Summer Sensory Play Ideas – Water Beads

Water beads are great for wet, watery sensory play. They are really cheap to buy – about £2 a packet – and come in lots of different colours. You can buy them from places like eBay.

Water beads are tiny hard beads of super absorbent polymer. When you add water they expand to the size of a marble and have a consistency like jelly. They aren’t messy unless you squish them.

They are not suitable for children under three years of age, or for those who are likely to put them in their mouth.

Water beads are great in water play tubs or with creative lighting.

In the photos above, they are in a cheap Poundland plastic cocktail bowl with the base of a small fibre optic lamp shining through.

Here they are in a Poundland plastic cocktail tub with the base of a small fibre optic lamp underneath.