What happens when you hide some toys in your next Rainbow Jelly Sensory Bin? You’ve just made your own indoor scavenger hunt in about 10 seconds. Dig, taste and discover all the treasures hiding in this simple and delicious sensory activity for kids.
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Do you have little ones who still love to put everything in their mouths? Check out this list of 15 Amazing Taste-Safe Sensory Bin for Babies and Toddlers. You’ll find so many fun and easy sensory play ideas that are safe for even babies to play with.
There are a lot of sensory activities on Taming Little Monsters. My kids play with them a lot. I really experienced the magic of sensory play when I first made rainbow rice for my son. At 18 months old he played with it for over an hour. Magic, it was pure magic.
Since then, I’ve also discovered a hack for making sensory play mess-free. How does a 1-minute clean-up sound to you? I go into all the details in my Taste-Safe Rainbow Rice Recipe post.
Related: What is Sensory Play?
Related: 8 Incredible Benefits of Sensory Play for Kids
Materials needed
- Jelly (or jello in some countries) in different colors
- A variety of waterproof toys
- Camera and printer (optional)
How to make a Rainbow Jelly Sensory Bin
Steps 1: Make your jelly.
I originally made the different colors in separate containers. Since I knew I was going to mix the toys in afterward I didn’t want to go through the hassle of making the jelly set in layers. If you can figure out a quick and easy way to have the jelly set in a rainbow, please tell me because that would be awesome.
Related: How to Make Taste-Safe Rainbow Spaghetti
2: Collect the toys that you’re going to use and take a photo of them. Then print out the photo to use as a matching activity.
This step is optional, you don’t need to have a separate paper for the kids to match the toys they find. Or a different option is to draw the outline of the toys onto the paper instead. In order to do this, it’s best to use toys that have a clear outline, such as blocks of different shapes, kitchen utensils, and so on.
In the end, my kids were more interested in just discovering what I had hidden inside the jelly. I think having the shape matching activity would be better for older children or for when you’ve done this sensory bin a few times and need to change it up a bit to keep them interested.
Related: Taste Safe Mud Sensory Bin – Perfect for small world farm play
3. Mix up the jelly and place the different colors in rows in a larger container. Hide the toys inside the jelly. You’re ready to go.
I have tried the Jello Excavation sensory activity from Tinkerlab before, where you place the toys inside the jelly before it sets. Then your kids have to dig through the jelly to free the toys. This would work particularly well with blue jelly and toy sea creatures. Then it looks like the sharks, fish and other animals are swimming in the blue ocean.
Related: How to turn a Frozen Peas Sensory Bin into 3 Different Toddler Activities
Are you going to make a Rainbow Jelly Sensory Bin for your kids?
Don’t forget to pin the idea for later.
