What to do when you score 2 giant bags of packing peanuts for FREE!
Craigslist is a great place to look for free packing material. I scored this set from a local health food store. This bag was full of 2 different kinds of biodegradable packing peanuts and a few Styrofoam ones at the bottom. LOVE IT!
The kids love playing in the peanuts. I filled a large under the bed storage container with them and the kids had a blast. Even my “big” ones loved jumping in. I left this up for a few weeks, defiantly a hit!
Notice the cute colored people that Bree is holding. The girls really enjoyed coloring their packing peanut creations, so cute!
Cornstarch packing peanuts do wonderful things in water. We decided to conduct an experiment to see how many cups of packing peanuts would dissolve in 8 cups of water. Kaleb made the chart and wrote down all our guesses.
We started out shaking the jar, but soon realized that we were creating too much foam. We ended up mixing them in with a spoon which seemed to work better. The end result was amazing.
We ended up being able to dissolve 135 cups of packing peanuts in 8 cups of water. I am convinced we could have kept on going if our container was bigger. It takes very little moisture to break them down.
Next we created wonderful structures. Simply dip your finger in water, touch it to the packing peanut and then press 2 peanuts together. The kids had a blast doing this. You can buy special packing peanuts at kid learning stores, but these free peanuts work the same way. You can also purchase packing peanuts at office supply stores. Hours of endless fun building and creating.
After they finished building they had this great idea to see how fast it would take to dissolve in water. I was excited that they wanted to dissolve it because I was getting worried that I wold have to fit this wonderful structure in with my spring decorations:) If you look closely you can see a man (no face), a giraffe, a large spider and a creeping Caterpillar.
Squishing slimy, gooey packing peanuts.
Kaleb enjoyed making flying “worms” by squishing his hands together.
Next the kids wanted to know what the difference between the Styrofoam and biodegradable peanuts so I set up another experiment. The jar on the right contains the biodegradable peanuts and the jar on the right is the Styrofoam peanuts. After some fun shaking the kids noticed that there was no change in the Styrofoam jar.
Since the Styrofoam peanuts don’t dissolve in water they are perfect for using as beanbag filler. They are larger than the regular bean bag filler, but the kids don’t mind and it squishes down pretty quickly. The perfect cheap fix to fluff up those flat beanbags. Simply unzip the beanbag cover, there is usually 2 zippers and dump in the styrofoam packing peanuts. It is important to make sure you are using Styrofoam. If your beanbag ever gets wet, you would end up with a sticky gooey mess with the biodegradable variety.
Grab your sunglasses, your favorite book and go enjoy the spring sunshine!
All this play took place over a few weeks. The kids love it! We are giving the leftover peanuts to my sister-in-law to use in her preschool classroom sensory table. When I was picking up the bags, I’m sure the lady thought I was nuts. She was probably thinking “who wants 2 large bags of packing peanuts and 2 large bags of bubble wrap?” I do! She defiantly blessed our house! Now what to do with all the bubble wrap! LOVE IT!
Here is a link to a fun list of great experiments that my kids love.
I will be linking to these parties.
SImply Awesome!
A company we buy from send BIOdegradable ones—we love this…. We had “snowball”fights, hiding under them,she took them in the bath (that was a true clean up effort by all) and then planted the rest. Thank you for sharing!
I shared this on my fb and twitter!! Fabulous!
I never knew packing peanuts could be so much fun and such wonderful natural learning taking place here. It’s fabulous. We don’t have packing peanuts here in Australia anymore (well I haven’t seen them in a really long time anyway). I love the science experiments you did. I wonder if there is something similar we could use here…
I’ve been looking for ideas with packing peanuts! We always get a bunch with one order at our bakery about once a month… I so hope they’re the biodegradable ones, but I have a feeling they’re all styrofoam… coloring them might still be fun!! 🙂 Thanks for the ideas!
My home daycare would love this. Might be an outside project if we are going to sit in them with 10 kids might get crazy! Love the little people they made. Cute crafts, how fun, cant wait to find some packing peanuts!
Angela
http://www.daycareheadquarters.com
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This is great! I featured it on my blog today. Thanks again for linking up with Smile Monsters & Local Fun for Kids : )
I just dumped some packing peanuts today for lack of anything creative to do with them … have to go retrieve them! I love all these great ideas. I think my son would love coloring them and making little figures. Such fun!
Oh, that giant bag of packing peanut heaven! You sure made the best of enjoying it. What great ideas. I’m sure our readers would also really enjoy this post if you are willing to link it to our Show and Tell feature! http://www.abcand123learning.com/2011/04/show-and-tell-52.html
Oh I have packing peanut envy now! Great idea for an experiment and I *love* the sculpture. Thanks for sharing a great post with the Play Academy 🙂
Awesome!!! I love how you used these for so many different activities! The experiment was so great!!
Thanks for linking this project up with For the Kids Fridays! I appreciate you stopping by, and hope to have you back for this week’s party! I’ll be posting it later tonight.
:)rachel at SunScholars.blogspot.com
Wow! So much fun! 🙂
Thank you for participating in last week’s High paw. Hope to see you this week too! 🙂
If it takes SO LITTLE water to dissolve packing peanuts, why is styrafoam so bad?
Here’s a Christmas idea..for everyone….I found 3 clear bags of white peanuts in an auto man’s garbage pile. I used a bucket and large piece of cardboard ..for a hat. Spray painted with chalkboard paint black…then cut out eyes and used a carrot for a nose…I used a curtain rod to stablize and set that into an umbrella stand…the cutes snowman you ever could use on a parade float..we placed 1st place. You can see my creation on facebook ..cut out letters that say Merry Christmas..used crepe myrtle limbs for arms..
This is a great idea. and a reminder I have small crate of these in my Craft closet . I use to let my niece and nephews color or paint them, then string them together. Hours of fun.
Now I have to get them out and bring to work, I work with head start programs
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Absolutely love these ideas, will be using this sometime this week with my 2 and 4 year old. Recycled crafts are the best.