Be an Ultraviolet Detective

We are getting ready for our first trip to Disney World (leaving Saturday). We have been talking to the ladies about how the sun's rays will be more powerful in Florida than here in Ohio. I decided to pull out the UV solar beads to prove it to them. These cool beads have a pigment in them that is sensitive to UV rays. The stronger the rays, the brighter the beads.

When we opened them up, inside the house, they were a creamy white:

As soon as they were exposed to UV rays, they turned pretty pastel colors:

Since it is still winter here in Ohio (and cloudy today), we did not get to experience the beads' full brightness potential. We thought it would be neat to make special UV bracelets to wear in Florida and see how bright these babies can really get! Now if you make the bracelets inside you won't be able to tell what color the UV bead is that you're using, so we decided to make the bracelets outside (and it was quite warm today, spring is right around the corner, YEA).

We used pipecleaners, an assortment of pretty beads and the UV beads for our bracelets.

The ladies picked the beads they found pretty and strung them onto the pipecleaners.

They made quite a few pretty bracelets for family and friends.

We plan to be UV detectives in Florida....Where do the beads get brightest? Do they change color in the shade? What happens when we apply sunscreen to the beads...does this effect the color? If you want to try this yourself, click here for one of the many companies that carry these beads.