Grapefruit and mandarin orange essential oils - It's how we'll make this fluffy soap foam citrus scented
To whip up a batch of soap foam, simply mix the liquid soap with a splash of water until it's nice and foamy. I used an electric hand mixer, but you can also use a stand mixer or even a whisk. It's a ridiculously easy sensory play recipe!
Next we need to add some coloring and some essential oils to the soap foam to make them citrusy in terms of both smell and color. We went with pink grapefruit and mandarin orange scents for ours.
To make the pink grapefruit soap foam, add neon pink food coloring or liquid watercolors until the foam becomes a nice dreamy pink color. Then add a drop or two of grapefruit essential oil. You don't need much if you're making a small sensory bin like we did. Mix until well combined.
For the orange soap foam, you'll need orange liquid watercolors and a drop or two of mandarin orange essential oil. Now, I totally forgot that I had orange liquid watercolors so I used red and yellow food coloring instead. Mix until well combined.
And yes, these little sensory bins of soap foam smelled good enough to eat! Although, please do not eat them (obviously). It's soap, people.
These Citrusy Sensory Bins are Such a Fun Sensory Play Experience
The first thing both boys did was give the sensory bins a big old smell test. My oldest J really loved the smell of the orange soap foam.
Since I made two mini sensory bins here, each of my boys were able to each claim one bin for themselves. K went with orange and J went with pink grapefruit. They loved swishing their hands around in this colorful sensory foam. It feels so silky and smooth.
And what does one normally do with soap? Well, you clean stuff with it. Teaching important life skills is just one of the many sensory play benefits of activities like this one. First, the kids washed the siding on the sunroom.
Then the Little Tikes climber. The colorful soap foam almost blends right in with it.
Then next up was the ride-on car. It definitely needed a wash after the winter. I absolutely love this action shot of K washing the car. The way the soap foam bubbles splash around and the hint of a smile on his face...what's not to love?
My kids had so much for with these mini citrus scented colored soap foam sensory bins! They smelled so yummy and refreshing - perfect for summer!
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