Water Beads

Hey, Happy New Year...a week ago!

Sometime in the last 6 months I came across a page somehow (Facebook? Pinterest? I just don't know!) that if you have not been to, you will absolutely love. It's called Play At Home Mom and it is so full of ideas you might even get overwhelmed! They are a group of moms who post so many fun activities and ideas and have these amazing rooms set up for their kids to play and learn in. I admit it. I wish I had a space like that and am totally jealous. However, just because I can't do it all, doesn't mean I can't do some which leads me to an idea I read about on their site. Water beads.

I had never heard of these. They are these tiniest little seed looking things that you soak in water for several hours and they get bigger. They are normally used for plants and flowers instead of a vase just full of water. The idea that Play At Home Mom suggested them for was a sensory bin. We have our rice bin already, but I thought this would be the perfect thing for my one and a half year old. (I didn't think to take a picture of how they looked at first, but here is how tiny the package was. I got them at Michael's by the flower stuff.)

I tell you, these things are amazing! They are kind of squishy when they expand and I instinctively tried to pop them. (It doesn't work, they just break). My daughter was asleep when the beads had soaked up enough water, so my two boys and I played in it. I really loved it. They did too. They played hide and seek with some crayons in it (then I suggested getting plastic animals instead since the beads made the crayon wrapper damp.)

 When my daughter woke up she gave the beads a whirl. She did attempt to put them in her mouth a few times, so watch for that with little ones. Once we got that behavior (temporarily) out of the way, she had a ball.

The tiny package made a big bin fun and it seemed like the perfect amount. This is something I think we will have a lot of fun with. I love discovering new things. Thanks Internet for existing!