We love DIY projects in our home and the kids are no exception. They decided to make their own night light using a mason jar, submersible lights, and water beads. They turned out really cool!
We bought a small pack of 4 submersible lights in the floral department at Michael's craft store. We also bought 2 packages of their Ashland water beads (purple and clear). But the kids wanted more colors so we went to Hobby Lobby and bought their DecoBeads water beads.
The water beads start out as little bitty hard pellets. Be careful if you pour them out. These suckers can really roll....right off the table and all over the floor!
You soak the water beads in water and they will grow as they absorb the water. In just an hour or so they had grown about 3 times their size and were starting to get squishy. The kids loved just running their hands through the beads in the water. It is a fun sensory experience for their sense of touch.
I did not like the Ashland purple beads because a lot of the color bled off into the water which means that the color will stain hands and anything the water touches! This didn't happen with any of the other beads (see the blue ones in the picture).
We had lots of different colors of water beads soaking. They were fun to play with as they grew in size.
The clear water beads were especially neat because sometimes they seemed to completely disappear in the water. But Rachel loved putting her hands down in them to watch the neat effect it made on her hands.
Once the beads stopped growing in size, the kids started making their night lights. They put some beads in a mason jar and added the submersible lights.
Once the jars were filled, they put the lids on them and took them to their rooms. They are not very bright but they add a beautiful glow to their rooms at night.