Have your kids played with water beads? They are such fun and great for sensory play! We used them for a fine motor activity this week.
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For this activity I used ready-hydrated water beads. I colored them red, yellow, green and blue by putting twenty or so beads in separate plastic bags and then dropping in some food dye.![Craftulate: Colour Sorting with Water Beads [Fine Motor Fridays]](https://craftulate.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/P1050956e.jpg "Craftulate: Colour Sorting with Water Beads [Fine Motor Fridays]")
I let the water beads sit in the dye for a while, then let them dry on kitchen paper for an hour or so. If you don’t do this stage then the food dye will still be wet and will stain fingers! Ooooh, some nice chromatography going on!![Craftulate: Colour Sorting with Water Beads [Fine Motor Fridays]](https://craftulate.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/P1050957e.jpg "Craftulate: Colour Sorting with Water Beads [Fine Motor Fridays]")
Then I put all the water beads together in a bowl. I have to say I *love* how inviting they look!![Craftulate: Colour Sorting with Water Beads [Fine Motor Fridays]](https://craftulate.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/P1050968e.jpg "Craftulate: Colour Sorting with Water Beads [Fine Motor Fridays]")
We didn’t have time to play with these the same day, so I covered them so they wouldn’t dehydrate too fast. Next morning, however, the colours had all run into each other – creating some lovely jewel-coloured beads!
![Craftulate: Colour Sorting with Water Beads [Fine Motor Fridays]](https://craftulate.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/P1050972e.jpg "Craftulate: Colour Sorting with Water Beads [Fine Motor Fridays]")
We now had oranges, purples and lots in between. Beautiful, but not what I wanted for this activity. I put them aside and quickly dyed some more beads. You can see in the photos below that they weren’t as vibrant as the first batch!
I could tell F was itching to play with them so I put the beads out with little bowls of corresponding colours. The beads themselves are slightly moist, and a little bit squishy – which makes them rather tricky to pick up. I put one bead of each colour in its correct bowl and he immediately took over.
![Craftulate: Colour Sorting with Water Beads [Fine Motor Fridays]](https://craftulate.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/P1050977e.jpg "Craftulate: Colour Sorting with Water Beads [Fine Motor Fridays]")
![Craftulate: Colour Sorting with Water Beads [Fine Motor Fridays]](https://craftulate.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/P1050978e.jpg "Craftulate: Colour Sorting with Water Beads [Fine Motor Fridays]")
This was great practice for his fine motor control! With a few exceptions, he did all the blue beads first. That’s just how his mind works!![Craftulate: Colour Sorting with Water Beads [Fine Motor Fridays]](https://craftulate.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/P1050981e.jpg "Craftulate: Colour Sorting with Water Beads [Fine Motor Fridays]")
The water beads looked very pleasing when they were all sorted by color.![Craftulate: Colour Sorting with Water Beads [Fine Motor Fridays]](https://craftulate.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/P1050985e.jpg "Craftulate: Colour Sorting with Water Beads [Fine Motor Fridays]")
Then I mixed them all back up with the first batch of beads into a big dish.
![Craftulate: Colour Sorting with Water Beads [Fine Motor Fridays]](https://craftulate.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/P1050986e.jpg "Craftulate: Colour Sorting with Water Beads [Fine Motor Fridays]")
I gave him a spoon and some tongs so he could play freestyle with them! He used his hands first but then went on to use the tongs. He started to really get the hang of them!
![Craftulate: Colour Sorting with Water Beads [Fine Motor Fridays]](https://craftulate.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/P1050987e.jpg "Craftulate: Colour Sorting with Water Beads [Fine Motor Fridays]")
![Craftulate: Colour Sorting with Water Beads [Fine Motor Fridays]](https://craftulate.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/P1050997e.jpg "Craftulate: Colour Sorting with Water Beads [Fine Motor Fridays]")
Soda Bottle Turkey from Stir the Wonder
Bottle Cap Soup from School Time Snippets
Fine Motor Skills Multi Activity Tray from Little Bins for Little Hands
Montessori Fine Motor Activities from Racheous – Lovable Learning
Love it! Caden is sitting here with me & wants to play with water beads! And we have those little square cups too! Perfect!
Ooo so fun! We have to give our water beads another go! I tried changing the color of some clear ready-hydrated ones I probably diluted it with water so I bet that was why it didn’t work! Good to know how you did it! Looks like F really enjoyed it, so fun!
Ooooo! Looks so fun!! We have yet to venture into the world of water bead play, but I bet my tot would love this!! My 6 year old would, too!
This would really work those fine motor muscles because those water beads can be slippery! They came out lovely too.
I love the idea of sorting colored water beads! We have been experimenting with food coloring and eye droppers on water beads, so now I have another way to use our water beads – love this!
I love this! Such a great way to practice those fine motor skills.
I have never thought to colour water beads. Off to get ours out to do some colour sorting.
Great! Have fun!
Where can I get my hands on water beads?
I’ve bought them from places like Amazon or you can find them in the flower arranging sections of craft stores. Actually I’ve even seen them in the dollar store (the dehyrated ones) but haven’t tested them yet.