Have you introduced your kiddos to water beads? Slippery, squishy, and smooth, they make a fabulous addition to the sensory table! The best part is they come in all different colors so they can fit in with any theme. We selected green (of course!) for St. Patrick's Day and came up with a few fun directed learning activities to enhance your kiddos' sensory play experience.
Cookie Cutter Estimation
Inspired by other activities we'd found floating around Pinterest, we unearthed our jar of cookie cutters and came across this great St. Patrick's Day themed set. 
{Here's the product link from Amazon. If you don't have any St. Patrick's Day themed cookie cutters, simple shapes will do too!}
Armed with a bowl of water beads and the cookie cutters, invite your kiddos to guess how many water beads it will take to 'fill' the cookie cutter, then try it out! We used this recording sheet for the activity...
Find, Sort, & Count
This activity is super simple, but loads of fun. Your kiddos can think of it as a slippery treasure hunt! Simply add gold coins, shamrock buttons, green gems, or other St. Patrick's Day themed items to the bin of water beads, then invite your kiddos to find all of the items hidden in the bin, sort them by type, and count/record the number of each!
Of course, free play with scoops, bowls, tongs, and other supplies is sure to be a hit as well! For an extra sensory element during free play, we also like to add essential oils/scents to engage sense of smell along with sense of touch. For St. Patrick's Day you might consider mint or lime!
