Fun day at the beach...in the backyard ;)

We had a blast and this might be the best $2 you've ever spent on an activity :) These are reusable too (just take the water out and let them dry out to their original size. You can get them cheaper online, which makes sense if you are going to buy more than 4-5 packs.
http://www.crystalwaterbeads.com/apps/webstore/products/category/450053

They are called water beads and are these tiny colored dots, drop them in the water for a while (the longer, the bigger they become as they suck in up to 100 x there weight in water) and the magic begins.

They are non-toxic and safe to play with but of course this is an activity to supervise your child over.

So, I started by showing her how tiny annd hard the beads were then added water. They quickly get a bit bigger and bouncier. I used today to talk about elasticity and bounciness. At first I let her use the dropper to extract water (I had shown her the ML markings last week) and handed her the turkey baster and on her own figured the correct markings in ML. It was so cute.

Later during the day, we went on a "ocean hunt." We looked for items that belonged in the sea: shells, stars, lobster, seal, octopus, pebbles, etc.

I set up the bin filled with waterbeads. The bin is from Walmart, paid $7.XX for it, 34Q capacity I think. Filled it with 4 packets of beads (green, blue, turquoise and purple) and  they were probably only 1/3 of the size they will be so if you soak them overnight you might not need so many.

She played pretend game for a while, eating Goldfish snacks (of course!), making up stories, singing songs, talking and experementing with the balls' bounciness.

Then of course she got naked and got in it. It feels SO good on your body. She kept saying, "It feels good, like a massage!"

Then, after dinner I got out some LED color changing ball I got at walmart (2 for $5) which lasts 16hrs and we turned off the light and put it in the bins. It was SO cool looking (pics didnt come out nice).

She is now having a bath with daddy and took the ball with her to try in the water :)

Doing it again tomorrow with larger beads FOR SURE!

If you can't do it outside, lay a blanket inside or do it in a CLOSED bathtub (you don't want your drain to get clogged).