Looking for watermelon sensory play ideas? Well, you'll definitely want to try this watermelon sensory bin with scented soap foam.
My kids love playing with soap foam lately, especially my three year old. And honestly, it's one of my favorite sensory bin fillers too. Not only is soap foam cool to play with, but it's easy to make, can be customized in a variety of ways, and is super easy to clean up. It is soap after all.
Since it's summer, I thought it would be fun to try making a watermelon sensory bin with pink soap foam and black seeds. Because nothing screams summer like fresh watermelon.
This sensory play activity turned out so pink and so messy, but it was oh so fun! The only thing missing was the watermelon rind, as my five year old pointed out by asking, "Where's the green part?!"
Watermelon Sensory Bin: What You'll Need
For this watermelon soap foam sensory activity, I used:
- Soap foam - Made by mixing liquid soap with a splash of water
- Liquid watercolors or food coloring - To make the soap foam nice and pink like a real watermelon
- Watermelon Jell-O powder (optional) - In case you want to boost the sensory play aspect with a watermelon scent
- Black glass stones, buttons, pom poms, or craft foam cut into small circles - These will be your watermelon seeds
If you've never made soap foam before, it's really easy. Simply combine some liquid soap with a splash of water and mix with a hand blender, electric mixer, or stand mixer until it's bubbly and foamy. Alternatively, you can just use a foaming hand soap dispenser to make soap foam. That's actually the method we use lately because it's a great way to work on fine motor skills with the kids! Simply pump, pump, pump the soap until you have enough to play with.
Now, if you'd like to make watermelon scented soap foam, then you could mix in some watermelon Jell-O powder. Not only will it make the soap foam smell delicious, it will also turn the soap foam pink. But this step is completely optional.
Either way you'll likely need to add some red liquid watercolors (or food coloring) to make the soap foam a nice bright pink color.
Then finally add the black "watermelon seeds" to the sensory bin.
Your Kids Will Love this Watermelon Soap Foam Sensory Bin Activity
This sensory bin was like playing inside one large seeded watermelon. It definitely looked and smelled like one too! I mean it doesn't get more summery than this right here.
The first thing my boys did was bury the watermelon seeds in the soap foam. They would poke the different seeds, pushing them down below the surface of the pink bubbles. Then they'd swirl the soap foam over top so that they were really buried.
Once the seeds were all good and buried underneath the soap foam, the boys would try to find them and pick them out, one by one. Kind of like a treasure hunt or scavenger hunt. I guess they figured this watermelon play idea needed a search and find component to it or something.
After they picked out all of the seeds, they counted them all up. It's like a sensory activity and a watermelon seed counting activity all in one. Sweet! Then my boys washed off all the seeds in a bucket of clean water.
This watermelon sensory bin with soap foam was tons of fun. It's also a perfect summer themed activity for kids! Definitely give it a try!
More Watermelon Theme Ideas You'll Love
