I love finding ways to keep my kids busy during the summer that will keep them engaged and let them be creative without technology.
Water beads are so much fun to play with! They are a great sensory activity, and seem to calm many children because they are pretty to look at, and cool to touch. They are a great tool to beat summer boredom and they will keep your kids busy for HOURS! You can find them at your local dollar store in the floral section in small packages, and you can also purchase them on Amazon. These are the ones we have and they last forever because there are so many of them!
So what exactly do you do with water beads?
Here are 20 different ways to use water beads for summer fun play time:
1. Fill up a baby play pool with them! This is so much fun. Grab a small plastic pool from walmart and fill it up overnight, let them hydrate and surprise your kids in the morning!
2. Sort them by color into different containers. This will keep your kids busy for a very long time.
3. Make a shaving cream cake and decorate them with water beads.
4. Bounce them outside! Make sure to do this outside, as these tiny balls will bounce very high!
5. Scoop and dump them into different containers back and forth again and again. Try using a funnel and different sized bottles to transfer them. I love keeping lids and old take out containers for activities like this.
6. Make a water beads stress ball like THIS ONE from Bitz N Giggles
7. Play with water beads and mud! This is a fun, messy idea from Happy Toddler Play Time.
8. Make some water bead slime from I Can Teach My Child.
9. Create cupcakes with shaving cream and water beads. Idea from Mess for Less
10. Make a water bead sensory window bag from Parenting Chaos
11. Make a water bead sensory bottle! Learn how over at In the Playroom
12. Freeze water beads into giant water bead ice cubes from Learning and Exploring Through Play.
13. Stuff them into a balloon idea from Learn Play Imagine
14. Have a water bead tea party from The OT Tool Box
15. Use them in a marble run in place of marbles from The OT Tool Box
16. Smash them with a hammer! Now, I don’t think I would be this adventurous, but if you have a child that likes to smash things, this may be the best outdoor activity for them! Idea from Laly Mom.
17. Painting with water beads from Teach Me Mommy.
18. Use them as math counters during your math lesson, and while solving math facts.
19. Practice your fine motor skills with water beads from Still Playing School.
20. Put them in a bin and add your favorite Toob animals. My girls love the ocean creatures as a fun theme!
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Sarah is a wife, daughter of the King and Mama to 4 children (one who is a homeschool graduate)! She is a an eclectic, Charlotte Mason style homeschooler that has been homeschooling for almost 20 years.. She is still trying to find the balance between work and keeping a home and says she can only do it by the Grace of God, and Coffee!
