I have so many activities on Pinterest that i plan to do with Isabelle, but whilst working and with just general day to day things going on I've not got around to doing many of them.
I have decided now though that now i am on maternity leave i am going to try and do at least 2 new activities with Isabelle a week.
The first one we tried today was Water beads.
I bought these ones from eBay for 99p for 2 packs (click here to buy). They come in a wide range of colours for if you was to be doing colour themes for weekly topics etc, but i just bought the mixed colour pack.
They come in a tiny little packet and you wouldn't ever think they would come out as big as they do.
They suggest leaving them for 24 hours, but i got impatient and they had only been soaking for about 16 hours before i drained them out for Isabelle to play with. The longer you leave them the bigger they get though.
I didn't really prepare properly so i literally made use of what we had in the cupboard to hold them in. I am going to buy a large tray for the next time we play with them, or use a few packets and play in the paddling pool with them.
Even so Isabelle was very impressed with this new game to play and it was met with lots of "Ooooh" and "Woooow" as she explored them.
I gave Isabelle a wooden spoon and a cup to play with them this time, but again if i had more time i would sort out different sized pots and cups for her to use for pouring between.
She had a whole bunch of fun squishing them in her hands and feeling the texture of them and pouring them from them cup.
It held her attention for such a long time too, she was happily playing for about 30 minutes and would have probably played longer but it was approaching nap time so we had to wind it down.
We did get them out later in the day and she was just as amazed and amused by them so they are a definite hit.
The other bonus is, they are completely non toxic so you don't have to worry about little hands putting them into mouths, because as most parents of toddlers know, it doesn't matter how disgusting something tastes the first time they taste something they will always go for the second taste just to make sure.
As you can see here Isabelle cut out the middle man of the spoon & the cup and used her face instead!!
For anyone looking for a relatively messy free activity that is fun for all ages then i highly suggest water beads. Such a simple yet effective activity and the water beads can be re-used for a few days before being thrown away, so very cost effective.
No comments:
Post a Comment