Water Beads

Another great sensory activity is water beads.  The boys loved these and played for nearly an hour.  There are many ways to play with these, too.  Super Nanny didn't get any photos because her hands were in the water, too, but here is a photo from Google.

You can get them from Amazon or, in my case, I accidentally found them at the dollar store and was oh-so-excited to bring them home for Little Man to play with.

Little did I know, you have to let them soak in water for HOURS before they are even fun.  They come as teeny, tiny hard beads that are no fun at all. So I put them in the tote, filled it with water and went to bed.  The next morning they looked like the photo above and all of the water was pretty much gone. I left them there for Super Nanny to introduce (super jealous of her at most times) and she reported that they were a HUGE hit.

She let them play with just the beads at first, then added water to the tote along with some scooping toys.

Later that week, she poured the beads into the bathtub and let them bath with them and some glow sticks.  They loved it.  While the box says if you let them dry, they'll turn into tiny beads again until you're ready to add water, mine have yet to do so and it's going on two weeks.  They are just getting slimy and yucky now, so I'll likely toss them and buy a bulk pack from Amazon for the next go.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

1.  Water beads. Approximately 1,200 came in our bag which was plenty, but you can buy many different quantities on Amazon for pretty cheap!

2.  Anything that will hold some beads and some water! Pretty simple!

WARNING: These MUST be used under supervision AT ALL TIMES.  They are a choking hazard and are NOT EDIBLE.  The boys tried several times to stick them in their mouths because apparently they look "nummy."  THESE ARE NOT YUMMY. DO NOT EAT!

Edible Sandbox

Go to the About Me Section for more info on our home situation!

I have but one activity tote that I rotate out every couple of days to give the boys a daily activity for structured play.  So far, this has been the only tote that Little Man continually drags me to and wants to play with over and over again. The kids was devastated when I put the supplies away.

We tried two different types of "sand," but I think they were equally fun.  The first week we used oats.  Just a big can of the oats you pick up at the grocery store.  Who knew it could be so much fun.  The boys played for about 35 minutes, which is excellent for their age. We put little bulldozers and measuring cups in there and they went to town!  They scooped and poured, buried each others hands and even put their feet in at one point.  Unfortunately, it was a rainy day, so it definitely made a mess inside, but nothing a little vacuuming couldn't fix!

The second week we used rice and played outside! 

We used plastic Easter eggs this time for Easter themed play.  Again, they played for a long time, just scooping and burying their hands.  I think they really enjoyed the texture of the rice.

This activity is great! At their ages, everything still goes in their mouths.  We were surprised when they actually didn't try to taste anything, but if they had, it would have been okay.  Better than eating sand!

WHAT YOU NEED:

1.  Edible "sand" can be a lot of things.  Oats, rice, corn meal, Rice Crispies! Use whatever you have on hand or whatever seems right for you!

2.  Tote of some sort.  We got ours from the dollar store.  It came with a lid and seems to be just about the perfect size.

3.  Toys to scoop and pour.  Measuring cups worked the best for us and small Tupperware containers with their lids.

4.  Garbage bag or tarp to put underneath if you are doing it indoors.  The oats were easy to clean up, but if you'd like to avoid the mess, use something to catch them!