Childhood101

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10 Easy Ways to Extend Water Play

Most kids love water. Swimming, splashing, stomping, pouring, stirring. Water play is splishy, sploshy fun!

When it’s summer here in Perth, we have outdoor water play outside pretty much everyday. A few inches of water in a tub or a small paddle pool, some plastic containers and a wooden spoon and my little water nymphs are as happy as larks for ages.

Playing with water can be a wonderful tool for laying the foundations for future mathematical and scientific learning, providing children with hands-on experience with;

  • Learning about measurement: Which container holds the most/least? Which container holds more/less?
  • Experimenting with scientific concepts: Which object will float/sink and why?
  • Learning new vocabulary: Empty and full, shallow and deep, wet and dry, etc
  • Learning how to sort or categorise: These objects all float, these ones sink.

If your children love water play as much as mine do, here are 10 simple ways to extend the fun and learning potential next time they are ready to splish and splash!

RELATED: Getting Started with Water Play for Babies

Water play

10 Simple Ways to Extend Water Play

1. Add a big car cleaning sponge for squeezing water into containers as an alternative to pouring. Mesh bath sponges are fun too.

2. Add dolls, figurines or cars and a cloth for washing toys.

extending water play

3. Add a little dishwashing detergent and some whisks and let your kids create bubbles in the water.

4. Add a bottle with holes punched into it plus a waterwheel and some lengths of clear plastic tubing from the hardware store.

10 ideas for playing with water

5. Take your child’s cooking play outside – tea set, pots and pans, cups and saucers, spoons for stirring.

water play ideas

6. Try water play with natural materials – small river stones, seed pods, leaves, small sticks and bark.

7. Choose a range of objects that will float and some which will sink. Notice these properties out load as your child plays with the objects in the water.

8. Challenge your child to make a boat from recycled materials and add your child’s plastic people or animals for a day of boating on the water.

ideas for water play table

9. Give your child a bucket of water and a chunky paintbrush for water painting. You will be amazed how much fun toddlers have with this one.

10. Be brave and add sand for some seriously fun play with mud! Make mudpies and mud cakes or sand castles.

Inspire your children to spend even more time playing outdoors by creating an outdoor play space your kids will adore.



Christie Burnett is an early childhood teacher, presenter, writer and the editor of Childhood 101. More importantly, she is a Mum who believes wholeheartedly in the value of children learning through play, the importance of quality early education, and the togetherness of family.

Read more of Christie's adventures at https://childhood101.com.

Read the comments or scroll down to add your own:

  1. SquiggleMum says

    January 24, 2010 at 9:16 AM

    Ooh... loving the holes in the bottle idea. It's often the simple ones that are the most effective.

    Christie you're excellent at demonstrating ways to allow learning to happen naturally through play.

  2. PlanningQueen says

    January 24, 2010 at 11:51 AM

    We love the buckets and paintbrushes here, but we have never tried the bottles with holes in them. My older kids would love to make the holes themselves. We shall have to try this when it is hot next.

  3. Narelle Nettelbeck says

    January 24, 2010 at 12:51 PM

    We have water play here most days too. The children love it when I put ice into the water. You can just use ice cubes OR to make it more fun, grab a balloon and fill it about 1/4 with water, add a little food colouring. Tie the balloon and pop in the freezer. When the balloon is frozen, peel off the rubber balloon and you're left with a big ice block. Freeze a few for a variety of colours.

    The children also enjoy it when I set out 2 tubs of coloured water (eg one yellow and one blue) and then let the children mix away!!

    I haven't tried the bottle idea but I have cups in the water play box with holes in the bottom - the children love that so I can't wait to try the bottle!

  4. Teacher Tom says

    January 24, 2010 at 5:28 PM

    It's the middle of winter here, and we still have water play almost every day. We have a rain barrel that collects rain water from the roof. Lately, the kids have been making mud then using shovels to "catapult" it against the side of the building! They've got it as high as the second story and are strategizing how to get it even higher.

  5. Kendra says

    January 24, 2010 at 9:11 PM

    What great ideas! As a day care provider, I don't use a wading pool with the kids--too much risk with all those little bodies and a pool of water--so I'm so glad to see so many great ideas that use smaller quantities or smaller containers. It's winter now, but I'll definitely keep all these ideas for warmer weather! We have had a great time with "painting" with ice cubes on hot pavement, watching it melt and then dry away. I never thought of adding food coloring, but that sounds like fun too!

  6. leechbabe says

    January 25, 2010 at 12:44 AM

    Great ideas. I'm making notes for Heidi's birthday party next year. The ice treasure hunt was very successful this year, thank you. Added bonus that water play is super easy to clean up after. :)

  7. Honor Bowden says

    January 25, 2010 at 3:57 AM

    Hey there, your blog rocks! We've been reading for a while now and have been trying out lots of ideas... am super excited about the edible fingerpaint! We're off to try your water ideas now... it's soooo hot here on the Gold Coast too. Roman (1) and Mum. x

  9. Eric says

    January 30, 2010 at 2:57 PM

    I'm going to be a daddy here soon so these are some cool ideas I could use to work with my daughter and help her learn while she's having fun.

    Thanks so much! :)

  10. Michelle says

    March 5, 2010 at 12:06 AM

    Hi,

    The information is very much standard and presentation of pages is very nice.I like the buckets and holes in the bottle is very nice.

    Thanks,
    Michelle Horny,
    www.assemblies.com

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