Learn how to make your own colorful water beads at home using tapioca pearls – a pet-safe, more child-friendly version that is perfect for sensory play (and kids won’t ever know the difference!).
Have you ever used water beads in your kids’ play activities? If so, you’re familiar with the absolute JOY of these squishy little spheres! A staple in our tabletop water play setups, I had only ever used the polymer kind until recently (we love watching the process of them puff up in a cupful of water).
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Unfortunately, the very thing that makes the plastic water beads an exciting sensory play accessory can also pose a pretty serious hazard to little ones, pets, and wildlife.
Not wanting to give up on our water bead play, I decided to experiment with DIYing my own and was pleasantly surprised to find this substitute: DIY water beads made from tapioca pearls – a natural, taste-safe alternative to polymer water beads.
The process of making these was incredibly simple, and although there are a few differences in how you can play with them (they don’t change in size, for example), they’re a wonderfully similar alternative!
I tried a couple of different methods for colorization, so read on for the easy process and ideas for how you can put your own homemade water beads to use for incredible sensory play.
Polymer water beads swell as they take on water and can continue to grow long after they’ve been ingested, which can cause serious gastrointestinal issues. Tapioca pearls do NOT do this, however, while this DIY type is taste-safe, the tapioca pearls don’t dissolve immediately in water, and you should use these sensibly and with caution. They are not recommended for use with children who may be tempted to put them in their mouths, and adult supervision is a must.
You can also consider using these for a sensory bag. Packaging your DIY water beads (along with a cup or so of water) in a clear ziplock or similar will keep little ones from being able to ingest beads while providing many of the same squishy sensory play benefits.
Watch the quick video for the easy taste-safe water bead how-to process!
Music: Afternoon Tea by Mona Wonderlick “Summer Chill 2″ by Mona Wonderlick — Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free download
Looking for more sensory play? Over the years we’ve made so many easy homemade sensory supplies! Among our favorites are DIY rainbow rice, sparkly DIY salt glitter, and squishy DIY moon sand – just like a day at the beach!
To make your own taste-safe DIY water beads you’ll need:
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BASIC SUPPLIES:
- Tapioca pearls (this is the kind I used but they come in different sizes and colors you can experiment with).
- A small or medium-sized pot (for cooking)
- A strainer
- Bowls, tubs, or trays for water play
DYEING SUPPLIES:
- Food coloring or similar
- Small bowls and a spoon (for color-mixing)
How to Make Edible Water Beads – DIY Instructions:
Get creative with your sensory play and learn how to make your own taste-safe water beads using tapioca pearls. Follow this DIY guide for a fun and easy project.
Boil water and cook the tapioca pearls.
Fill a small or medium-sized pot with about 4-6 cups of water and bring it to a boil. Pour in your tapioca pearls and stir. Let cook for 5 minutes until all your tapioca pearls have risen to the top of the water.
Note: We used a bag of multicolor tapioca pearls to test the difference between the pre-dyed pearls and the colors you get when you dye them yourselves. A pro of these multicolor pearls is that you don’t have to mess with food coloring, making the prep process incredibly quick and easy. These multicolor edible water beads are ready for play within about seven minutes – start to finish!
Strain and rinse with cold water.
Pour your tapioca pearls into a strainer and rinse with cold water.
Pour into a bowl, shallow tub, or tray with water for sensory play!
Pour your homemade water beads into a tray or tub for water and cover them with water.
You’ll quickly discover that as soon as the beads are taken out of the water and left in the open air to dry for a few minutes, they stick to each other. Once submerged in the water again, they separate and feel slippery rather than sticky.
To dye your own, separate tapioca pearls and dye them with food coloring or similar.
Determine the colors you’d like to make and separate your tapioca pearls into small bowls. Pour in a small amount of water (just enough that the water beads are about halfway submerged). Add 2-5 drops of food coloring (depending on how bold you’d like your colors to be) and stir until mixed.
I used the basic 4-color box of food coloring to create these colors, but there are many options for fun food colorings these days – from soft pastels to splashy neons!
Let sit for 15 minutes to soak up color.
To ensure that your tapioca pearls soak up all the bright colors, let them sit for about 15 minutes after stirring.
Rinse with cold water to help set the color.
Toss each color of your DIY water beads into a strainer and rinse with cold water until the water runs (mostly) clear. That’s it – these babies are ready for play!
For our self-dyed set, I didn’t observe any color coming off on my hands, although it did tint the water in different colors as it sat (which is actually kind of fun!).
We also noticed that when the beads sat on top of each other for a while out of the water, the colors started rubbing off on each other, and there was some color-staining which muddies the look of them a bit.
