Sensory Beads and Your Toddler

Have you ever "made" water beads before?  They are SO much fun!

I picked up a few packets at Wal-Mart.  I think each pack was less than $2 and they come in a variety of colors.

You pour them in a container with some water.  I used a plastic shoebox (one of G's busy boxes, actually!).  They are itty bitty, but start to absorb the water.  This is what they looked like after only about 30 minutes:

When we woke up the next morning, they were ready to go!

I did drain off some of the excess water.

We talked about some ground rules, like being gentle and not EVER putting them in our mouths.  I also sit right across from him as he plays.

He loved dipping his hands in and immediately started squealing!

We talked about how they felt (cold, smooth) and what color we saw. 

He asked to stir so I got him a long handled plastic spoon (from the Dollar Tree).
He loved stirring and mixing and "catching" the balls on his spoon.

We also added an ice cube mold and he (totally on his own!) began transferring the water beads to the mold.

Finally, I grabbed a handful of tiny objects and we named each one (so great for vocabulary development!).  Then, we dropped them into the water beads and played with it as a sensory tub!  He LOVED searching for the tiny objects and we did it over and over and over again! 

I let ours last several days and then poured them out.  As long as you supervise (which I do whether he's playing with rice or cotton balls!), they are SUCH a fun sensory activity!

Written by Jill

You may also want to check out our OUTSIDE Water Beads Sensory Table!