Scented Water Sensory Bin for Spring

Oh how I love simple learning activities in my preschool classroom! I can set them up with little or no fuss, but they’re still fun and meaningful for the kiddos. Here’s a recent spring-scented sensory bin my preschoolers enjoyed!

scooping spring-scented bubbles in a sensory bin

Related: Simple Sensory Activities

sensory bin brings spring scents into play

Back in September, the students had a blast with an incredibly easy apple sensory table. We’ve done a variety of water-based play since then, but we hadn’t used scented water in a while. So I updated that bin a bit by adding some spring flair. Based on the kids’ reaction, you would have thought I’d reinvented the wheel! 🙂

Materials (affiliate links)
Warm water
Flower-scented shampoo (ours was on sale for $1 at the grocery store)
Measuring scoops
Funnels
Water table

Set Up
I filled our sensory table with warm water, then added a dash of scented shampoo. I set scoops and funnels out near the sensory bin and let the children get into it!

Funneling flower-scented bubbles in a sensory bin

How the Kids Played
A few children immediately exclaimed, “oooooh, bubbles!” and delved right into the scented water. For a while, they just used their hands to play in the water and the bubbles. One child, in particular, seemed very soothed by the temperature of the water and the lavender scent.

Enjoying the water and bubbles in a spring sensory bin

Then came tons of scooping, pouring, and funneling with the water table tools. Some children tried to measure how many bubbles were in each bin. I don’t think a conclusion was ever reached, though. They giggled, lost count, and started over many different times! It’s the thought that counts, right?

Having fun exploring flower-scented water in a spring sensory bin

For the first day, the children were content with that. Then they remembered all of those little animals I have! We had sharks, trains, dogs, and snakes all decide to join in the water fun at that point! The boys and girls created some fun stories at this point. There were trains that needed to be washed because they’d been stuck in mud. Sharks and snakes were playing hide and seek in the bubbles. Dogs were barking to protest being washed. Needless to say, a lot of fun was had!

I emptied the water each day and rinsed off the toys, adding fresh water and shampoo the next morning. We did this every day for a week, with requests for more soon!

What’s your kids’/students’ favorite spring sensory bin activity? Have you tried scented water with them before?

Spring Lesson Plans for Preschool

Save time and jump right into hands-on, multi-sensory learning fun with done-for-you lesson plans. Each of our preschool lesson plan packs come with:

Printable plans (both a one-sheet grid plan and multi-page plans that describe the learning activities)
Whole group ideas
Small group activities
Center time activities
Book suggestions
Related printables (read below the photo for specific printables)
Blank, editable lesson plan outlines in case you want to rearrange a few things on your own!