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Home » Reading Ideas » Learning to Read » Alphabet Activities: W is for Playing with Water Beads

Alphabet Activities: W is for Playing with Water Beads

October 24, 2014 •

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I’m a huge advocate of alphabet activities that revolve around play!  Over the summer I read a post at The Artful Parent about water beads and I immediately had to order them.  They had been sitting in a drawer waiting for me to get some creative inspiration to use them for literacy learning.

Fast forward a few months and the opportunity to participate in the 31 Days of ABC series pops up with only a few letters left to pick from.  I love collaborative projects and when I saw that the “w” slot was open, I immediately thought of those water beads sitting in the drawer.

Alphabet activities: ABC games with water beads from growingbookbybook.com

So, here you go.  Four fun alphabet activities that all involve water beads!  We are showcasing W is for water beads!

Water Bead Alphabet Activities

Full Disclosure:  This post contains affiliate links.

Please note that water beads are not edible.  If your little ones still put things in their mouth, you may want to wait until they are older to do these activities.

Water beads are these cool little polymer beads that “grow” when placed in water.  They are traditionally used in fresh cut flower arrangements.  But, they make a very neat sensory experience for kids (well adults too).

Build a Letter

alphabet activity: making letters in shaving cream

Water beads are a wonderful experience on their own, but add in shaving cream and you have double the sensory fun! We squirted a mound of shaving cream on a jelly roll pan.  Smeared it out and then used the water beads to build different letters.  You may want to have a set of flashcards on hand to use as a model for the correct letter formation.

alphabet activities: writing letters in sand

We also tried the same activity using sand.  A very different sensory experience with the contrast of the rough sand and the slippery water beads.

Water Bead Letter Bounce

Water beads bounce.  We found this out when my son dropped the whole bowl of beads.  They bounced and rolled EVERYWHERE!

alphabet activities: water bead letter bounce

For this activity we used a small plastic container filled with mini paper cups that were labeled with letters.  Leave a space in the middle of the container.  This will be your bouncing station.

Bounce a bead in the middle of the container to see if it will land in a cup.  When it does, name the letter inside the cup.    Its so fun to see how many you can get into each cup.

Fill a Letter

alphabet activities: fill a letter cup

Preschoolers love to fill things.  For this activity we simply took the mini paper cups from the previous activity and my son filled as many of the cups that he could with beads.    Kids can use their fingers, spoons, pinchers or small scoops to fill the cups.

We even worked a little math into the activity.  I had him estimate how many cups he would be able to fill.  Each time he filled a cup, I asked him if he wanted to keep his same estimate or revise it.

Spin a Water Bead

alphabet activities: spin a letter game

Pull out a lid from a plastic container and a few magnetic letters that your child needs to practice.  Place the letters around the perimeter of the lid.  Put one water bead on the lid.  Have your child give it a push along the “track”.  When it stops, your child names the letter where the water bead lands.

Check out some of our favorite alphabet books and other alphabet games and activities.

Also, check out the W is for Web post last year from Mamas Like Me.

alphabet activities

This post is part of a month long series called 31 Days of ABC.  Each day throughout the month a different blogger shares alphabet learning activities and resources.  Be sure to check out the full schedule, and link up your own alphabet posts below!

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Filed Under: Learning to Read Tagged With: alphabet activities

About Jodie Rodriguez

Jodie Rodriguez is a mom of two young boys and an early childhood/elementary educator with over 20 years of experience. Jodie's passion is helping parents, teachers, librarians and anyone else interested in nurturing and reaching ALL of our youngest growing readers.

Comments

  1. iGameMom says

    October 26, 2014 at 10:36 pm

    love those water beads.

  2. Leanna @ Alldonemonkey says

    October 25, 2014 at 12:40 am

    These are so creative! I haven’t tried using water beads yet since my littlest is still too young, but I can’t wait!

  3. Theres Just One Mommy says

    October 24, 2014 at 6:42 pm

    What fun ideas for learning with water beads!

  4. Stacie says

    October 24, 2014 at 1:56 pm

    I love the idea of water beads. I would have never thought to try them in shaving cream or sand. I will have to give some of the ideas a go with my daughter. Instead of making letters I will have her try to spell out sight words with them.

    • Jodie Rodriguez says

      October 24, 2014 at 2:13 pm

      Stacie, that is a great idea to practice writing sight words or spelling words.

  5. Emma @ P is for Preschooler says

    October 24, 2014 at 1:22 pm

    I love these water bead ideas! I have to admit, I never really liked that they bounced, but I love how you make that part of the fun in the alphabet activity!

    • Jodie Rodriguez says

      October 24, 2014 at 2:15 pm

      I know Emma. I wasn’t thrilled when they went under EVERYTHING after my son dropped the whole container! Using them in a container with higher sides is ideal!

  6. Christie @ Practical Princess Diaries says

    October 24, 2014 at 9:58 am

    Water beads are are so fun. I hadn’t thought of using them for learning too. Great ideas!!!

    • Jodie Rodriguez says

      October 24, 2014 at 2:15 pm

      Thank you so much Christie!

  7. Jessica says

    October 24, 2014 at 9:56 am

    Great idea! Um…is it silly that I find water beads fascinating at my age?

    • Jodie Rodriguez says

      October 24, 2014 at 2:16 pm

      Me too Jessica. I think I loved these activities as much as my kids!

  8. Cassie @ 3Dinosaurs.com says

    October 24, 2014 at 7:10 am

    I love water beads! There is so much you can do with them. I love the lid idea!

    • Jodie Rodriguez says

      October 24, 2014 at 2:16 pm

      Thanks Cassie! I can’t believe I’m so late to the game using them. They have been a lot of fun.

Trackbacks

  1. Water Beads for Kids - Days With Grey says:
    October 9, 2020 at 8:58 am

    […] W is for Water Play – Growing Book By Book […]

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