When it is hot and sunny outside, water play is a fascinating experience for little ones. They can splash, pour, scoop, mix, touch, squeeze and even transfer water from one container to another. In this simple, yet effective set up, your child and his friends will be delighted to engage and have a blast playing with water.
All of the activities that I am suggesting are accessible to children of various heights, to ensure that everybody can make choices of whether to sit, crawl, kick, squat, run, or stand.
Citrus Sensory Fiesta: Splash, Scent & Play Extravaganza!
Freshly cut slices of lemons and oranges floating in a shallow container will captivate your child’s visual, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile senses. Your little party people can use their hands and feet to splash and feel the water.
You can use sensory balls with different textures, a silicone brush, a wooden salad spoon and fork, and a bucket with sponges, all to keep the experience enjoyable and amusing.
Water Wonder: Exploring Colors and Textures with Sensory Bags
Sensory bags filled with pompoms and petals of flowers of different colors are another way to experiment with water. Children will be captivated by the colors they see in the sensory bags, wanting to touch them and see what happens when they press with their hands or feet. It is a calming and soothing activity.
All you need for this activity are two resealable medium-sized (22cm x 25cm or 11.31″ x 10″) bags. I filled them with 1/4 water, one with pompoms, the other with petals. Then I remove as much air as possible.
Other materials you could also use include foam shapes, googly eyes, peas, and glitter. Taping the closure of the bag will keep the contents safe from spills.
The zip bags I used had a tag. I found that it was in the way, so I removed it by simply using nail polish and a cotton ball. Easy!
Bouncing Bonanza: Playful Fun Ball Games
For physically active play, balls of different sizes and weights will encourage your child’s and guests’ mobility, coordination, and balance. Children will be able to kick, throw, catch, and roll while having fun. I have included a small bucket and a large Flexi Tub to play as a target toss game.
Tiny movers: water-filled adventures
Carrying, holding, lifting, and dropping are actions that toddlers love to do over and over again. In this activity, children can use their hands to move plastic bottles from one place to another.
All you need are bottles filled with water and add food coloring to keep it fun and interesting. Children will feel happy and empowered by engaging in all these gross motor movements entirely by themselves.
Aqua Creations: Exploratory Water Station for Mix, Stir, Pour, and Scoop
Finally, this is a water station activity where children can mix, stir, pour, and scoop. A variety of household equipment such as a funnel, a saucepan, a whisk, three sizes of fine Mesh Strainer Spoons, jugs, bowls, squeeze bottles, a bucket, and sponges are all great tools to nurture your child’s imagination. You could also add natural materials like leaves of different sizes and colors, pieces of bark, flowers, grass, berries, and sticks for stirring.
