Glowing Water Beads

The girls always enjoy playing with slippery, little water beads, so when I learned of a way to make them "glow," I started digging out our black light. Yes, you need a black light of some sort, so it isn't truly glowing. It is still really cool though!

To start with you need clear water beads (check the floral department of most any store (our tiny Wal-Mart even had them), highlighters, and a black light. You have to start by taking the highlighters apart to get to the inner marker section. I found squishing the end with pliers and then prying it apart with a butter knife worked well.

Run the marker part under water to get out all the ink. I had my water at a very slow stream and squeezed the ink out to keep it as concentrated as I could.

Place your water beads in a bowl (1 bowl per color) and add your colored water. Wait for them to get all puffy and smooth. I underestimated the number of water beads I had, so I ended up having to dilute my color with more water in order to get them all puffed up. Once they are fully engorged with water they are ready to play with!

Right after placing them in the water.

Found a blue and a pink highlighter to try too.

Ready to go!

This is where you need the black light. Add the beads to whatever dish you want to play with them in and place them in a dark room with very little light other then the black light. We went into the girls closet, but left the door open, so I could take pictures of them.

Our set up with the black light sitting next to the beads.

Eli had to get in the fun literally!

I think they would have played all day! Eli tried to stick them in his mouth a couple times, but quickly learned it was more fun to throw them. He also kept climbing into the container, but that ended with nap time. The girls continued playing a bit longer even with the lights on. The glowing was cool, but really water beads are just a lot of fun!