This is such a fun light table activity that helps develop fine motor skills!
Water beads are some of our favorite sensory materials. We generally play with the same batch for quite some time, around 4-6 weeks, before it’s time for a new batch to be “grown.” Usually we have a squishing party outside and squish the ones we have left to smithereens but with the heavy rain we’ve been getting I decided to let the kids cut them on the light table, it’s a great fine motor light table activity for little hands. Those squishy water beads require lots of focus to cut or squish!
Fine Motor Light Table Activity – Cutting Water Beads
Items Needed:
- Water Beads (we have this water bead bundle)
- Butter Knife or Playdough tools knife
- Light Table or a DIY Light Box
Our light table has a cover that my husband made some time ago that makes it easy for us to do q light table activity like this right on the light table but you can always use a shallow plastic bin or just lay them out on your light table, whatever you are comfortable with.
The kids loved it. It’s so great for fine motor skills because water beads are not easy to hold onto. The preschoolers and older toddlers did great with the knife tools but I have a few little ones that needed something larger to use. For my younger kids we got out an ice cream scoop (from the dollar tree) to squish them.
It took great concentration to hold those water beads still enough to cut and it was so fin to watch how hard they each worked on this light table activity!
There wasn’t a water bead left when they were done!
Have you tried water beads yet?
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Great idea! The first thing my husband did when he touched a water bead was to squish it until it burst! This activity might be perfect for him, too 😉 As always, thank you for the inspiration!!
What a great idea! I think we will be making some water beads soon to try this out! Thanks for linking up to the Hands-On Play party!
Ooh, I bet that’s tricky – a great sensory challenge! My daughter skips the knives and utensils and just likes to squish them with her bare hands. 🙂
Bet it was slippery work! 🙂
This is such a cool sensory play idea. The photos are fantastic!
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We love water beads! Never tried cutting them though but we will now!! I do have a question about water beads – do you leave them out to dry out before putting away??
I don’t dry them out when I put them away. After each use I generally just pour them into a colander/strainer, rinse with cold water, and then pour into a ziplock or plastic storage container with a bit of water for storage until the next time. If they shrink some in storage I soak them before we use them again and they regain their size. I’ve had them get a bit cloudy but if you wash them with soap they clean right up 🙂