I keep seeing you guys bring these things called 'water babies' to class. It seemed like just a strange new fad to me, but many of you said that they would 'die' if you left them out of water and your 'babies' would 'reproduce' when they got big.

I was very curious about how this worked, so I went online and checked them out. Boy, did I find out all about how these 'water babies' worked.

'Water babies' or water crystal jellies are also known as Smelly Jelly - I think because the water smells bad (I should know, I opened one of my student's water baby container and ugh - stinky!). These 'babies' are actually water-absorbing polymers (types of plastics) that are able to absorb 300 times their weight in water.

They are used in areas with drought (long periods without rain) or in the summer months. Gardeners place these 'water babies' on the soil to release water to the plant slowly, thus keeping the plant alive. This way, they don't need to waste water by spraying it over the plants to moisten the soil. This reduces the amout of time taken to water plants by as much as 80%.

And these 'water babies' do not split or reproduce in any way. Haha, sorry to burst your bubble. Instead, they turn almost transparent and look ghostly in the water.

I don't mind if you want to keep these gardening tools as pets, but I won't allow anyone selling them, buying them or taking them out during class, so please help by not doing these things. Keep them in your bag if you wish to bring them to school. Otherwise, enjoy your 'babies' ^_^

posted - 10:50 AM