Eight Ways to Use Your DIY Edible Water Beads for Sensory Play and Learning
Now that you’ve made your water beads, you can explore their countless creative uses! From frosty sensory bins to water bead process art projects – here are a few compelling activities to consider...
1. Freeze your homemade water beads.
Throw a different kind of sensory experience in the mix by freezing your water beads. We have two feet of snow here at the moment, so we took trays and bowls outside to see what happened to our water beads (you can put them in the freezer instead of course!) Freezing them in a bowl made one big frozen ball, and it would have been fun to freeze an object in the middle and pound away at the ball with a rubber mallet or other tools to get to the inside.
For our tray of water beads, we spread all of our beads out with our fingers so there was one layer of beads across the tray. When we brought our tray of frozen water beads inside, after letting them warm up just a little, we used a spatula to separate any clumps and get them off the tray. This made for a completely different sensory experience, as we could roll the individual beads around in our hands.
This is a great activity to pair with stacked ice sculptures.
2. Experiment with DIY water beads in warm water.
Instead of submerging these in cold water, see what happens to them when they’re covered with warm water. Do they become gummy, or disintegrate? How long does it take before they change consistency? Does it change them permanently, or will they go back to their previous state after a dunk in cold water?
3. Use your water beads to play with color mixing.
Have an eyedropper or paintbrush handy? Fill a few very small bowls with water and drops of different food colorings, then pour, paint, or eyedrop the different colors onto the water beads. What happens to the colors? What happens to the water around the beads?
4. Pound your DIY water beads.
Up for some messier play? Grab a rubber mallet and pound your water beads into smithereens! In addition to being a great activity to get some of that pent-up energy out, this is excellent hand-eye coordination practice.
5. Take a water bead bath!
For the most whimsical bath experience ever, add these to the tub! Your kids will have to take a quick rinse afterward, but oooooh, how delightful to be surrounded by these colorful bobbing water beads!
6. Create cool water bead chutes.
Our friend Ana over at Babble Dabble Do used her edible water beads as part of an amazingly entertaining STEAM structure water activity. If you’re looking for a similar pouring activity that doesn’t require as much prep or works at a smaller scale, try throwing your beads in a water table with clear plastic bottles or cups of different sizes.
7. Use water bead bags with a light table.
One of the cool things about water beads (both the polymer and tapioca pearl variety) is that they’re relatively transparent. For another sensory experience, put your water beads in a clear, reusable bag with a bit of water (a clear tray or baking dish also works), then use them with a light table. Incredible color play!
No light table? No problem! Tape the bag into a window (tape all four sides using removable or no-residue tape).
8. Make a water bead painting.
Before you throw your homemade water beads out, try using them for a simple art activity. Grab a cardboard box and put a sheet of paper or cardstock on the bottom. Using a few different colors, drop some dime-sized dollops of paint onto the piece of paper. Pull your water beads straight from the water, toss them into the box, then tilt them back and forth. Or put the lid on your box and shake it up! I love a process art project that involves some fun motion!
I hope we’ve given you enough play ideas that you’re excited to give these DIY water beads a go!
DIY Water Bead Tips and Basic Information
Will my homemade water beads last as long as polymer water beads?
No. Why not? Because they’re a food product. Plastic beads can be dried out and rehydrated.
How long can I keep my tapioca pearl water beads?
Tapioca pearl water beads are amazingly firm and can be squeezed and poked without falling apart, which I was pleasantly surprised by.You can expect they’ll hold their structure at least 48 hours if kept in a bowl of cold water in the fridge. Because these are technically a food product and handled by lots of little hands, I don’t personally keep them longer them that, although you could probably safely store them (refrigerated) for more time.
How do I store my water beads?
Once done with play, you can put your DIY water beads in a container, cover them with cold water, and store them in the fridge.
How much water do I need to use for water bead play?
As long as your tapioca water beads are submerged in water, they’ll maintain their firm texture, individual colors, and won’t get sticky, so for playtime you can use just enough water to cover them. I used about a cup of water for each cup of water beads, but it’s up to you! If your little one likes splashing around a bit more, add as much as you like.
How can I make water beads in a wider variety of vibrant colors?
I used the basic 4-piece set of water-based food coloring for our second set of water beads (green, red, blue, yellow), but even with color-mixing, the color palette was fairly limited. If you’d like a broader range of colors, try using gel-based food coloring that comes pre-mixed in a wider variety of bright colors, neons, or pastels.
Do DIY water beads stain children’s hands?
A benefit of using the pre-dyed multicolor tapioca pearls is that the colors don’t rub off on each other, stain hands, or tint the water. The water beads we made with food coloring didn’t come off on hands, but did color the water and other beads, and left light areas of color on a paper towel. If you’re using natural food dyes, color-staining is also more likely depending on the color base (turmeric, for instance, is much more likely to color-stain).
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