DIY Frog Pond Sensory Bin

Keeping my smalls busy is key in these later days of summer. Not enough interesting things to do leads to mayhem, so doing some themed homeschool preschool weeks has been a godsend.  Especially hands-on fun like my latest DIY Frog Pond Sensory Bin: 

I threw this bin together with a combination of toy & craft stuff we already had, plus a few additions that will get more use in other projects down the road.  Really easy, and, best of all, not messy.  That's a critical aspect for me when it comes to sensory bins.  My kids can go from zero to wreck-the-room in about 5 seconds, so durability and minimal clean up are critical features when I plan my bins.  

  Since we're learning about frogs, our "frog pond" themed bin has lots of textures and colors, plus all the key goodies...like a lovely little pond complete with frogs in all stages of life, lily pads and dragonflies:

Some real wood logs for their frogs and salamanders to climb on:

And a large grassy area for all the creatures to crawl and hide in, plus magnifying glasses and tweezers from the kids to practice their fine motor skills with:

There are even some cut wood "stumps" for creatures to hide under and hop to and from:

I started with a piece of green felt as the base.  For the "water" I got these blue acrylic ice rocks from Amazon.  

A 3lb bag filled my pond area and I can see using it for more water-themed bins in the future, so it seemed like a good bin supply investment and much easier to clean up than water beads or rice.

I also found these foam lily pads there too that were perfectly sized:

Everything else was stuff I already had.  I'd bought some plastic grass squares from the craft store a long time ago to use as a background when I photograph small items for my shop.  Two of them was perfect for my section of land next to the pond:

We already had a bunch of little plastic frogs, insects and this lifecycle set to use in it:

We also still had a set of Tree Blocks from when my now teenage kids were small, so I pulled out some small logs and smooth wood circles to use (but you could easily find some free ones outside too):

 

I arranged the various areas and sprinkled the wildlife throughout and our sensory bin was now a nature nook:

Their eyes lit up when I took the lid off for the big reveal and they immediately got into inspecting the pond life:

And of course the magnifying glasses made my mini limnologists (people who study ponds) want to inspect all the details and feel more scientific:

It's been fairly easy to keep clean and I know most of the elements will get more use in other themed bins and preschool activities down the road.  But for now, we're loving our little indoor pond:)