Water bead water bed

After making these baby-safe water bead activities I decided to upsize the sensory bag to make a giant water bead water bed... And it was just in time for the gorgeous weather last week - the perfect way to keep cool but without getting wet!

It was really simple to make and all you need is:
- some plastic sheeting (I used a disposable tablecloth from Poundland)
- some hydrated waterbeads
- duct tape
- water

I folded the tablecloth so it was 3 layers thick (I didn't trust Poundland to provide tough enough plastic sheeting for £1!!) and then duct taped three of the sides (tape-to-tape). I then put the water beads inside and duct-taped the last edge about 80% closed. Through the small opening I added some water and once there was enough added extra duct tape to close it off securely. And that's it! How simple? It felt very cool to lie on and you could feel the squishy beads through the plastic.

Next time I'm going to try and find some clear (but strong) plastic as it would be even cooler if you could see the coloured beads inside.

Tip: If you have someone else with you to help then I'd recommend filling with water at the same time as the beads and then duct-taping the last side in one go - this ensures there will be no small holes for water to leak out through.
  

How lush do these look? So fun to squidge!

Adding the water beads

Only *just* had enough duct tape to finish it!

The small opening for the water - I used a jug to pour it in

The finished product

Big enough for 2 :)

Fun to squish

Perfect for a sunny day

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Disclaimer: as with any activity involving your baby, use your own judgement and common sense. I always closely supervise any sensory play and always inspect items for wear/tear carefully before each playing session. Some plastic bags will be stronger than others, and some people will use duct tape more successfully. Always make sure you are confident with the safety of whatever your baby is playing with.

DIY light box

There are so many fun activities you can do with a light box but don't worry - there's no need to go out and buy one. Here's how to make your own...

You need:

A clear box

String of fairy lights

A thin canvas bag (or plain paper if you don't have one)

All you need

Place the lights inside the bag (to diffuse the light slightly) and put inside the box. If you don't have a bag then you could just tape white paper (this is the one time low quality thin paper is good!) to the inside lid of the box. You should still be able to close the lid with the lead trailing out so even when it's plugged in the box is still secure. 

This is what it looks like if you don't diffuse the light

You've probably got all the components at home already - how quick and easy?!

So far we've used it with our edible slime, in our baby-safe water bead play and during regular exploration of some of Iz's toys.

Love these multi-coloured sensory blocks Iz has

Examining the slime carefully

Squishing some water beads

I love that it's so easy to take apart and put together when desired and I can see us using it a lot in the future - but think we might have to upgrade to a larger box so both D and Iz can use it at the same time :)

Baby-safe water bead fun

There are literally a million and one fun things to do with water beads. Starting off by simply squishing and bouncing them. Have you tried? They feel soooo cool!

But they're definitely things you want to keep away from babies - when dehydrated they could easily be swallowed and then swell up internally, and when hydrated their size makes them a veritable choking hazard...

However, here are some baby-proof ways even the littlest ones can still enjoy them :)

 

Sensory bags

Pop a handful in a ziploc bag, add some coloured water and secure with duct tape so it can't be accidentally opened.

I double bagged them for storage after their first use and have actually kept them like that since. You can still see the colours and feel the textures in the same way but it's just an extra layer of protection from Iz's sharp little fingernails!

[Tip - I used the same method to secure the duct tape as I used in my previous sensory bags - see here]

Sensory bottles

Add a handful to a clean empty bottle, top up with coloured water and secure the lid with a glue gun. I waited for 24 hours post-gluing and then tried to open them myself. I couldn't. So I figured the lids were probably stuck pretty good!

Why you need to glue them shut!

Yep she even did her first proper crawl when trying to reach them!

Skittles

This was fun to play with D. He lined the bottles up and then threw a ball to knock them down. To make it more challenging he would say which colour he was aiming for before he started.

I also intentionally filled the bottles with varying amounts of beads so D could compare them and we could talk about biggest/smallest etc. 

Water bed

Initially we started with the biggest ziploc bag that the supermarket stocked. I filled it with a mix of different coloured beads and some water and secured the edges with duct tape. 

