While I like to set up educational / play activities for my daughters, I am not a Super Duper DIYer. My attention span does not allow for long, multi-step endeavors so this super easy DIY that requires minimal effort (and mess!) are totally in my wheelhouse.
I was thinking of a filler with a specific look for an upcoming play activity I have planned and while I normally love to support small businesses that sell truly amazing playtime sensory bin fillers (thinking of CreativeMixShop and ), this was way less complicated than the artful, bespoke creations that those businesses offer so I felt confident that I could tackle it at home.
I used this tutorial from InspireMyPlay and it has proven to be hugely helpful. I wanted to share what I did and what I discovered as part of this painting process.
Required Items:
Paint
*I used Mondo Llama acrylic
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INSTRUCTIONS:
I used two x 2oz bottles of acrylic paint per two x 1lb bags of dried chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans).
I also added an “eyeballed amount” of metallic acrylic paint to give the chickpeas a little shimmery sheen and I absolutely love the end result!
*You may also notice two different shades of brown in my Ziploc bag — this was unintentional, as one bottle was in the wrong place at the store and I didn’t confirm that I had selected the correct paint colors 🤪
Just seal the bag and give it all a good squish! This part was actually super fun.
This is how my chickpeas looked after a good long squishing around.
Then, dump them out of the bag onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
Dear Reader, this is where I believe I made my biggest mistake: don’t overload your baking sheet.
I would say to use one pound of chickpeas per baking sheet maximum; I put too many on the same pan and didn’t give them enough room to dry apart from their fellow chickpeas and as a result a good amount of my little beans are missing patches of paint from where another beans pulled it off when I broke apart any clumps. It’s all good though because I’m going to do a second coat on them and now I know!
As they dry (over the course of a few hours), I periodically moved them around to help them unstick from eachother and to help the paint dry. This also included breaking apart clumps that had formed and discarding any broken, peeling, or squishy chickpeas from the batch.
As you can see, I also colored a lighter beige batch with this paint color.
I’m still really pleased with my first attempt and I can’t wait to see the girls play with them soon and then even more in future play! Until then, I have them stored in these stackable bins (which comfortably fits 4lb of chickpeas).
Update: the girls REALLY enjoyed having this filler for their Hot Cocoa / Coffee Sensory Bin (more on that coming soon!).
I hope you try this super easy DIY if you can’t seem to find the *exact* type of filler color / type that you’re looking for. I can confidently say that I’ll definitely be doing it again!
Sending hugs —
xx, Natalie
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