Activities with Water Beads

Water Beads and Shaving Cream on the Light Table

March 8, 2025February 22, 2016 by Stephanie Oswald

A couple of months ago we upcycled our Lego/Train Table into a light table. Well, that is if you would consider buying a square of high impact acrylic plexiglass and Christmas lights a upcycle…Since then we have been exploring various ways to play with a light box. This simple activity of Water Beads and Shaving Cream on the Light Table is by far one of my kids’ favorites.

Playing with water beads and shaving cream on the light table is so simple and mesmerizing! My kids would LOVE this!

It never ceases to amaze me on how the easiest kids activities are always favorites with my kids. It just goes to show that play does not have to be elaborate or complicated!

How to Make Water Bead Slime

March 8, 2025February 15, 2016 by Stephanie Oswald

My kids love sensory play and today they decided to get a tad crazy with their quiet time activity by mixing their two favorite sensory bin materials – Water Beads + Slime. Playing with this slime was so much fun and learning How to Make Water Bead Slime was an adventure in itself!

Learning how to make waterbead slime is a super fun science activity! Plus it is a fun sensory bin to play with afterwards!

This has been the stretchiest slime we have made. How the waterbeads and slime acted together was fascinating!

Frog Egg Slime! A Slippery Squishy Sensory Bin

March 7, 2025September 17, 2015 by Stephanie Oswald

Earlier this summer we were able to visit this amazing natural playground in Rochester, MN. If ya’ll ever go through there make sure to stop and visit (it is called Oxbow). While we were there we got to see Frogs and Toads up close and it was super cool. This experience spurred on a fascination with frogs for my kids. Ya’ll are never going to believe what this Frog Egg Sensory Bin is made out of, but it was perfect for setting up some pretend play while learning about the anatomy of Frog Eggs.

Frog Egg Slime! A Squishy Slipper Sensory Bin

Ok…so it looks gross. I know. But if you ask me Frogs fit into that slimy gross category. We just did this activity the other day and my kids are already asking to do it again. This sensory bin is a blast!

Hammering Water Beads

March 8, 2025September 5, 2015 by Stephanie Oswald

So…it’s no secret that my kids LOVE water beads. At least twice a week they are requesting that the water beads get pulled out. While I love sensory bins, there are times (especially when the weather outside is beautiful) that we need to be exploring more than a bin. Hammering Water Beads is a fantastic way to take a water bead sensory bin and extend the play into some gross motor fun.

Hammering Water Beads

The other day while I was talking to a colleague, they said to me that they were not into sensory play. That they didn’t care for the mess of sensory bins. And I’ll be honest, my heart sunk a little because I realized that some of the activities that I share on the blog make it seem like sensory play happens in a bin and is always messy. And that can’t be farther from the truth — that is just the type of sensory play my kids prefer. And while this activity is messy (because we love messy play) I hope that it helps get you thinking outside of the bin 😉

Painting with Water Beads!

March 7, 2025August 18, 2015 by Stephanie Oswald

Water Beads are by far one of my kids favorite sensory materials. The ways that you can play with water beads are endless and they are cheap! We have tried everything from adding scents to our water beads to freezing them! Our lesson this week had a craft that required Marbles and Paint to do it. While we had the paint, we did not have any marbles lying around. But…we did have water beads! We had an absolute blast with this substitution – Painting with Water Beads was a major hit!

Painting with Water Beads

What I loved about this activity is that while it was very messy, it was super adaptable to meet the needs of both of my kids!