Tapioca Pearl Sensory Play

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I am sure you have probably heard of water beads. They are a really fun sensory play product for kids.  Have you ever tried tapioca pearl sensory play?

Tapioca is the starch from the Cassava root. It comes in hard white balls and is used in puddings and other dishes. A benefit of using tapioca pearls is that they are safe to eat in case your little people decide they look yummy.  I always worried about my kids trying to eat the water beads when we played with them.

Sensory Play with Tapioca Pearls

To do this activity you need some tapioca pearls. You can use small or large, but you do not want the kinds that is ground up.  You’ll also need some food coloring.

I placed a tablespoon or two of the tapioca into each bowl and then covered them with water. Then I mixed a little food coloring into each of the bowls to make them different colors.

They only need to soak for about half an hour to be saturated and ready to play with. The pearls soak of the different colors of water they are in making them bright and vibrant colors of the rainbow! They are definitely not as big as the water beads, but just as fun.

I just poured them all into a plastic bin to use for playing after they were soaked. WE wanted to make it look like a rainbow!

That first touch is always so exciting and scary! 😉

But then they never seem to have trouble digging in later!

This is how they look after being mixed and played with for a while. Still pretty cool!

My little ones LOVED this Tapioca Pearl sensory play. The kids are already asking to do it again.

See Also:
Tactile Memory Game

Bird Seed and Pine Cone Sensory Bottle

5 Sound Wave Experiments for Kids