Water Beads

I found this play idea over on a good friends Blog, if your looking for lots of Arts and Craft and play ideas for Toddlers please do look over at Cerys' Blog Rainy Day Mum.

I hadn't seen Water Beads before so was very keen to try them out with Emmy.  They are actually Water Beads used for floristry and flower arranging however make a great mess free play activity - mess free always go down well so I ordered 3 bags of beads. 

I was very surprised when they arrived as I actually had no idea what to expect:

To make these work you need to add them to 2 pints of water and leave soaking for 6 hours.

You then drain the excess water from them and they are ready to use.  I dried them off a little with some kitchen roll but it isn't necessary.

I then put out some toy cups, plates and spoons for Emmy and she spent well over an hour playing with the Beads.

I learn my lesson after this play session - Don't play with them on a high surface as they roll everywhere - Whoops - Luckily our dog had no interest in them.  We then tried using a tray but had the same problem, I found them worked really well using a large storage box with high sides as they are contained, but best of all Emmy loved it when we put them into her sand and water table:

This is now a firm favourite mess free activity in our house.  (Once the Beads start to dry out you just add more water)