Water beads are an amazing sensory material for children who are out of the mouthing stage.
However, even with older kids many readers still express concern in regards to choking. As an alternative to traditional water beads I am sharing an easy way to make taste-safe water beads at home.
Are you familiar with tapioca pearls? They are edible and feel almost exactly like water beads! Prepare them as we did below for a super fun play time for kids!
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Taste-safe Water Beads for Kids
Materials- Quick-cook Tapioca Pearls
- A Pot
- Water
- Food coloring (optional)
- A sensory bin or container for play
You can find tapioca pearls at most Asian food markets, or you can purchase them online here. Make sure you get quick cook tapioca pearls; they only take 5 minutes!
Method
Method
- Begin by filling a large pot with water and bringing it to a boil.
- Add the tapioca pearls and stir.
- Cover the pot and cook over medium heat for 5-7 minutes.
- Once cooked drain the tapioca pearls and run them under cold water for several minutes.
- Kids can play with the pearls once they are cool, or you can add extra coloring for even more fun.
Coloring Your Water Beads
- Divide the cooked tapioca pearls into cups, using one cup for each color of water beads that you wish to make.
- Add several drops of food coloring to each cup and mix.
- I let the colors absorb into the pearls for about 15 minutes, and then I rinsed them under cold water to remove any access dye. This worked great!
- The tapioca pearls came out vibrantly colored, and very little color was transferred onto hands during play.
It's important to note that tapioca pearls feel a lot like water beads, but they are slightly sticky. If your child does not like the stickiness add a bit of water to the bin.
Adding water eliminated the stick and created a lot of new & fun ways for the girls to play and explore!
Extend the Fun
- Make water bead slime.
- Use water beads to make sensory bottles.
- Reduce stress with bead balls.
- Make water bead sensory bags.
- Make GIANT water beads.
A Few Tips:
- Store your cooked tapioca pearls in water in the fridge, and they can be used for up to 1 week.
- While tapioca pearls are edible you would not want your child to sit and eat a ton of these. Please supervise very small children.
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