We recently discovered Giant water beads and it has quickly become one of our FAVORITE sensory activities. They bounce, they roll, they jiggle and smash. They are pretty much the most fun ever (for ALL age groups)! After about a week of loving the sensory activity, I thought we should try something different, so I got to work on pinterest. I found many mommy bloggers writing about painting with water beads, so we thought we would give it a try too! (One of my favorite tutorials using GIANT water beads was over on hello wonderful, an amazing site!)
All you need is an empty box, tempera paint, giant water beads, and some paper! It's easy peasy and so much fun!
I cut the sides down on a box we had waiting to go to recycling and we got to work. The box was a perfect fit for the paper but after one painting, we switched to a slightly bigger box (so it would be easier to get the paintint out) and I think she had more fun with that one.
Even though the idea I found online was to have the children shake, tilt, and manipulate the box to spread the paint, I like to set up an invitation to create and see what happens wihtout my input. I'm there to faciliate but not to dictate where an activity goes. Once Lucy had picked her colors I dotted them on the white paper that had been placed in the box. She picked up a water bead and started spreading the paint with it like a paint brush and making dots across the page. She loved it!
Once she was satisfied with her art, we swapped the colors and started again (with a bigger box this time)!
After using the balls like brushes, she decided to give shaking the box a try. So she picked it up and rolled the water beads over the paint and around the box. Sometimes they would break, sending her into fits of giggles.
Then we were back to painting with the water beads like brushes again. She went back and forth experimenting with the materials for ages.
And once she was finished she wanted her paintings hung up right away! We had so much fun and can't wait to try it again!
If you try painting with giant water beads be sure to let us know in the comments and tag us in your pictures on IG. We would LOVE for you to share your art with us!
Want to shop this post? The links below are are amazon affiliate links which means, if you clickity over to amazon and purchase them, I receive a small commission at no cost to you. Any compensation from the link goes right into Lucy's warrior fund to help us, help her, battle retinoblastoma. You can follow along on her journey using her hashtag, #lucythewarrior on facebook and instagram. xoxo
tempera paint (we especially love the glitter colors!)
want MORE paint that will last longer? Try this school set!
our favorite water color paper
