Last updated on September 14th, 2022 at 09:29 pm
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Last updated on September 14th, 2022 at 09:29 pm
Do you remember being in school and your teacher said they had a really cool science experiment for the lesson? It was dinosaur week at school, and your teacher kept promising that on Friday you would be able to grow your own dinosaur.
You could not wait until Friday to see if you would get to grow a t-rex, brachiosaurus, triceratops, or a pterodactyl.
Friday finally came, and you walked in to find a cup of water on your desk that your teacher said not to drink or you wouldn’t be able to grow your dinosaur. She comes around and hands you this weird little colored capsule and says this is your dinosaur. You then place the capsule in the water and are told to watch your dinosaur grow throughout the day.
You keep watching, and at the end of the day you leave your dinosaur there to grow larger over the weekend.
You come back on Monday to find you have a t-rex the size of your cup!
Now you’ve been out of school for a while and have a child of your own who is obsessed with dinosaurs. You remember that you got to grow your own dinosaur and now want to share the same experience with your kid…but they don’t have to wait until Friday!
These expandable toys/dinosaurs that grow in water are known most commonly as Grow Monsters.
The Grow Monsters come in many more shapes and sizes than when you were in school.
There are dinosaurs, insects, hatching eggs, sea creatures, and they grow to a much bigger size than the clear plastic cups used in science class. You now get to grow all these different kinds of expandable toys and make some great memories with your children.
How Long Does It Take For Grow In Water Toys To Grow To Their Full Size?
In a world where many things are instant, these grow in water toys are not instant and do require patience.
Grow in water toys can take up to a week to grow to their full size. However if left in a small container they will never grow to their full potential.
How long it takes to grow these toys to their full size depends on a few different things:
The size of the container you place the grow in water toy in
If you place the toy in a small cup, it will only have that amount of room to grow. Most of the grow in water toys can grow up to almost a foot.
If you place the toy in a smaller cup, then it will never reach its foot-length potential.
In a smaller container, your grow in water toy will be done in a few days. In a larger container, it can take close to a week to reach the full size.
The type of water you use in growing the toy
In all the experiments that have been done with these grow in water toys, it has been found that slightly warm water helps grow your creatures the best. Also, distilled water is the best choice for the type of water in growing it as well.
How often you change the water
After 24 hours, it may look like your creature hasn’t grown very much which is normal. Each day you should take out the creature, pat dry with a paper towel, and then measure the creature to see just how big it has gotten.
Make sure to place the creature back in warm water.
It is unsure if the warm water every day helps the creature grow, or if it is just the fact of adding new water. Either way it does help the process in growing your toy.
What Is Inside A Grow In Water Toy?
While it is fun to believe that the toy grows with magic, there is a bit of science behind the growing of these water toys. Their growth comes from chemistry making them great for lessons in science.
The toys that grow in water are made from superabsorbent polymers. The toy begins to grow because the superabsorbent polymer allows the toy to not only absorb but to retain large amounts of water making the toy grow.
Once the toys have been removed from the water, you may begin to notice that they won’t be as big as they once were. This is normal and fine.
If you want to conduct even more experiments, Salt water will shrink the toy because of the effects from the polymers in the toy. You can also expand the toy once it begins to shrink naturally because the polymers in the toy will be “reactivated” once placed back into water.
Are Toys That Grow In Water Toxic?
The most important thing when purchasing anything that enters into your home is knowing whether or not it is safe for your children.
Since most of the grow in water toys are made from superabsorbent polymer, they are safe for children to play with.
However there are certain other risks that come from playing with theses expanding toys.
Children should be watched carefully when playing with any type of grow in water toy. Whether they are playing with the creatures or water beads, they need to be watched carefully.
While these toys are not toxic to them, they do pose some great risks such as choking/ingestion hazards. Since the Grow Monster toys are designed to reach up to a foot when placed in water, ingestion can cause great damage to the child’s digestive tract.
Even if a small piece is ingested, call your pediatrician to find the best course of action. In addition to the Grow Monster, water beads also pose a choking/ingestion hazard as well.
There are some water beads that have the potential to be the same size as a racquet ball. While the water beads are not toxic either, they still pose a threat of getting stuck and growing to a greater size.
Water beads can be a great sensory toy if used properly as you can use a gallon baggie and tape the opening to make sure none can be ingested.
These Grow Monster, water beads, and other grow in water toys are great tools in helping child development.
They are a great way to pique your child’s interest in sensory and science but should always be used with adult supervision. As long as safety is practiced, these grow in water toys can make for some great learning memories with your children.
Last updated on September 14th, 2022 at 09:29 pm
