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There’s no denying that water, in all of its forms, fascinates young children.
When youngsters are given opportunity to investigate water and how it feels, tastes, and looks, their inherent curiosity about the environment grows.
I enjoy giving my children opportunities to play with water in all of its forms, both at home and at school. Here are some of our favourite games!
Best Ways To Play With Water
In Liquid Shape
Water in liquid form is extremely appealing to preschoolers, and they learn a variety of scientific and mathematical concepts as they play.
A water table is one of the simplest ways to give young children these chances. Children can learn about motion, flow, measurement, and buoyancy through activities including scooping, pouring, transferring, testing, floating, and sinking.
Water tables can be purchased online or at local department shops, but what is the simplest method to get this activity going at home? A table topped with a large, shallow Rubbermaid storage container!
Add some measuring cups, funnels, and small toys, and you’ve got yourself a low-cost water play station.
In Solid State
Ice is a fascinating tactile and sensory experience that allows you to practise fine motor skills while learning about the qualities of water in both its liquid and solid forms.
We have a lot of fun constructing frozen dinosaur eggs with little figures. Fill a balloon with water and a small plastic dinosaur or other toy.
Tie the balloon and place it in the freezer overnight. Remove the dinosaur eggs from the balloons and challenge the children to free the dinosaur using droppers, small tools, cloth, and other items!
Making frozen paint is another enjoyable method to experiment with ice. Half-fill ice cube trays with tempera or water-based acrylic. Fill with water. Freeze for a few hours before inserting a popsicle stick. When the paint cubes are totally frozen, remove them from the trays and let the kids use them to make stunning, frosty artworks!
Surface Tension
Surface tension is a thin, stretchy, skin-like feature of water. When you drop a bead of water on a surface, you can see this… Surface tension is what holds it all together and gives it the dome form.
Older kids can experiment with this concept by using a coin and some little droppers. How many drips of water can you keep together before the water overflows?
This may appear to be an easy exercise, but I can assure you that it is quite entertaining for children!
We also enjoy playing with huge bubbles to investigate surface tension. To begin, dissolve half a cup of cornstarch in six cups of water.
1 tablespoon baking powder, 1/2 cup Dawn dish soap, and 1 tablespoon glycerine Allow to sit for one to two hours after mixing. Giant bubble wands can be purchased in toy stores or online.
We enjoy these bubbles for hours of outdoor fun in the summer. A bubble is simply air wrapped in soap film, but you can go even more particular by discussing surface tension, light, and elasticity with your children!
Absorption
Absorption occurs when a substance absorbs and retains water (the easiest explanation for your preschooler).
Including sponges of various shapes, sizes, and colours in your water play area creates a novel sensory experience as well as an opportunity to investigate absorption.
I occasionally assign my children the chore of moving water from one container to another using only sponges.
Orbeez is another very absorbent play material. When mixed with water, these tiny beads can swell to 150 times their original size in a matter of hours.
They provide a mushy, slimy substrate that can be explored in many ways in sensory bins or water tables. Remember that many sensory bases (such as water beads) are not edible, thus parental supervision is required.
Water Play Is Great For Sensory Development
Remember that water (like all sensory play) is an excellent opportunity to explore the environment with your child, connect with them, and boost language development.
Take advantage of this opportunity to participate and communicate with your child. You could start a debate by asking, “What do you notice?” How does it make you feel?
Is there anything it reminds you of? Are you using caution when pouring the water? Can you tell a tale with the materials you have?
Sensory play helps your child grow by improving motor abilities, cognitive functioning, language, socialising, mathematical comprehension, and imagination.
It strengthens nerve connections in the brain’s circuits, allowing your youngster to do more complex learning activities in the future. Water, in my opinion, is the ultimate sensory base.
Print This Positive Parenting Guidebook – The 5 Pillars Of Positive Parenting
Listen… parenting with connection and positivity has been seen as permissive and lazy parenting BUT this is totally not the case.
I am a mom of 3 beautiful children and I’ve spent HOURS, DAYS, MONTHS, and YEARS researching this topic and seriously, it is my favorite way to parent.
Way better than what I grew up with – which was A LOT of yelling, spanking and frankly, neglect.
This little guidebook is a golden nugget that you can have for free – and print it out! Put it on the fridge, refer to it often. It’s really a great tool for kids of all ages.
Download Your Free Printout
- Download the guidebook. You’ll get the printable, plus join hundreds parents who receive my weekly parenting tips and ideas! (Sometimes I’ll promote a parenting program, but only the best ones that are in the positive parenting community, I promise.)
- Print. Print out the guidebook!
- Place it where you can see it. There is a lot of great information in this guidebook, even though it’s small. It’s power packed full of great stuff so put it where you can refer to it often.
