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Jurassic Water Bead Small World

August 11, 2015 by Emma Gadsby 3 Comments

We are thrilled to be taking part in Still Playing Schools Small Worlds from A-Z series this month. We chose the letter J – an excuse to make a Jurassic themed Small World.

Adventures of Adam Jurassic Water Bead Small World

(This post contains affiliate links)

Usually for our Small World play we use a large Tuff Spot. However, for a change I decided to set myself the challenge of creating a miniature small world. I had the perfect oval container purchased from Tiger UK. As Adam can usually be found with a dinosaur in his hand we recently bought him a container of small dinosaurs. These fitted perfectly inside the green tray.

In the past I have always opted to use food as a small world base. To date we have used melted chocolate, herbs, chick peas and even created a fully edible dinosaur sensory bin. I was considering how to create our dinosaur Small World when Adam asked to play with water beads again. So I opted to create a Jurassic water bead Small World.

Adventures of Adam Easy to make volcanoes

A dinosaur themed small world wouldn’t be complete without volcanoes. I created three by attaching red electrical tape to round mini peat pots purchased from PoundLand. These were placed on the left hand side of the tray.

Adventures of Adam water bead sensory bin

Overnight I soaked some red, orange, yellow and green water beads in water. They only took a few hours to reach their full size though. I poured the red and orange water beads around the three volcanoes and then added the yellow water beads in the middle. The green water beads were placed on the right hand side of the tray and I added a few small dinosaurs to complete our Jurassic small world. It took no time at all to create (apart from soaking the water beads) and it certainly was a miniature Small World compared to what we usually create.

Adventures of Adam easy to make dinosaur sensory bin

I placed the Jurassic water bead Small World outside on our Sensory Bin stand (inspired by Mama Papa Bubba). Adam was immediately drawn into the activity. He couldn’t decide whether to go for the water beads or the dinosaurs first. The water beads won! Adam picked up the red water beads and placed them onto the volcanoes and then knocked each one down.

Adventures of Adam Jurassic Small World

Next he moved the dinosaurs around the Small World whilst making dinosaur noises. Apparently a pterodactyl goes “quack”! I suppose we will never know if he is correct or not.

Adventures of Adam transferring water beads

Adam likes to place objects into containers and I was interested to see if he would try and collect the water beads. We were outside so he didn’t have immediate access to his usually cups and bowls. However, he improvised and turned a volcano upside down and started to collect the water beads in the pot before tipping them out again. He was occupied by this activity for some time.

Adventures of Adam ways to play with dinosaurs

The great thing about our Jurassic Small World is that it can be reused time and time again. I removed the volcanoes, added a small amount of water to re-hydrate the water beads and placed cling film on top. Now we have an instant dinosaur Small World activity to hand.

Remember to check out the rest of the Small World Pretend Play series to inspire you with play ideas for each letter of the alphabet.

Small World series

Equipment:

* Small tray – we purchased ours from Tiger UK

* Round mini peat pots (6cm diameter) – we purchased ours from PoundLand but they are available from Amazon

* Red electrical tape

* Water beads – we used red, orange, yellow and green

* Miniature dinosaurs

 

You May Also Like:

Adventures of Adam dinosaur sensory bin
Edible Dinosaur Sensory Bin
Adventures of Adam Dinosaur Sensory Bin
Melted Chocolate Dinosaur Sensory Bin
Dinosaur Dig guest post over on Rainy Day Mum

Dinosaur Sensory Bin with Lentils Guest Post on Rainy Day Mum
Adventures of Adam ice dinosaurs
Ice Dinosaurs

 

Filed Under: Independent Play Activity, Play Activities, Some time required Tagged With: Dinosaurs, Fine Motor Activities, Independent Play Activities, Outdoor Play Activities, Sensory Play Activities, Small World, Toddler play, Water Beads, Water play

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Next Post: Summer Tuff Spot Tuesday »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Karen Bell says

    September 8, 2015 at 1:47 pm

    That’s a lovely idea and looks like a lot of fun. My children enjoyed water bead play too.
    Thanks for linking #LetKidsBeKids

    Reply
  2. Clare's Little Tots says

    September 8, 2015 at 7:45 pm

    Oh wow this is amazing!! I can’t wait to show G tomorrow she would LOVE this and I love the volcanoes #LetKidsBeKids

    Reply
  3. Claire says

    September 8, 2015 at 7:55 pm

    This looks so much fun. I can’t wait to do water beads with my daughter but at the moment she’d probably still put them in her mouth.

    Reply

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Emma and Adam

During a difficult pregnancy suffering from Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) Emma vowed to make every day an adventure once she had recovered. Adventures of Adam is the outcome of completing a 100 day play challenge with Adam as part of that promise. Emma has a section dedicated to HG friendly play activities so that Mums can still be part of their children’s play whilst they are ill.

To learn more about Emma and Adam click here.

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