Want to kick off summer in a fun way? Make a GIANT foam sensory bin!
You can even turn it into an epic foam party with friends. Your kids will love it! Adults will too!
Making homemade bubbles and bubble snakes are always a hit with kids. A GIANT foam sensory bin kicks it up a notch for truly amazing backyard fun!
What you need for a GIANT foam sensory bin:
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- Tear Free Bubble Bath (we like Johnson & Johnson)
- Water
- FoamO Foam Machine (Amazon) or a handmixer
- Kiddie Pool (we always get ours at a local hardware store or Target/Wal-mart)
How do you make a giant foam sensory bin?
There are a few different ways to make a foam sensory bin.
- Foam machine- The easiest way to make a sensory bin filled with foam is using the FoamO foam machine. It makes foam in seconds and fills up entire kiddie pools without hardly any work! This is perfect for if you are hosting friends and want a giant amount of foam. All you do is fill up the machine with foamO solution and water (or tearfree bubble bath and water) and turn on the machine!
Pros: Quick & easy to use, makes bubbles fast for optimal playtime.
Cons: Costs $$ for the foam machine.
2. Mix your own foam- Don't want to spend the money on a foam machine? Just grab your hand mixer (or stand mixer), a kiddie pool, water, and tear-free bubble bath. Mix 2 parts water with 1 part bubble bath until you have stiff peaks and lots of bubble foam. Fill up the kiddie pool with bubble foam and play!
Pros: Cheap and moderately inexpensive to make.
Cons: Slower to make, requires more planning/time.
RELATED: Need some awesome outdoor ideas? Here are 45+ of our favorite outdoor activities for kids.
How do you make foam kid-friendly?
Tear-free bubble bath is the best way to make foam kid-friendly. The FoamO bubble solution can sting kid's eyes, which is why we used Johnsons and Johnsons's tear-free bubble bath instead (although any tear-free bubble bath works).
It smells good too!
How do you clean up a foam sensory bin?
The best part about foam is that it is easy to set up AND clean up! After awhile of play, the bubbles go away and you just have leftover bubble solution and water in your pool. You can dump the bubbles down the drain and hose off kids and the grass for easy clean up!
I was worried that our grass would die from the foam, but it did not!
How do you host a foam party?
Hosting a foam party is so simple!
- Invite a few friends over.
- Encourage guests to wear their swim suits or clothes they don't mind getting soapy.
- Fill up baby pools with foam.
- Play!
- Hose everyone off at the end.
- We loved adding foam to our Springfree Trampoline for some foam trampoline play too.
What are some other ways you can play with foam?
- Add some toys or other fun tools into the foam! We love playing with apples in foam during the fall or trucks or legos!
- Add some food coloring or liquid water colors to make colorful foam!
- Set up a slip and slide and add foam to it!
RELATED: What else is on your summer bucket list? Here are 40+ of our favorite "must do" summer activities.
Making a GIANT foam bin will make this summer unforgettable! You'll probably find that you have as much fun as the kids too. I sure did.
Do you have any other favorite ways to play with foam? We'd love to hear about them.
Just got the foamo machine! When using the foamo soap you do a 5(water):1(bottle of foamo) ratio. Any idea what ratio you did with the baby bubble bath?
We tried to do the same-ish ratio and got a big bottle of bubble bath. If you can’t get a big bottle, 2-3 smaller ones that add up to the same amount work.