Edible miniature Water Beads

 

If I could sum up today in one word, that word would be MESSY, which is one of our favourite words around here!

I have wanted to try edible water bead play for some time after feeling thoroughly inspired after reading this post by Asia at Fun at Home with Kids.

Safe Edible Non-Chokable Mini Water Beads

I finally got around to ordering the ingredients at the weekend and I was more excited than a kid on Christmas Day when they arrived yesterday.

These miniature water beads are made from Basil seeds, sometimes referred to as Tukmaria seeds or Sabja seeds.

I used these Basil seeds, ordered from Amazon uk.

Amazon UK - Basil Seeds

You can buy these online in numerous places (just google) or you could pick them up for less at health food stores.

Recipe

One and a half cups of water - 375ml

2 tablespoons of Basil seeds - 30ml

Natural food colouring

Simply throw all of the ingredients together and leave to soak for five-ten minutes. You may need to stir it a couple of times. I repeated the recipe six times to make a lovely rainbow.

Play Time

Auntie Lulu came to play today and we set the play up outside, knowing it was going to get very messy! As Buddy isn't walking consistently yet I decided to dress him in a sleep suit so that he didn't hurt his knees.

Buddy touched the beads tentatively a few times before getting stuck in!

Buddy enjoyed swirling his hands through the beads, making beautiful patterns and feeling the beads.

After a while we gave Buddy his bucket and spade to play with. He had fun scooping with his spade and tried to fill his bucket up with beads.

These beads feel fantastic. Somewhere between tomato seeds and frogspawn. They move as a fluid gel and cling together, yet you can feel an underlying cellular texture. They are so squishable and touchable, Auntie Lulu and I had to have a little prod too!

Auntie Lulu then scooped some beads up in her hands. After a while Buddy decided to scoop them from Lulu's hands into the bucket.

He then had fun playing with the beads in the bucket, until he lost his balance and we had a little spillage.

Fortunately, Buddy felt it was just as fun to play with the beads on the floor!

This play was so much fun! I've actually saved the beads to have another go tomorrow.

Messiness Factor

This is a VERY messy play. These beads do cling to clothes and hands. I even found one between my toes an hour later.

I always use natural food colouring in our messy plays and have never had a problem getting the colours out of clothing, but please be aware that there is a risk of staining with this play dependant of course on the washing detergent you use and the food colouring you choose to use.

Fun Factor

This was just brilliant. Buddy loved it, Auntie Lulu loved it and I loved it. We had a good forty minutes of play with this before moving on too our next water bead activity (post coming soon!)

Build on it

I read an amazing blog post this week by Multicraftingmummy where she created a giant ice discovery block for her children to explore (with secret treasures hidden inside, how fun!) You can find the play at the link below.

Giant Ice Discovery Block - Multicraftingmummy

When we were playing with the beads earlier, I couldn't help thinking how amazing it would be to freeze a block of them with hidden treasures inside!

So give it a go folks, have fun, make some mess and come back and tell me all about it!

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No Mess Paint!

 

I was having a browse on Pinterest the other day and stumbled upon this little gem from Mummy Musings and Mayhem.

You can find the original post here No Mess Paint Fun

I always welcome a good, mess free distraction so I had to have a go right away.

What you need

Paint

Ziplock bag

Some strong tape

I used some left over edible paint I had in the fridge. If you need a quick paint recipe for this activity you can find it here.

Baby Safe Edible Paint

Make it

Squirt as much paint as you want into the bag. Zip it up and tape it down. Done!

If you are feeling creative you can include different colours, glitter or some small objects to make a brilliant sensory paint bag.

Play Time

I decided to stick ours to the coffee table. I would have loved to have it against a window so that Buddy could see through it as he moved the paint. Unfortunately he has no concept of danger or height yet and would think nothing of head diving from the windowsill with no warning, so I opted for the safe option this time!

Buddy enjoyed having a good prod and poke.

He practised slapping the bag and was thrilled with the results!

Buddy went in for the mandatory taste test, I love the smile on his face in the second picture.

This was a brilliantly simple activity with hardly any preparation and absolutely no mess.

We have left it set up on the coffee table for the past few days and Buddy just keeps going back to it. I'm thinking of making a patchwork of colours all around the edges for him to play with!

This is definitely one I would recommend trying folks!

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Edible Baby Sand Play

This week I have been practising baking with my new bread maker. Needless to say the local ducks have been very well fed and so far I have failed to produce anything remotely fit for the family. These failures worked in our favour today however, as I had lots of loaves of bread sitting around just waiting to made into a new sensory play.

After a good browse on Pinterest I decided to make some edible sand.

The inspiration for this play came from;

Hands On As We Grow - Indoor, edible sand box Thanks for the oatmeal inspiration!

Happily Ever Mom - Edible sand for babies I never would have thought to turn the sand into a building site without this post.

And

Fun at Home With Kids - Edible pretend snow For the inspiration to use bread crumbs, which added a lovely texture.

The Recipe

I blended a bag of porridge (oatmeal) in the food processor. I had to do this in quite a few batches as my food processor is about a million years old and tiny.

I then blended a few of the terrible bread loaves I have made in recent days. Fortunately, they tasted much better when they were blended. I added a few drops of yellow natural food colouring to the bread crumbs to brighten the colour.

