Mystery Sensory Bags for Baby: Beach Trip

For this addition to our Mystery Sensory Bags for Baby series, I wanted to stick with our current Baby School theme. Instead of focusing on a specific area of the home, I branched out and created a "Beach Trip" bag! In it, I included things that baby may need for a trip to the beach. I was excited because this utilized items that we have been introducing and reinforcing throughout this unit. For this bag I chose to include: a sunhat, a pail, a shovel, a swim diaper, swim trunks, a sensory bag filled with sunscreen (I always like to include something scented, and I had a bottle of cheap sunscreen that I could spare a bit of!), a beach book (I Spy in the Ocean), a sandcastle mold, a pair of sandals, a crab sand mold, a pair of sunglasses, and a toy boat. 

Earlier in the afternoon, we read a page in one of Kingston's favorite books (Tabbed Board Books: My First Words: Let's Get Talking!) about the beach. I pointed out the different items that you see at the beach, but more importantly we focused on the items that you might bring to the beach. These books hold Kingston's attention really well. He is really into pulling them out himself and flipping through the pages over and over again. I love it! 

Later, after a nice nap and a change into some fun ocean themed attire, I got our mystery sensory bag ready to explore!

Check out that shark booty!!

I set the bag on the floor and Kingston attacked it, pulling it over and flopping on the ground to peek at what was inside.

The first items he took out were the pail and shovel. He explored the shovel, putting it in his mouth and giving it a good chomping. Then he turned his full attention to the pail. He peeked inside, then kept reaching his little hand inside and seeing if there was anything in there. We put it on his head a few times and he practiced swinging it by the handle. 

Then I showed him how to turn the pail over and play it like a drum. He loved this and couldn't wait to try it on his own!! 

He took out the book and we read it together pointing at the different sea animals inside the book. Then he pulled out swim trunks. He immediately threw them to the side without a further thought, but I had a different idea. I told him what they were, and then I did something silly. I put them on his head!! It was the most adorable thing ever to watch him explore the bag with those swim trunks on his silly, sweet little head. He took them off after a few minutes, but the pictures were priceless! 

The next thing Kingston took out of the bag was the item I was most excited for him to explore, the sunscreen! The texture of the sunscreen in the bag was light, fluffy, and squishy. It gave off an excellent tropical scent that K was very intrigued by! He kept putting the bag to his nose, squishing and smelling what was inside. He played with the bag for quite awhile, examining it and feeling the contents. 

Next he took out the sand molds. He briefly explored each one. I pointed out the green and orange colors of each mold and told him what they did.

The sandals were the next item to be pulled out of the bag. Kingston loves to chew on shoes. Weird, I know. He is always trying to grab my shoes and gnaw on them. Granted I generally wear Crocs, which kind of resemble giant teethers, BUT weird anyways. I knew he would love to explore his little sandals. He turned them over and over in his hands before putting them in his mouth. He didn't let go of the sandals for a long while!

The rest of the objects were clothing and accessories as well. He took out the cloth swim diaper and we practiced opening and closing the Velcro closure. He liked the sound that it made! 

He pulled out his sunhat, which he had no interest in since he wears it constantly. I tried to put it on him, but he immediately ripped it right off! 

The last object he explored was his very favorite, sunglasses!! This boy loves sunglasses. He always pulls everyones' glasses off their heads or eyes. He likes opening and closing them, eating them, and just holding them. He has a bit of a sunglasses obsession. He played with these for what seemed like forever. I eventually had to take them away from him! 

This was another successful Mystery Sensory Bag! K enjoyed exploring his beach items, and this bag joined the collection of beach items on the mantle that he can explore when we are playing it that room (with supervision of course!) I am excited to broaden our MSB series with all different types of themed bags as well as our usual household room bags. 

If you liked this sensory bag, please check out the other posts in this series: 

Mystery Sensory Bags for Baby: The Junk Drawer

Mystery Sensory Bags for Baby: The Kitchen

Mystery Sensory Bags for Baby: Daddy's Workshop

Mystery Sensory Bags for Baby: Beach Trip