Frozen Water Beads

We've had a batch of water beads going for a few weeks now. Since it's not an activity that we always have, but rather more of an every once in a while one, I try to use them as many ways as possible while I can. 

I saw this idea on Instagram, @busytoddler, a fantastic follow if you have young kids. 

Supplies: frozen water beads, toy hammer, squeeze bottle, various kitchen utensils 

We out the water beads in the freezer in the morning and they were completely frozen by mid-afternoon. I'm sure they freeze quite quickly. 

I filled the squeeze bottle with hot (but safe for Monkey) water. Then he was ready to play!

Monkey is loving the squeeze bottles right now - we've been using them a lot lately. So he grabbed that first and started covering the beads with hot water. 

He noticed that they started to change colour a little bit. They had been all frosty white from being in the freezer and the water took the white away and turned them back to orange and green. 

Next Monkey grabbed his hammer to try breaking them apart. 

He didn't have much luck getting them apart with the hammer so he moved onto the spoon. 

After a little bit of trying to pry the beads apart with the spoon, Monkey was able to get the whole frozen chunk out of the bowl. 

Then he used all the tools again as the beads started to separate in the bucket  

Once the beads had a chance to warm up a little bit, Monkey was able to break and squish them. I think we had them in the freezer for a little bit too long, they were almost too frozen! If I did this again, I would put them in for less than an hour and then check and see what they felt like. 

Mar