Spring Water Bead Sensory Bin for the Light Table

Attention water bead fans! Here’s a spring water bead sensory bin for hours of fun!

We love spring but in our neck of the woods spring usually means rain, and lots of it, so we have to find spring activities that bring spring to us in other ways.  Sensory bins are a great way to explore the world around us and water beads are one of our favorite sensory bin fillers, so to build on that I put together this spring water bead light table sensory bin! It’s a great activity for fine motor skills and color sorting too.

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Spring Water Bead Sensory Bin for the Light Table

This month our Light & Reflections Series is all about all things spring so our spring sensory bin is a perfect fit. Don’t forget to check below for more spring light play activities from others in the collaborative series!

For this spring water bead sensory bin I used:

• Water beads
• Plastic flower table decorations (Dollar Tree find but I’ve seen similar ones at large craft stores)
• Tongs
• Flower-shaped sink strainer  (I found ours at a local store, Fred Meyer [Kroger], but it’s kind of like this one)
• Containers for sorting

I made this one specifically for the light table so I wanted materials that were translucent but we did also use it off the light table and it is just as usable and fun! Although maybe not as cool as it is on the light table 😉 

There’s lots of sorting, scooping, and dumping to be had with this sensory bin and my daughter loved every minute of it! The plastic flowers were just the right size for her to pick them up with the tongs, which is a skill she has just recently mastered.

Related: Try our gardening sensory bin for more spring sensory play

My kids love the texture and feel of water beads. They really are one of our favorite sensory bin fillers. They are great for fine motor skills because they require a lot of focus to scoop and pick up. 

In addition to fine motor skills, the girls did lots of color matching practice and counting practice. They would sort the flowers by color, then counted each set of colored flowers and compared them to the other ones. They even decided which one had more or less! Adds a fun beginning math element to this simple spring water bead sensory bin. 

I try to keep our sensory bins fairly simple; a filler material, a few tools for sorting/scooping, and one or two additional items to sort or create with. My toddler is going through a phase where she is easily overwhelmed when things have too many parts or too much going.  Which then leads to her becoming frustrated and uninterested in the activities. Keeping our sensory bin activities simple helps her focus on things for longer. 

Want more fun spring activities? Check out our DIY Bird Feeders or our easy Pony Bead Suncatchers (no melting required)!

Hop over and check out the fun kid’s activities for spring light play:

Easter Eggs on the Light Table at Still Playing School

{Touch & Feel} Spring Suncatchers at Happily Ever Mom

Spring Mirror Drawings at And Next Comes L

Are you a busy home daycare provider, teacher, or homeschooler looking for more in-depth hands-on lesson plans? Don’t forget to check out our kid-approved themed lesson plans! You can find individual units or a full year of preschool lesson plans! Click the image to learn more:

Looking for more crafts and activities? Check out our index for 100+ plus kids activities! Find activities by theme, materials, skills, age and much more!