Water beads have to be one of my favourite sensory bases. They promote learning and development in so many areas; from fine motor exploration to science, maths, colour, sensory and even creative arts – the ways in which you can explore water beads is endless 👏🏼 • 🌟10 ways to play with water beads; 1. Scoops, spoons, cups, bowls etc - promotes scooping, pouring, filling and emptying. All the practical life skills you could want! 🥣 2. Add shaving foam - the combination of the 2 different sensory elements provides many opportunities for exploration and learning 💭 3. Fill a balloon or a bottle - a wonderful, calming sensory tool for little ones! 🎈 4. Add ice or freeze - again, adding the 2 elements together provides a whole new variety of learning. Defrost the ice and explore the jelly texture, or investigate the new layer of cold beads for a great time! 🧊 5. Smashing and mashing - add mashers, hammers or rollers to explore all types of cause and effect, plus extend hand-eye coordination 🔨 6. Add cooking utensils or to add play kitchen - water beads become a great play cooking item for little ones 🍽 7. Colour sorting - opportunities to discuss all the colours you can see and sort them 🌈 8. Add light - the light creates a new sensory element to the play experience. A light box, glow sticks, waterproof tea lights or even fairy lights under the tray 💡 9. Goop - adding water beads to some goop adds such a fun topper onto an already exciting experience. The textures, the colours, the problem solving, so many learning opportunities 🎉 10. Just add water - adding water to your water beads really adds to their wonder. Search and hunt for them, fill potion bottles or simply just feel them 🌟
