Waterbeads!!

For Christmas K asked for orbees. Here is a link if you don't know what they are. In the crafting world they are known as waterbeads. Regardless of what they are called, K LOVES them. When we first made some she carried them around in a cup for days. The kids go crazy for them. I have to admit, they are really cool to feel and play with. Even mama has gotten in on the fun with her. A new FAVORITE and INSPIRING website that I found a while ago has a ton of activities using water beads. The website is Play at home mom. These moms are awesome and have inspired me to redirect my outlook on playtime, games, and activities for my kids. They use a light table for a huge portion of their daily activities. Of course waterbeads is one of the activities that they use the light table for. If you look at the website you will see how light adds a whole new dimension to it. We are currently working on building our own light table (a blog about our process will follow once it is finished) and we can't wait to use it for waterbeads. For now though, K still finds other ways to play with them on a daily basis. I snapped a quick picture of her playing with them last night. They are very slippery so we have her play with them in a large Tupperware bin so they don't go bouncing all over the playroom. Not that I mind the mess, I just don't want them getting lost or squished. I recently bought some plastic fish that squirt water from dollar tree. She decided to pretend the waterbeads was an ocean and used the fish to play with. I love how she is using her imagination. She has also used bowls, spoons, measuring cups etc to cook and have tea parties with the waterbeads. The possibilities are endless.
Here is K at play. She is playing on the train table which we are in the process of converting into a light table.