Jack O Lantern Water Bead Sensory Bin

This jack o lantern water bead sensory bin uses black water beads as a base with hidden foam pieces inside. Kids can dig, find and create pumpkin faces!

The versatility of water beads make them a staple in my house, and my kids love ‘growing’ them, it’s a win-win for everybody. This Jack o lantern water bead sensory bin encourages kids to go on a little treasure hunt as they dig through the water beads searching for foam pieces. What fun!

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Jack O Lantern Water Bead Sensory Bin

These foam pumpkins are fun and easy for kids to decorate with foam Jack o lantern face pieces. This is such a simple sensory bin to put together, then close up to save for another day of creating and play.

What you Need for the Jack o Lantern Water Bead Sensory Bin:

Pumpkin foam pieces

Black foam

Water beads

Closing Bin (these scrapbook paper containers are my favorite)

To Make the Jack o Lantern Water Bead Sensory Bin:

Grow the water beads according to package directions. (These usually take about 4 hours or so, so plan ahead for this step.)

Cut jack o lantern face pieces out of black foam. We made triangles of various shapes, circles, smiles, eyebrows, etc.

Add the water beads to the closing bin, and then place the black foam face pieces inside.

Kids can explore the bin and the water beads, discovering the the facial pieces hidden inside. This encourages fine motor play and excellent sensory stimulation when running hands through the water beads.

The moisture from the water beads will moisten the craft foam, making it stick to foam objects such as the pumpkins.

Kids can find the facial pieces in the bin, and add them to the pumpkins, create cute and funny Jack o Lantern faces! Because of the moisture, these foam will stick to each other, but are also easy to remove, allowing kids to play over and over again.