It’s high summer, beautiful weather, and a perfect day to explore sensory play! Instead of using traditional sand in our mini-beach bin, let’s explore creative messy play with homemade sand dough.  It’s a sensory gold mine, plus it’s only 3 basic household ingredients — flour, water, & oil + sand.  Total set-up time — just 15 minutes.  Let’s break it down!

Total cost =$0!! Now, those are the best sensory bins — very rare indeed! We had everything to make the dough, plus the bin, rocks, and gems all from the dollar store.  The sea shells are from various trips to the beach, but you can also buy them at Michaels, JoAnn’s, and Hobby Lobby with a coupon. Yup, it’s that simple and super fun! All the different textures are a sensory delight.

Pinch, pinch — go crab! Little C was so determined to get those shiny gems!

We took our bin to the table for more doughy fun! See called his gem dough creation a “sand dollar.” We spread loose sand on the table to make the dough even grittier.

Our large sea shells doubled as a shovel and mold for the dough.

I love his intense concentration here — so close! C loved his mini-beach sensory bin — super easy to set up and clean-up! For more sensory bin fun, click here.  For a variety of budget-friendly sensory crafts, click here.

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