Fun With Water Beads

We've been playing with water beads lately!  

The kids were wildly curious about them when I made the first batch for Katie.

Everybody in the house had to play with them.

They feel cool and smooth and squishy and they pop up between your fingers!

So how did we make them?

Water beads start out as the tiny little balls in the packets.  They grow in about 4 hours and absorb quite a bit of water.

You can see a little one and a big one to compare sizes.

I added a few drops of orange essential oil to the yellow batch we made first.  Making the beads scented enhances the sensory experience of playing with the beads.

This is Jack, rattling them back and forth.

This is Josiah, who never lets me take his picture, being a "hand model" for me.

And, as I shared in Katie's Tot Trays for June, Katie loved playing with the water beads.

The one problem we had was that I put the lid on the tray after several days of play and left them alone for a couple of days.  They got moldy.  :(

Miss Katie chose GREEN for our next batch.

This time, I used peppermint essential oil to add a pleasant scent to the beads.  

I also asked the kids to wash their hands before playing with them, and I did not cover them with a lid.  The green ones lasted longer, and are still going.  We add water to them when we notice them shrinking from dehydration.  It's hot & dry here, so they get smaller in a couple days.

I got my water beads on Amazon (affiliate link) but I imagine you can find them locally in the garden or floral department, as well.  They're used to keep plants from drying out.


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