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Tapioca Pearl Sensory Play

September 19, 2015 by Emma Edwards 7 Comments

Playing with Tapioca Pearls has been on our to do list for some time. Adam loves using water beads as part of his sensory play and I love their many uses – from developing fine motor skills to a small world base. However, as water beads are polymer beads that absorb water they are not edible and are therefore not suitable for very young children. We have tried playing with basil seeds, a taste safe alternative, but found that when the basil seeds dried out they stuck to everything. So the opportunity came to represent the letter T in the Alphabet Sensory Series hosted by The Jenny Evolution it was our chance to try out Tapioca Pearl sensory play. I wanted to see how tapioca pearls stood up as an edible version of water beads.

Adventures of Adam Tapioca Pearl Sensory Play

(This post contains affiliate links)

We purchased 250G of Tapioca Pearls from Amazon, although they are also available from Asian markets. We first explored the Tapioca Pearls straight from the packet. I set up the Marble Run in our blue Tuff Spot and Adam had a wonderful time dropping the pearls down the shoot one at a time. The tapioca pearls felt like soft marbles. I had planned that we would cook our pearls immediately but Adam loved this set up so much he played with them all week.

Adventures of Adam Dry tapioca pearl sensory play

It was a straight forward process to cook the Tapoica Pearls. They only took 5 minutes on the heat and a further 5 minutes simmering. I drained away the boiling water and stored them in cold water until we were ready to play. I knew the pearls would be too big to fit in our marble run so I set up Adam’s Pour and Play Water Run from Early Learning Centre and Ball Drop.

Unfortunately this was a fail. The pearls were too sticky to roll and just stuck to the plastic. Adam attempted to push them down the ball drop but they wouldn’t move easily.

Adventures of Adam Tapioca pearl Tuff Spot

So I quickly changed the activity to focus on fine motor skills. I poured the Taporica Pearls into our green leaf tray from Tiger UK and added our Helping Hands Fine Motor Tool Set, scoopers and a Jumbo Tweezer.

Adventures of Adam Tapioca pearl fine motor skills

Adam soon got over his disappointment and loved getting to grips with the Handy Scooper. Due to the pearls being tacky to the touch, they didn’t move around the tray easily so Adam was able to scoop them up and empty the pearls into a pot.

Adventures of Adam Fine motor play with Tapioca Pearls

Overall, Adam wasn’t too keen on the Tapioca Pearls. He didn’t enjoy their texture or the fact they were too sticky and wouldn’t roll. The pearls were slightly easier to manipulate with the fine motor tools compared to the water beads but we didn’t find them as versatile. Cost wise the Tapioca Pearls were more expensive and they didn’t last very long. Although Tapioca Pearls would be great for younger children who are still in the mouthing stage, I think we shall stick to water bead play in the future.

Equipment:

* Tapioca Pearls

* Tuff Spot (optional)

* Marble Run

* Fine motor skills tools – we used a Jumbo Tweezer, scoopers andHelping Hands Fine Motor Tool Set

Check out the other 25 fantastic bloggers who are sharing their Alphabet Sensory Activities. From sensory bins, sensory bottles, gross motor skills, craft or fine motor activities there is something for everyone!

 

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Basil Seed Tuff Spot

 

LarabeeUK

Filed Under: Independent Play Activity, Play Activities, Super Quick Play Activities Tagged With: Edible Play Activities, Fine Motor Activities, Independent Play Activities, Sensory Play Activities, Super quick set up, Toddler play, Tuff Spot/ Builders Tray, Water Beads

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mummy on a Budget says

    September 22, 2015 at 9:32 am

    Definitely going to have to invest in some of these tapioca pearls. Look like great fun. Like that you used existing toys to play with them. #toddlerapprovedtuesday

    Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      September 23, 2015 at 10:57 am

      We are always looking for ways to incorporate our existing toys – it is cheaper too!

      Reply
  2. Rebecca U says

    September 22, 2015 at 11:06 am

    I think this would be good for, like you say, little ones that are still putting everything in their mouth. I imagine it is an odd texture for older children. It looks like a fun activity though #toddlerapprovedtuesday

    Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      September 23, 2015 at 10:59 am

      I hadn’t expected the odd texture and it certainly felt strange after playing with water beads. Good for a change though and certainly for younger children.

      Reply
  3. Whatmyfridgesays says

    September 22, 2015 at 9:49 pm

    A genius idea and frankly I want to play with them!

    Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      September 23, 2015 at 11:03 am

      I would imagine playing with them is better than eating them!

      Reply
  4. Mudpie Fridays says

    September 23, 2015 at 9:08 pm

    Thank you for sharing this post I have often looked at these and wondered we love waterbeds but Monkey is 3 now so I don’t need to worry so much about him trying to eat them – I think we will stick with the water beads too xx #Toddlerapprovedtuesday

    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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