Water beads! Nifty, little polymer beads for sensory play!

! You’ve likely heard of them. They’re all the buzz in the preschool circles and among the kid-blogs at the moment. They’re cool, little polymer beads that start off not much bigger than a grain of sand. You soak them in water, and as they hydrate they get to be about the size of a marble. Originally, water beads were intended for floral purposes – to be added to a vase of cut flowers. They’re much more fun for sensory play though. At lease we think so! Have a look, and tell us what you think!

For your convenience, this post contains links to Amazon.com. If you order through these links, I’ll receive a small commission from your purchase.

I was so excited when my arrived in the mail yesterday, I couldn’t even wait for the hooligans. My son and I dug right in to them, and soaked them right then and there.

We soaked a couple of colours, and my boys tried them out last night and LOVED them. Matthew (13), said “These are the best things in the whole house! If I was in the daycare, I’d play with them all day”. I have to agree. They are SOOOOO cool.

Today, the Hooligans got to play with them. We dumped the 2 colours in a plastic tote and took them outside to play. They were a huge hit.

A big thank-you to all the creative Momma’s out there for sharing their water-bead fun on their blogs! I never would have known about these little gems otherwise!!