Kids love to learn with their hands. Warblettes, also known as water beads or water marbles, are a fun science experiment that thrills all ages. In this lab, your children will observe the exciting change from small, hard beads to marble-sized, squishy balls.
NOTE: Warblettes are a polymer that absorb water. Like crayons, Warblettes are nontoxic but not meant for eating.
The Experiment
Observe the Warblettes before you put them in water. How do they feel? Measure the diameter: how small are they? (Warning: if you use colored Warblettes, you’re likely to get some food coloring on your fingers.) Use these printable lab sheets to make observations.
Put 1 teaspoon of Warblettes in 2 cups of water. What happens? (Colored Warblettes will color the water. The Warblettes instantly begin absorbing water.)
After 4-6 hours, the Warblettes will have absorbed the maximum amount of water. What observations can you make now?
Expanding the Experiment
If you find your kids love Warblettes and want to learn more, try:
- Observing the effects of dehydration: do they shrink to the original size? How long does it take to shrink in the sun? In the shade? Does spreading them out affect the dehydration rate?
- Testing the effects of cold and hot water on absorption.
- Graphing the diameter of Warblettes as they grow (measure every 15 minutes or so).
- Putting Warblettes in various household liquids, like soap or salt water, to see if they will grow.
- The Warblette Activity Book has even more experiments covering polymers, light refraction, kinetic energy, and more.
Adapting for Younger Children
This lab is geared toward elementary-aged students, but others will enjoy learning, too. A sensory bin with Warblettes would be a great way for the youngest group to explore. My toddler (2) and preschooler (4) love playing with and squishing Warblettes. Show your young scientists the Warblettes before and after water absorption. Encourage them to draw pictures of what they see on the observation page of the printable lab sheets.
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Alicia Brown is a homeschooling mom who writes for Heath Scientific, which was founded by a science teacher dedicated to the idea that “A child looks at life with his hands.” Heath Scientific strives to provide scientific toys and supplies that encourage hands-on learning.
Blue
Economy Balance Scale
Red, please!
The automatic egg turner catches my eye!
How fun! Warblettes is definitely a new and creative name for Water Jelly Marbles. Have you tried them at Halloween as eyeballs?
Susan, that’s brilliant! I am going to try that with my kids. My son (4) will love squishing eyeballs.
I {heart} all things science, but would love a few of the giant millipedes we saw on the site. My son has been intrigued by them since we saw them in a pet store a few years ago, and when I was finally ready to buy two, they stopped carrying them.
I would LOVE some of these for my little ones. Blue. 🙂
I’m so excited to try these. My kids would love Warblettes.
Blue please!
Blue warblettes would be so cool :0)
Very cool! We would like blue. (o:
We’d love to play with some blue ones!!
Very cool! My boys will love this!
So fun! I would be happy to receive any color!
Red – if I win these my daughter can use them when she does experiments with inner city kids
I like the blue and the red. My grandchildren, 8 and 10, both homeschooled, would love these!
I would love the compound microscope!
i love science experiments!
The lab supplies cought my eye. Also the kit to build a star projetor.
Praying Mantid Bubble Habitat
These look like a ton of fun!
Sorry, didn’t read the rules first… We have the 3-D Mirascope. I don’t know how it works but it is so cool.
Oh my Heath Scientific has so much! A microscope & safety goggles are on my to-get list, and the potato clock & make a tin can robot look like fun projects.
Green or blue would be great! Thanks! The solar system model was really neat!
The 6-in-1 solar kit looks like fun!
I may be romanticizing my chemistry lab experiences…..but my kids NEED (read: I want them to have one) a bunsen burner, so that’s what I loved…..is Christmas here yet? That’s when we get our best supplies (microscope and telescope last year). But we love Warblettes too and would love to have a green tube.
We would love the red ones!!
microscope
The soda can robug looks fun! Love this supply site. Thanks for pointing us to it.
This looks so cool! I’d love the chance to win! Thank you so much!!
My kids would love the magnetic wands
Love all the lab equipment.
Another way to try with the older kids is to leave the already grown warblettes in an airtight container and add more when they dry out to see what kind of bacteria grows! I tried it out and the results are really interesting!
What a great idea! Thanks for sharing.