Does the cold, wet weather have your kids climbing the walls? This week’s FriDIY craft is sure to cure boredom while strengthening your child’s fine motor skills. Plus, kids will love fishing and playing with the colorful sensory beans in one of our best water tables yet!
Things you will need:
- Finding Dory™ water table
- Beans (we used 4- 32 oz bags of Lima and Great Northern beans)
- Food coloring
- Plastic container with lid (we used an old cool whip container since it is recyclable and the food coloring will stain the plastic)
- Paper bag
- Colorful felt pieces
- Scissors
- Magnets
- Hot Glue Gun
- Dowel rod
- String
- Fish Stencil (optional)
How to dye the sensory beans:
- Put 16 oz of beans into the container and dropped 10 drops of food coloring onto them.
- Put the lid on and shake the beans.
- Spread the beans in a single layer on the paper bag.
- Let dry for about an hour.
How to make the fishing supplies:
- Trace stencil onto felt and cut out fish.
- Hot glue a magnet where the fish’s eye would go.
- Set aside to dry.
- Tie a 24”piece of string to the end of the dowel rod (you can adjust the length to suit your fisherman’s skill level later).
- Hot glue a magnet to the other end of the string.
Then, fill the water table with colored beans and your fish (make sure they are magnet up).
Ready, set, fish!
After the fishing is all done, the water table can be used as a sensory table. Kids will have fun sliding and scooping the beans in the table!
Manufacturer’s Note: This craft contains small parts and children under the age of 3 should not participate in this activity. The dying of the beans and creation of the fishing supplies are intended to be completed by adults.