Fish Tank Sensory Bag – Day 11 Toddler Play Challenge

It’s been a few years since I made my first fish tank. It was at the first school I taught at and a parent helper had seen it on a child care course. After making them with the whole class it took several days before we could rid the classroom of the smell of cheap hair gel!

It felt strange this time drawing and cutting out my own fish and seaweed from the foam sheets. I used all of the 300ml hair gel but should have used less. I added far too much glitter to but it sparkles well in the sun. I used electrical tape to secure the top of the fish tank although it probably wasn’t necessary.

The first plan was to give Adam the fish tank as a sensory bag. However his immediate reaction was to scrunch up the bag so I opted for cellotaping the zip-loc bag to our living room patio door. This worked much better.

He explored the tank with his fingers and even his head! Throughout the day he would go up to it and push the fish around. Definitely easier to maintain than actual fish!

Update: Don’t add sequins or anything with a slightly sharp edge to the fish tank. We had several small leaks due to the sequin edges going through the zip loc bag. They were easy to repair though by simply covering the hole with cellotape. The fish tank stayed on our living room patio door for two weeks. The sun warmed the hair gel up which added an extra element to the sensory experience. It will be interesting to do the activity in the summer to see how quickly the gel warms up compared to the November sun.  Each morning all the hair gel would be at the bottom of the zip-loc bag and Adam would spend several minutes pushing it across the bag again.

Equipment:

* Ziploc Heavy Duty Freezer Bags (affiliate link)

* Cheap hair gel – Tescos 300ml is 15p

* Foam sheet

* Glitter

* Cellotape

* Electrical tape (optional)

Adam was 18 months old.

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Emma Edwards

During a difficult pregnancy suffering from Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) Emma vowed to make every day an adventure once she had recovered. Adventures of Adam is the outcome of completing a 100 day play challenge with Adam as part of that promise. Emma has a section dedicated to HG friendly play activities so that Mums can still be part of their children’s play whilst they are ill.

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