Sea Animal Rescue – Ice Cube Sensory Play

Florida summer is coming in HOT! So we are spending more time outside with water play. This sea animal rescue ice cube sensory bin is perfect for the heat and it is so easy to set up!

The concept for this ice cube sensory bin is pretty simple, freeze objects – in this case, plastic sea animals – for your kiddos to “rescue” by pouring water onto them to melt the ice.

Tips

I used muffin tins because the animals fit perfectly inside, some of the sharks/dolphins were a little bigger but I thought it would be fun to have some tails and fins sticking out.

We did use filtered water to make the ice cubes clear so Reign could see inside, they were still a little cloudy but you still could see the animals in them. Tap water would make the ice cubs more cloudy so I recommend super filtered water.

The Process

Put the animals in the muffin tray and pour water on them

 

Put the muffin tray into the freezer – I did this the night before so they were in the freezer overnight

Complete the Sensory Bin

I added some crushed-up cheerios for “sand“, and added some seashells to complete the bin. You could also use blue glass gems or blue water beads for the ocean but we are still working on not putting things in our mouths over here 😉

I gave him a small cup, spoons, measuring cups, and dropper tools to use to pour water on the ice cubes. After they melted he played with them in the water/sand for a while.

It took about 30 mins for all the animals to be rescued, with help from the Florida sunshine. It was a huge hit for him, he loved it and I will be doing this with other objects soon.