We do lots of fun sensory play activities at our house. My daughter has Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) and the best way we've found to help her keep in sync with her senses is to play! We do all sorts of varieties of play involving any senses. We struggle the most with messy play because quite frankly, she hates to be messy. Which makes today's sensory activity even more of a success! I just grew some water beads and put them in a bowl then had my daughter help me squirt shaving cream in. She was kinda hesitant to start mixing it all up but quickly started having lots of fun. She didn't like the beads on her though, just the shaving cream which was interesting. If I were to do this again, I'd use some better smelling shaving cream. Barbasol (the cheap kind) is super stinky!!!
For those of you who have never used water beads, let me explain what they are. They are primarily used to water plants and floral arrangements. They are a tiny little bead that you soak in water and after about 6-8 hours they are big and plump after retaining the water. Then over time they gradually release the water and water the plants. I've never used them for that purpose, just for play and centerpieces! Here's where I bought mine http://waterbeads.net/shop/category/water-beads/. This website sales them color safe and non-toxic which is high in my priority list for sensory play. Seeing as kids like to taste them and squish them, I would rather not deal with toxins and beads that dye clothing! I bought 11 colors I think and they were $2 a color. They are a bit smaller than the beads you can buy at craft stores but those aren't color safe. If you want to try them before putting in a big order you can find them in floral sections of craft stores or Walmart and sometimes even dollar stores.
For those of you who have never used water beads, let me explain what they are. They are primarily used to water plants and floral arrangements. They are a tiny little bead that you soak in water and after about 6-8 hours they are big and plump after retaining the water. Then over time they gradually release the water and water the plants. I've never used them for that purpose, just for play and centerpieces! Here's where I bought mine http://waterbeads.net/shop/category/water-beads/. This website sales them color safe and non-toxic which is high in my priority list for sensory play. Seeing as kids like to taste them and squish them, I would rather not deal with toxins and beads that dye clothing! I bought 11 colors I think and they were $2 a color. They are a bit smaller than the beads you can buy at craft stores but those aren't color safe. If you want to try them before putting in a big order you can find them in floral sections of craft stores or Walmart and sometimes even dollar stores.
Nice & Informative post on custom color Water beads.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this blog!!