Let’s talk about one of my favorite sensory items. On Pinterest and blogs, you’ll find lots of posts about “water beads” and using them as a sensory item for toddlers and preschoolers. For safety reasons, I don’t recommend them for children under three. (See safety note below.)

What are water beads?

Water beads are a water absorbing polymer designed to be used in flower vases. They look like tiny plastic balls till you put them in water for 6 – 8 hours, then they swell up to gelatinous marbles. They stay hydrated for days, even uncovered.

They are really interesting and appealing to touch – they feel cool, wet, squishy but not squash-able (resilient), malleable. Fun to just run your fingers through. They’re interesting to look at – really beautiful – brightly colored, shiny, reflective, and they pick up all the light in the room (they look great on light tables). They bounce. Luckily, they don’t taste like anything at all or smell like anything yummy, so not a lot of motivation to eat, which is good. (See safety note below.)

We usually use them in containers by themselves and let the kids sift their hands through them, but they’re also fun in a water table (use fish nets to catch them!).We’ve also used them with the marble maze.

Where do you get them?

They are sold in floral departments of stores, or at dollar stores, or can be ordered online (search for “water beads” or one site said to search for “polymers”). Orbeez is a good brand. I ordered  MarvelBeads Water Beads Rainbow Mix, 8 oz (20,000 beads) and have been working my way through the package for a few years! (One ounce of beads makes one gallon when they’re full size, so I usually only use a small amount per class.) They can be re-used. (see below)

Important Safety Note

Water beads are non-toxic, but that doesn’t mean they’re good to eat! If a child swallowed dry ones, they could swell in their belly.

You should never give a child jumbo size water beads! (Those that are the size of a marble when dry and swell to the size of a pingpong or golf ball.) These can cause intestinal blockages which can require surgery or can be deadly. (Some jumbo beads were recalled in 2012 but they continue to be sold. Learn more about the hazards.)

So, you should only use the beads that start out tiny and only swell to marble size. They should only be used with close supervision. If your child is under age 3 or an older child who tends to mouth things, avoid them or consider some of the more baby-proofed options for water bead play described on Playing and Learning Begins at Home, such as putting them inside a transparent plastic container with a lid. Or, make edible boba (tapioca beads) instead… see this post for my comparison. Or, Fun at Home with Kids recommends basil seed.

Set-Up, Containing Mess, and Clean-Up

They do need to be soaked before use. For class, we tend to start soaking them about 90 minutes before class starts. (They get bigger if you soak them 6 hours, but they’re a little sturdier when they’re not full size.)

They do bounce and they do roll. Some parents say that their kids dump the container all over the floor and it’s a pain to clean them up. My son kept them all up on the counter, and if one dropped to the floor, he would scramble down to rescue it and return it to the container as soon as possible. In my classes, I find most kids try to keep them in the sensory bin / water table but there’s always a few escapees that we try to chase down before they get stepped on and squished. Some parents at home have had success with putting the container of water beads inside another container (like a bowl of beads inside a cake pan) and that helps catch some of the strays.

If you soak these beads for a very long time (like leaving them in water for a few days) they do get a lot more fragile and start to break apart. So if I’m using them in the water table at class, I scoop them out of the water and let them dry a bit overnight. (Apparently some brands are always pretty fragiles and kids squish them into mushy blobs. The Biogel is more resilient than that.)

If you leave them in an open bowl, they’ll stay wet / expanded for days (weeks in humid Seattle.) If you want to dry them out to store, you need to spread them out on a cookie sheet so they aren’t touching each other and it still takes days to lose all the moisture.

Play Value

When my son was three, I got our first package, and they were a huge hit! They sat in a container on the kitchen counter all week, and every breakfast and snack time, he played with them – mostly moving them from one container to another and back again. Sometimes pretending that they’re dinosaurs chatting each other up. Sometimes just rolling them around with one hand while he reads a book, or running his fingers through them when watching a video. He used tongs and spoons to move them back and forth. For very little money, they were entertainment that lasted a long time. They’re also great in classes.

Want to see lots of posts on water beads and sensory play?

Just search online! Or, go to our BC Parent Ed Pinterest board of water bead ideas.

My favorite summary is on Artful Parent. And here’s “10 Ways to play with Water Beads”

Photo credit, beads in hand: 10MFH via photopin; Tub: LizMarie_AK via photopin