🌬Frozen 🌀Hydrogels Icy Arctic ❄️Snowy Sensory Bin•☃️ Winter Inspired Unit Study

Today, we are freezing clear hydrogels and creating an icy Arctic ❄️Snowy Sensory Bin. For the first time, you can buy this sensory bin through my new Etsy store ~ order here. (5% of profits will be donated to fight global warming.) Limited time ONLY get 10% off your Arctic Set~ shop here. 

First, grow hydrogels: pour water over dry gel beads and wait for about an hour.
 Wait until hydrogels are fully expanded. 

Put hydrogels in a freezer for a couple of hours: they will change from clear to white as snow!

     I also added glitter styrofoam balls, pom poms, pearl beads, crystals, and glitter.

 We added Arctic figures to learn about them through play.
To make the "ocean" I poured some hot water over the hydrogels, defrosting them.

The result: hours of small world sensorial play. We also learned about the Arctic animals, their diets, and prevalent characteristics.  We talked about Inuits and how their land was restored to them by the Canadian government. Finally, as the ice and hydrogels started to melt, we discussed the global warming and its negative effects on the entire ecosystem. You can PRE-ORDER this sensory bin through my Etsy store ~ buy here. (5% of profits will be donated to fight global warming.)

For more on hydrogels, see here 💫Magical 🌀Hydrogels • Kids ⚗️Science Experiment 💦Trick.

To observe how hydrogels grow real sped up time, see here a 🎥 video of how we "made" hydrogel beads in Sensory Exploration with Hydro Gel ❤️️ Water Beads.

For more sensory bins, see here 🎅🏻 North vs 🇦🇶South 🌎Pole 🌬Frozen 🙌🏻Invitation to❄️ Explore.

I wrote in details about the Polar Region's animals here in a post "❄️Polar 🌎Regions Unit Study • 🎅🏻 🇦🇶Land 🌊Water 🌬Air."

For more fun❄️winter 🙌🏻 hands-on activities, see here ☃️ Winter Inspired Unit Study.