Water Bead Activities You’ve Gotta Try

Ready to jump on the Water Beads bandwagon?

There is nothing I love more than jumping on a good bandwagon. So when I heard about water beads, I knew that was an activity bandwagon that I needed to get on.

Have you played with them yet?

Because if the answer is no, immediately pause your life and get some. I’ll wait right here until you get back with them.

RELATED: Looking for more fun and easy activities for kids? I’ve got tons!

What are water beads?

Water beads are traditionally used in floral arrangements. They start out pin size small and grow to be marble sizes.

They slippery, rubbery, bouncy, and basically the stuff kid activity dreams are made of.

My kids loves them. I love them. The neighbor kids all the way up to middle school age love them, too. Why? In a nut shell: they are freaking awesome.

What materials do you need to play with water beads?

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• water beads (or try GIANT water beads)
• small colanders
• tiny hammers
• storage container

Water beads look delicious but absolutely cannot be eaten so you need to wait until your child has graduated from the “I taste test everything” phase.

Growing water beads is an activity itself!

Water beads start out needle head tiny and grow all day in water. Watching them grow might just be our favorite part of water beads.

It’s like watching Christmas grow from a tiny polka dot in a Pyrex bowl.

RELATED: Here are even more water bead activities!

Check out our go-to activities

Here are some ways we’ve played with these fun little activity gems over the years. We absolutely love them!

1. Good ol’ observation.

Consider this the first date with water beads. “Hi, how are you? What do you do?”

In this photo, we had them in a big Tupperware, and my son loved holding them, smooshing them (they go crunch and fall all apart – it’s pretty rad).

75% of what we do with water beads is what you’re seeing right here: hanging out with them and having a blast.

2. Sensory Bags

These were a snap to make! From left to right: Water beads in a little water, water beads in dish soap, water beads alone.

We taped them to the window just for fun and had a jolly good time investigating them, noting differences, talking about how they feel.

3. Colander Straining

I dumped the water beads in our big under the bed storage tub (who we live and breathe for). I filled the tub with a good amount of water and gave my son his beloved small colanders.

We had so much fun straining the water and trying to catch the beads. We talked about catching “a lot” or catching “a little”. Who knew water beads could get educational?!

4. Water Bead Hammering

Don’t be deceived: this is hard work. Those suckers bounce.

This is an easy way to end your time with water beads. They do make a bit of a mess once they are hammered so we do this part in the storage tub to keep clean up easy.

5. Water Bead Scoop and Transfer

This is a fun one for the kitchen sink. Some slotted spoons, an empty bowl and a little colored water makes for some fabulous water bead play.

6. Bead Pool (and Giant Ones!)

We filled the kiddie pool with water beads… regular sized AND giant sized. It was EPIC.

7. Frozen Water Beads

The last thing we like to do with them is freeze them. It’s the best.

Water bead activities are the best!

A round of water beads usually last about 3-4 days at our house and funny, all the neighbor kids seem to magically find their way here when word gets out that a new batch is brewing. Isn’t that a coincidence?

Even they know it’s a good bandwagon to be on.

Which water bead activities will you try?