Jumbo Water Beads

We have used water beads for a variety of activities and the children really enjoyed them.  I recently found a source for jumbo water beads and decided to give them a try to see what they were like.

I purchased them from etsy but the same seller also sells on ebay.  The water beads were around 7.00 dollars for a package of 24 but the seller included a few extra in case of damage during shipping.

The jumbo beads start out the same size and the finished size of the original water beads.  Because they are small objects you will want to use very close supervision for children under five.

I put the beads in a bucket of room temperature water and made sure the beads always had enough water to cover them.  The instructions that came with the beads were not the clearest as to the specific time frame it would take for the water beads to reach full size.

beads after one hour of soaking in water

After one hour of soaking the beads in water they developed the look and texture of raspberries.  I was surprised how much they had grown in such a short time period.

beads after four hours of soaking in water

After fours hours in water the beads had grown larger and developed smooth ridges.  The outer area of the beads started to become transparent while the center remained solid.

beads after twenty-four hours in water

After twenty-four hours the beads had grown very large but still had some dimples on them which indicated that there was still room for them to grow.  The instructions stated the water beads could take 2-4 days to reach full size.

beads after forty-eight hours in water

After forty-eight hours the beads had reached their full size and and we did sorting of colors and sizes as well as counting activities.  The children also free
played with them in the water which was for a sensory play activity.

We observed the changes together and the children could pick the beads up while observing but I always made sure that I was there to supervise.  After the beads reached there full-size they are pretty hard to break by just squeezing them.

You can see a video of the jumbo water beads below: