My daughter has a thing for water; Wesleigh loves to wash her hands, swim and she loves bath time, so I knew she would love these simple water activities. Water activities are a wonderful way for your child to explore sensory experiences and promote development of their fine motor skills. Continue reading for ten ways your child can have fun with water and download this list to keep on hand so you never run out of ideas.
Place letters/numbers (foam) into a water bin for your child to scoop out with ladles. This works as a great bath activity as well.
Gather a few buckets/containers or set up at an outdoor water table. Fill the buckets with water and your preferred soap (we’re big fans of Babo Botanicals as mentioned in my registry guide), toss in a few foam shapes or letters and let your child reach in for the objects or scoop them out with a shovel.
Ice Grab
This is a highly sensory activity so it may be very engaging for some children and not so much for others. If the cold bothers your child, have them try it while wearing gloves. To play, all you need is a bowl of ice, tongs or a spoon, an ice tray/egg carton and a large container. Show your child how to grab the ice and transfer the pieces into the tray. The melted water will remain contained in the larger bin.
*Bonus, you can add a bit of food coloring and when everything melts, you now have a water bin to continue playing with.
Color Mixing
Set up a large container with ice. Add a few squirts of paint into a squirt bottle – perhaps start with only primary colors. Add water to the paint and fill the bottles. Invite your child to squirt the bottles into the ice and discover different color combinations. They’ll observe how red and yellow make orange, proudly share
Bathtub crayons are a fun way to add art to tub time.
Garden Soup
Explore your neighborhood or yard and have your child pick flowers, petals and grass. Invite them to prepare the garden soup by filling a bowl/container with the items , a terrific pretend play set-up that allows children to create all sorts of concoctions in the backyard.Have them snip leaves, flowers and grass, scoop, pour and mix the items into a large bowl of ‘soup’ to strengthen their fine and gross motor skills.
Spoon it Out
Perfect for bath time or set up outdoors, spoon it out is a simple way to keep kids entertained with objects you already have around the house. With any lid or object that floats, place the items into the tub or in a large bowl/container of water. Give your child a large spoon and have them spoon out the objects.
Provide sponges of different sizes for your child to absorb, transfer and squeeze water out of the sponges. Provide two bins, one with water, and one without. This is a great activity to promote fine motor development.
To set up, all you need is a bin/bucket or a few cups of water and some paintbrushes so your child may ‘paint’ outside on your patio, driveway or sidewalk on a warm day, or indoors at a chalkboard.
Pom poms are amazing because they’re reusable – they can get wet and dry perfectly. Grab two large bins, fill one with water and the other with the pom pom balls. Provide scoops, spoons and cups and let your child take over, transferring the poms from dry bin to water bin.
*Dry the poms by ringing them out and placing in a pillowcase. Tie a knot at the end, wash in a normal load and dry with head (always within the pillowcase). Busy Toddler swears by this method.
Abby
Every single one of these looks like an activity my little girl would absolutely love!