Water Beads and Light Table

Water Beads and Light Table

Water beads are a hit with every child I know.  They are squishy, slimy, and bouncy.  Who can resist?  And what kid doesn't like a light table.  Put them together for double the fun!

I will be creating a post all about water bead play in the near future but since I am working on light table activities I am posting this water bead activity seperately.

We store our water beads in a clear jar on a shelf next to the light table so my daughter can easily see them and ask for me to get them down.  Water beads are must keep out of reach item.  My daughter, who is excellent about not putting things in her mouth, has even attempted to taste one of these slimy little guys saying "I want to lick water".

A water bead light table game my daughter created during play

I made the light table as DIY project I did (you can find the steps here) so the light does not distribute as evenly as store bought light tables.  My daughter actually likes this better because there are shadowy spots.  She likes to try and corral all the slippery beads into the shadowed areas and then move them into the lighted areas.  If she has two colors of water beads she will put all of one color in the shadow and the other in the light.  She does not play like this with her rocks and jewels so I was surprised when she started doing this with the water beads.  It is a great way to teach light and shadow that I never would have thought of until she created it during play.