Our 5 Senses: Black Water Sensory Fun!

This is an activity we did during our “All About Me” unit to highlight our sense of touch. There are so many possibilities here, and it’s a ton of fun while also being REALLY simple to do. You’ll notice we’re outside, on the grass, which I highly recommend. Because when you turn around for 10 seconds and one of the toddlers spills the contents of the tub onto the floor, it’s really no big deal.

What they’re learning:

• Science – Objects that sink vs objects that float.

• Science – Using their sense of touch to guess/predict what’s under the water.

• Math – Counting the objects they find in or under the water and sorting them by category.

• Language – They’re describing what they feel using adjectives such as hard, squishy, long, and bumpy. They’re also naming objects as they pull them out of the water.

• Dramatic/imaginative play – There are infinite possibilities for them to create entire scenes and play schemes with the objects inside the water. Add a boat ⛵️ and suddenly they’re pirates searching for sunken treasure. 

• Sensory play – In the therapy world, we have a ton of littles who are not the least bit excited to touch, smell, taste, or experience new things in ANY way. Depending on the child’s level of comfort, I might opt to do do this without the black food coloring. This might be interesting enough to get them to put their hands in the water and touch something they may not have otherwise.

• Literacy – We paired this activity with the story, “David Smells” by David Shannon. It’s about the 5 senses ad the girls are OBSESSED. That’s ok girls, I’ve been obsessed with his books for almost 2 decades. I get it, and by the way, you girls have great taste. 😉

• Social/emotional skills – Learning to take turns and share in naturally built into this activity. If you only have a single child, they still get to take turns and share with you, so all is not lost. There is value in every social interaction, regardless of the age of the person they’re interacting with.

Materials:

* Large container to hold water.

* Black food coloring (I like Wilton Food Right Performance Coloring Set – Pricey, but consistently rich in color and a little goes a LONG way).

* Objects of different sizes and textures that will both sink and float.

* Water beads (optional, but so much fun to play with before you add the black food coloring).

I hope you enjoy this activity and drop me a line if you try it. I would love to hear about your own experiences!