Recycled Jars and Water Beads

I am sharing on our stories on Instagram lots of simply play ideas so make sure you're following us over there too. This week this post went CRAZY over there with lots of people saying they were going to try it out too.

Currently I have 2 children in Early Years and a child in year 2. I really like this age gap as they're  not too far apart in age to be able to do the same activity with the children but offer different challenges for their learning.

I started by soaking the labels off the jars. I usually leave them to soak overnight in warm water and when I get up the tables fall off them. I had a few messages when I shared this in our Facebook Group recommending to fill the jars of hot water from a kettle to melt the glue along with using various oils to get them off.

I was honestly really impressed with all the lovely creativity that people shared on fun ways they recycle their jars too. There was pencil jar holders that were painted like fruits, storage solutions for crafts and dried foods. So many people finding ways to store and reuse that avoids using plastic - which is great.




This set up was super simple. I soaked some water beads over nights so they were ready to use the following day. I got out the mirror tuff tray which was from Early Years Resources and our white tray that I purchased from Home Sense. I filled them with water and placed jars in the tray that contained water beads. I filled them with different quantities some were empty, half full and full.

Frozen Water Bead Sensory Play
DIY Sensory Bottles




I wanted to explore these concepts with the boys. What does full, half full and empty look like.

With my 7 year old I wanted to explore prediction. Which jar was capable of holding the most water beads and how could we test this out?

Scrape Painted Rainbows
Rainbow Foam Recipe




I added the little challenges as were were all happily playing alongside one another. My favourite sort of learning. Hands on and through discovery and doing.


I also added cake cases and pipettes. Last time we looked at using the pippettes the boys found it very difficult to use them. During this activity they mastered them right away. Filling up the containers with a small pipette requires patience. They explored ways they could fill them up quicker.

As we had the mirror liner inside the tray the came across the coloured reflections that bounced from the tray onto their clothing and arms from the water beads sitting in the water. I captured some of this in the video above. Mirrors are a great addition to play as it gives children another perspective to explore.




Lots of filling and emptying which young children love doing so much. Filling and emptying is great for building fine motor control. To pick up containers to tip up and empty really gets their tiny hands and fingers working. It requires different grasps to achieve their intention. To successfully pour into another container it requires control, accuracy and good hand-eye co-ordination which comes along as they practice.

It gives them the opportunity to explore cause and effect and problem solving. To focus on these skills takes concentration so simply filling and emptying activities can keep children occupied for quite some time.




It was lots of fun! We really enjoy playing with water beads. We have found lots of fun ways to play and learn with them.
Remember to come and see us on Instagram too for simple play ideas.