Fizzy Shushan

My kids LOVE fizzy play so I thought it would be fun to review Shushan, where the story of Purim takes place, with a Fizzy Shushan experience! Your kids will enjoy some fine motor skill practice, cause and effect exploration, and Purim learning!

What You’ll Need

Baking Soda
Water
Glitter (optional)
Bowl
Sand castle molds
Cling wrap
Sensory bin or tray
Small bowls
Vinegar
Food Coloring
Pipettes

Putting It Together

Pour your baking soda in a bowl.
Add just enough water for the mixture to come together when you squeeze it. Yes, you gotta get your hands in there! If you accidentally add too much water and the mixture feels soupy, add some more baking soda! You want it to feel kind of crumbly.
If you want some extra sparkle, add some glitter!
Learn from our first mistake and make sure you line your sand castle molds with cling wrap.
Stuff your baking soda mixture into the sand castle molds.
Freeze the molds overnight.
Carefully take out the baking soda Shushan molds by pulling on the cling wrap.
Set up your Shushan buildings in your sensory bin or tray.
Pour some vinegar into the small bowls and add different food coloring to each bowl; mix.
Invite your children to explore a Fizzy Shushan by adding the colored vinegar to the Shushan buildings with pipettes.

Finished & Loving It!

Fizzy play any way is pretty fun play but adding a theme just makes it that more special! I always love doing something about Shushan during our Purim learning so we can “set the stage” of the story. I loved our Shushan mural last year but adding a sensory twist this year was of course a blast (and well received by my sensory-loving kiddos!). It’s such an easy set up and yields hours of fun (and learning too!).

You could totally skip the sand castles and just free form some Shushan buildings but if you can find some cheap sand castles, it really does add a fun element. We had A LOT of buildings and “ground” in our sensory bin so there was a lot of fizzy opportunities and the kids played–and returned!–for a long time.

The kids also loved using the empty sand castle molds to scoop and dump the baking soda mixture. I set it up so that I pulled out the molded castles, then also left the actual molds in the sensory bin so they could use them in this way.

Anything using pipettes is great because it helps develop those hand muscles and practice fine motor skills. For the littlest ones it’s also an introduction and practice for understanding how to actually operate something like a pipette–it takes concentration and focus, as well as muscle strength, to know to squeeze, release and let the liquid travel up the pipette, then squeeze again to let the liquid out. Cause and effect in action!

As the kids played, I talked about Shushan and the story of Purim. And then I let them just explore and enjoy on their own. I really appreciate that they can enjoy absorbing this information (when it’s not an overload!) and then enjoy their free play. Learning and (through/by/etc!) play is the best way for a meaningful and enjoyable experience! Happy Fizzy Shushan play!