Love the colours :)

It was nice and cool for Iz to play with in the hot weather.

Then I decided to upsize it and make it even more fun for both D and Iz - so I made a water bead water bed (full post here) (trying saying that ten times quickly!). Perfect for the summer :)

Have you used water beads with your baby or toddler? What did you do? I've got some exciting activities planned for D when Iz is not also playing but always love to hear more ideas :)

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Disclaimer: as with any activity involving your baby, use your own judgement and common sense. I always closely supervise any sensory play and always inspect items for wear/tear carefully before each playing session. Some plastic bags will be stronger than others, and some people will use duct tape more successfully. Always make sure you are confident with the safety of whatever your baby is playing with.

Taste-safe slime

As soon as I saw this idea on BlogMeMom I knew we had to try it. Stretchy slime that's completely taste-safe?! Brilliant! 

And in the name of research we made a couple of batches... I don't know if it's just me but every American blog measures things in "cups". To start with I thought they literally meant a cup. After *extensive* research I've now discovered that:

 1 cup = approx 250ml

This may well revolutionise a number of activities/recipes in the future! Lol

So what do you need?

Psyllium Husk

Water

Food colouring

You can read the original instructions HERE

Tips:

• Holland&Barrett sell a product called "Colon care". Mmmmm nice! Anyway that was the best PH I found as it wasn't coloured, was already powdered and is very pure
• I got more vibrant colours when I added the food colouring to the dry powder and whisked them together before adding the water
• some colours still looked quite dull compared to others despite this (not looking at anyone in particular... blue and green...)
• microwave for 3 minutes, then open door, shut and do 30 more seconds. Repeat until the total "Cook" time is 5 minutes. We have an 800W microwaves and this strategy worked perfectly without any "bubbling over". But if your microwave is stronger (or bowl is smaller!) then you might need to adjust the times - never leave the bowl unsupervised in the microwave unless you want slime everywhere!!

Each colour behaved slightly differently - the green was more stretchy whereas the red was a bit more ooze-y

Batch One

1 heaped tablespoon of PH

Food colouring

200ml water 

The yellowy/green one was the most stretchy

  

Animal play

The ducks soon moved in

Testing the stretch of the red one

Examining the transparency on the lightbox

 

Ooooo slimy

Surveying his finished set-up

Play taken outside

Each animal was carefully given some baking soda "food"

Followed by a vinegar "drink"

Next we added shaving foam "snow" and did some fine motor practice with tweezers

Fizzing snow

Batch Two

1 heaped tablespoon of PH

Food colouring

250ml water 

Making imprints

Streeeeeetchy

The ducks came out again :)

Verdict?

D seemed to like both batches the same (and was sooo excited when I said we were going to make more slime!). Batch 1 was much more stretchy longitudinally:

Batch 1 was super stretchy

But Batch 2 made cool squelchy noises (which D thought were hilarious) when he put his ducks into it. And it let us make better imprints :) 

Love his proud face at the good handprint he left behind :)

Both batches were nicest to play with on the day they were made as that's when they were at their most stretchy and pliable. Batch 2 was perfectly fine to play with over the next 3 days, when it accidentally got dropped on the floor and covered in fluff. Batch 1 never made it past the vinegar drenching...

Batch 1 by the end of the afternoon....

I love how activities like this are so fun but also educational. We talked about the different colours. D used the word "squishy" a lot. He quickly learnt that the harder he pressed in, the better the imprint when he let go. He realised that the more he stretched it, the longer it got and the more see-through it became. There were so many learning opportunities, all without even trying.

Talking about the colours

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So there you go, edible slime (although I wouldn't personally advise eating chunks of it for obvious reasons!!). Safe enough for a baby to play with:

Blurry pic - it's hard to keep up with her now she's crawling!

Squishing on the lightbox

Have you made any slime? What did you use and how did it turn out?

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Disclaimer: as with any activity involving your baby, use your own judgement and common sense. I always closely supervise any sensory play and always inspect items for wear/tear carefully before each playing session. Always make sure you are confident with the safety of whatever your baby is playing with.