Wednesday, February 11, 2009

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.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are SUCH a clever mom...

Willo said...

What a BRILLIANT idea! How clever of you! Thanks for stopping by today!

Tammy said...

The colors of those beads are so soft and pretty. How long does it take for the beads to change back to white?

Lisa said...

Thank you so much for the nice comments! :)
It only takes a few minutes for them to turn back into white. It really depends on how bright they are. Today was a low UV day due to the clouds...they really can get a lot brighter on a sunny Ohio summer day!

karen said...

what a great idea! such a fun way to make your girls awear of the suns uv. i can only imagine how bright the beads would have gotten if i had some here last week (it was hot!!)

earthmama said...

Mama, you were born to blog! What an enchanting stroll through your life. This is hands down one of my very favorite blogs!!! Thank you soooo much for sharing your life:)

Anonymous said...

I read your blog. It looked like fun.

Anonymous said...

This is a GREAT idea! Where did you find these beads? Are they just called UV beads?

Georgine said...

OK, love this idea, really love that you used pipe cleaners! I need to try that with my daughter. I need beads with bigger centers though. How did you like Disney? We just got back last Wednesday. My daughter's (she is 2) first trip. She (me too!) is still recovering. Thanks for all the good ideas!