Bubble Discovery Bowl

Something so simple turned into such a great activity for the babes I had to share it. The weather has turned a little warm here, and while the big kids are into their water balloons, I was trying to think up something equally fun and entertaining (and wet) for the babes. I haven't gotten around to getting a kiddie pool yet so the obvious choice was not an option. I had to get a little creative. Just as well. Good things sometimes happen when you are forced to work with what ya got ;)

I started out with a plain bowl of water filled with bubbles. Since the munchkin man loves his bubble baths so much I thought this might work. (I used the same bubbles I normally use in his tub so as not to irritate his skin).  He got bored of it pretty quickly though. I think largely because he couldn't actually get his entire self in the bowl. He sure had fun jumping around when I held him standing in it :) That was entertaining, but it was not freeing my hands up for tying water balloons!  So... I decided to throw in a couple of toys.  A little more fun, but again, bored fairly quickly. Eventually I decided I would just just throw in anything and everything I could find until the bowl was full of toys. Teething rings, bath toys, balls, plastic blocks, stacking cups, whatever I could find that the water wouldn't damage and would fit in the bowl went in! That worked!! He LOVED it! This, he found this VERY intriguing!

Wasting no time he plunged into the bowl, up to his elbows, to uncover the toys.  He would pull out a toy, play with it for a little bit and then dive back in for another. It ended up holding his interest for quite some time.  I'm talking 20 plus minutes (which is huge in our little baby world). Once he emptied the bowl I just filled it up with toys again. It was a little baby discovery bowl and he was lovin it :)

I love all the ideas for sensory bins I've been seeing but my little one is really still too young for a lot of things and everything goes in his mouth. This was our version of a sensory tub bowl for him I guess. Even though these were things he plays with every day, they were presented to him in a new way with a new element or two added in and it made for a whole new experience. One that he very much enjoyed I might add! If he can entertain himself for that length of time, in my book, that's a successful activity.

One last thought. If you do this...load the bowl up with bubbles! Originally I had (you could hardly see the toys),  but by the time I thought to grab the camera they had mostly disappeared.

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