HOW TO MAKE GLOW IN THE DARK WATER BEADS - UV REACTANT

 

To make the beads glow first I had to make GLOW WATER.  I first saw GLOW WATER on PAHM.  I bought a pack of yellow highlighters from Dollar Tree.

I broke one open (use caution while breaking it, because little bits of plastic can go flying.)  and ran water through the inside of the broken pen to get all of the yellow from inside then run the spongy part under the water.  JZ wanted to help, so he held the sponge and squeezed the yellow out.

Editing to add that the first time I made GLOW WATER it took awhile as I squeezed all the yellow from the highlighter out.  Each time since I simply used scissors to cut the sponge open allowing all the yellow to quickly soak into the water.

I wasn't sure how much I could dilute it.  One highlighter made this much glow water.

Then I added water beads and left them to soak up the glow water and expand.

I used clear and red water beads for two reasons.  1.  I wanted to see if colored beads would glow like the clear ones, and 2.  I didn't have a ton of clear beads on hand.

No matter how many times we've played with water beads, it never gets old to see them when they've reached their full potential.

I turned on the black light and let the boys explore!

REF: http://trainupachildlearnaswego.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/glow-in-dark-water-beads.html

This may come in handy if I want to come up with some form of Installation.