Today straight after breakfast, still in our pyjamas, we got stuck into our Easter Water Bead Play.

Into the playroom I brought three big bowls.

A clear bowl filled with clear and blue water beads and empty plastic eggs.

An empty blue bowl for William and an empty pink bowl for Esther.

I also gave them each a fishing net and a whisk.

Their first task was to take the water beads from the clear central bowl and fill their coloured bowls in any way they could.

They both started to transfer the beads using their fishing nets and the empty eggs. Esther really seemed to like filling the coloured eggs with beads. William soon got bored and started moving the beads with his hands.

It was lovely listening to Esther and William describe the beads. Wet. Slippery. Shiny. Squishy. Smooth. Squelchy. Bouncy. They called them balls and circles and eggs.

It was great to see how Esther and William enjoyed the feel of the beads as they moved them and played with them.

It was not long at all before Esther and William decided that the best thing for them to do was strip off and jump in.

It does not matter what we do or how small I make the containers they still manage to get in, first feet and then this!!

William in particular just squashed and squelched the beads. He ran his fingers through them, making waves and patterns with the light. I must admit that I loved doing this too. There is something soothing about playing with water beads.

Esther was filling the plastic eggs and pouring the beads and the water from egg to egg. They both enjoyed using their fishing nets to capture balls and they had such fun whisking the balls around and around.

After lots of giggles and physical play it was, of course, time to introduce the engines!

Esther and William are my gorgeous Thomas mad twins and they adore their engines. The trains have helped them to learn colours, numbers and letters. They have also brought their imaginary play to a whole new level. Today they were acting out trains falling off ships into the sea, crashing through tracks and into the mine, trains rescuing other trains and naughty diesels pushing trucks into the sea. I love that they act out stories in this way and that though they mostly play alongside one another rather than together they do influence each other’s play.

Esther and William also both used their engines to drive round and round in the beads trying to make tracks. They chuffed and whooshed and peeped around the bowls, through the balls and beads.

This train play carried on for a long long time. I was really pleased with how long the water beads held their attention.

As they started to show some signs of boredom I asked if they would like to add anything else to their play and they asked for dinosaurs.

Esther played with the dinosaurs for such a long time, putting baby dinosaurs inside the eggs, having winged dinosaurs flying through the sky and then diving into the water beads. She also had big dinosaurs eating smaller dinosaurs which I had not seen before. I am going to reuse the water beads later this week for two Tuff Spot features, a sunny seaside scene and an adaptation of our dinosaur world.

I hope that you will join us as we continue to explore water beads in our play.