Throw in a few construction toys and you're ready to go! (Note to self, buy Buddy a hard hat for next time.)

Playtime!

I set this up whilst Buddy was napping. When we came downstairs his eyes lit up and he was immediately squirming for me to put him down so that he could investigate. Of course, I obliged.

Buddy had a quick taste test and then dived straight in.

Buddy had fun burying the Lego construction men in the sand and digging them back out again. He then spent some time examining the digger scoop and spilled sand all over himself.

He then scooped the sand with the back of his hand and let it flow between his fingers. You can see from his face that he loved the sensation.

Buddy then scraped his fingers through the sand, scooping it on to his lap.

He enjoyed making lines in the sand with his fingers, making pretty patterns.

We had lots of fun with hardly any mess. Bonus!

Cost of play

I buy a kilo of porridge oats for 90 pence. I used about half a kilo.

The bread adds a nice sensory element however it does shorten the lifespan of the sand.

If you just use porridge oats the mixture is useable until the expiration date on the packet - as long as no dirty nasties have crept in during play. Using bread will shorten the lifespan significantly and the mixture will only be useable for a day or two. Please use your own discretion and common sense for the longevity of this material.

Build on It

I was planning to follow this up with water play, mixing water into the oats and making a lovely gooey, goopy dough. However, after lunch Buddy was too tired to play again. Maybe next time.

Skills we used

Buddy worked on his fine and gross motor skills today. He was also practicing emotions and discovering texture. What a fun way to learn all of that!

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5 Reasons not to do the Ironing - a Mummy Musing

Meet my ironing pile.

Normally I wouldn't introduce people to my laundry but this has been sitting, waiting to be done for so long I fear it has developed a personality.

I hate ironing. I have always hated ironing and I view people who claim to enjoy ironing with suspicion, however D-Day has come and I have finally resigned myself to the fact that it needs to be done. That is to say I had resigned myself to do it before I came up with this excellent list of reasons why ironing is not a good idea.

1. It encourages us to wear other clothes.

When I haven't ironed for months *cough* weeks, it is like having a new wardrobe. I find clothes I had long forgotten about and would never wear if I had ironed.

2. It is good for the economy

If I really run out of clothes to wear before I iron, I will have to buy more. If everyone did this, the economy would be booming!

3. It encourages independence

Ok, I understand that expecting Buddy to iron his own clothes is a bit extreme, however the Train Driver is certainly capable of picking up an iron.

4. I'm saving electricity.

Surely it would be better for me to iron all of the clothes at once, rather than do lots of little baskets. (I know my basket has far surpassed the little basket stage but I could certainly fill it some more!) This will use less electricity and in these days of rising energy prices, that can only be a good thing.

5. I'm preserving and respecting the lifespan of the iron.

The more I use it, the sooner it will break. I'm being a conscientious housewife and protecting our household appliances from unnecessary wear and tear.

So, after careful consideration, I have decided that it would be irresponsible if not negligent of me to iron.

What a shame.

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Colourful Ice Fish Sensory Play

 

We have had wonderful fun today playing with colourful ice fish. Originally I was planning to do this outdoors in the paddling pool, but the weather is miserable and overcast so we decided to bring it indoors.

How to make them

I added a few drops of natural food colouring to a jug of water and froze these in individual coloured batches. It took me a few days to get this ready because I only had one ice tray (it's not even my own ice tray. How I have reached 26 without owning an ice tray is beyond me!)

I was planning on making rainbow fish, but I had run out of blue and green food colouring. Probably because I have been making paint by the bucket load recently!

Play time

We set the tray up in the wet room and allowed Buddy to discover it. Normally when he is in the wet room he goes straight towards the shower and attempts to detach the hose, but today he went straight towards his pretty fish. The Train Driver sat nearby to supervise because some of the fish tails had fallen off and we wanted to reduce any choking risk.

Buddy tried a few of the fish but surprisingly (for the boy who eats everything) he soon realised that they didn't taste of anything and explored with his hands and feet instead.

He enjoyed swirling the fish in the tray and watching them bump into each other.

He then splashed the water from the defrosting fish and made a great big orange mess on the floor. He loved touching and splashing the orange puddle.

Buddy then wanted to play with the shower seat, so we put a few fish on there for him. He had fun slapping the seat and watching the fish slide and jump.

He then decided to alternate between splashing his puddle and splashing the remaining water in the tray. By this point the fish were mostly melted.

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We got very wet and messy, but had brilliant fun!

Fortunately, as the Train Driver has a day off, he was on clean up duty whilst I cleaned Buddy up. These ice cubes haven't stained anything in our home but please, for your own sanity, put your kids in their messy clothes before playing with this until you are confident that the ingredients you use will also not stain.

Expand on it

Allison at Learnplayimagine has a brilliant version of this play on her site where she uses the colourful ice in the paddling pool. This is a great expansion because in enables children to see both the ice and water change colour. You can find her post on the link below.

Coloured Ice in the Play Pool - Learnplayimagine

For older children you could incorporate shape and colour sorting, or produce an entire under the sea theme with seashells and seaweed and learn about the ocean.

Have fun folks and let me know how your little ones enjoy this.

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