While perusing Michael's to purchase some submersible lights, I came across some giant sized water beads in the clearance section and I was super enticed by them. After all, my boys enjoy playing with water beads. Plus, these big ones were on sale for a big discount.
So, I decided to grab a few packages of them, even though I hadn't decided what we were going to do with them exactly...
Eventually I decided to start a series of color themed sensory bins.
Since the jumbo water beads that I found were purple, we started off our color sensory bins with this super simple purple sensory bin. It paired our new jumbo water beads with our new submersible lights.
What You'll Need for this Purple Sensory Bin
Here's what we used to make this simple color themed sensory bin:
- Water - How much you'll need will depend on the size of your container
- Purple liquid watercolor or food coloring - How much you'll need depends not only on whether you are using liquid watercolor or food coloring, but on how much water you use, the size of the container you're using, and how vibrant you want the color to be.
- Jumbo purple water beads - We found these at Michael's in the clearance section for $2.99 each. I used 3 bags for this sensory bin. If you can't find the jumbo ones, you could always just use regular purple water beads. Keep in mind that you will likely need to soak the giant water beads for quite some time first.
- Purple submersible lights (optional, but fun) - Alternatively, you could use purple glow sticks, but the submersible lights are definitely more reusable.
Please note that you will have to soak the jumbo water beads ahead of time as they take anywhere from 48-60 hours to reach their full size. They're kind of fun to watch transform. After only a few hours, they looked like little brains with all sorts of grooves. (Can you tell I was a neuropsychology major?)
Once the giant water beads are fully transformed into their full size, you're ready to put the purple sensory bin together. Add some water, a few drops of purple liquid watercolor (or food coloring), and mix it up. Then add the giant water beads and submersible lights. Then it's ready for play.
Here is how our purple sensory bin looked before the kids started playing with it. It doesn't look like anything fancy, but it's different and enticing because of the jumbo water beads and lights.
Playing with Jumbo Purple Water Beads
Both of my boys were fascinated with the giant water beads. They picked them up, dropped them, squished them, and swished them around in the water.
Eventually, both boys ended up inside the sensory bin. It's just what they like to do any time we do a sensory bin, especially one with water as its base. Unfortunately, K's cloth diaper got slightly stained by the water. Drat!
Most of the beads ended up being completely destroyed by J. Although I did manage to save a couple for my niece F to explore with later in the day. Here's J about to squish and destroy some water beads:
As cool as the giant water beads were, I'm not sure that I would buy them again until the boys are slightly older since they lasted all of 10 minutes before J destroyed them. After all, I would prefer to get multiple uses out of water beads instead of just having them as a one-time thing. (Although you can still play with the squished water beads in other ways, if you wanted.)
Regardless, the jumbo water beads were fun to explore in this purple sensory bin. What would you add to a purple themed sensory bin like this?
