Making a Splash: 30+ Exciting Water Play Activities for Kids
Children's laughter echoing through the air, the refreshing sound of splashing water, and smiles that could light up a room – there's something truly magical about water play for kids. As parents, caregivers, or educators, we understand the sheer joy and developmental benefits that come with letting little ones dive into aquatic adventures. In this blog post, we'll explore a world of watery wonders, unveiling exciting water play activities that not only entertain but also nurture your child's growth and imagination.
Water play isn't just about having a good time (though that's definitely part of the equation). It's a fantastic way for kids to develop crucial skills, both physically and mentally. From sensory exploration to honing fine motor skills, the possibilities are as vast as the ocean itself. So, let's embark on a journey of creativity, learning, and endless fun – because when it comes to making a splash, the more, the merrier!
Want to read all about the benefits of water play for your children's development? You can right here
Can you stir up a shape soup? This water play sensory bin is a fun and easy way to explore shapes as well as colour sorting, patterning and more!
Simply pour water in your play tray and colour the water with food colouring! When ready add shape buttons, kitchen tools, scoops and more. Then you are all ready for play!
Make recipe cards and encourage children to create the soup orders, practice sorting colours or by shape, the possibilities are endless!
Pom Pom Soup
This is a fun and easy sensory activity for children to explore colour, texture, scooping, pouring and so much more. All you need in a sensory pin, pom poms, water, scoops and off you go!
Invite your child to begin exploring creating soup! Mix and measure your mixture as they pour, scoop, ladle into bowls to serve or colour sort!
Ways to extend the play:
-Colour sort the pom poms
-Talk about weight, are they heavier now that they are wet? Maybe explore transferring them to a scale!
-How many pom poms can you fit in a container
-Let's pour and scoop the pom poms!
-Can you squeeze all the water from the pom poms?
-How many fit in one scoop vs another?
Stone Soup
Children love investigating the natural world around them and often their first choice of nature treasure to take home with them are rocks! They love their unique shapes, colours and designs. This is such a fun and easy water play activity allows them to explore rocks and enjoy mixing up soup.
Go on a nature walk and invite children to collect rocks they find interesting, you can even ask them to bring some from home! Place them all in a deep tuff tray, pour in water and add kitchen tools and allow children’s imaginations to take it from there.
They can mix, measure, pour, scoop and sift through their rocks and even add nature materials.
Reflective Water Play
This is such a fun and easy outdoor play invitation you can set up in under 5 minutes to explore water, nature and the world around you.
Simply slide a mirror insert into your deep tuff tray and pour in water until it covers the mirror! Then go on a nature walk in your backyard and community and then collect different flowers, leaves and buds that catch your child’s eye and sprinkle them in your tuff tray! Add pourers and a solar fountain for extra water play fun.
Mirrors are an excellent inquiry tool for children, as they can help them see things in an entirely different way. The mirror adds dimension, light, reflection and a completely different perspective. As they pour water and play they will be able to see their reflection in the mirror but also that of the outdoor play space around them.
Water Painting
This is a super fun and easy mark making activity that is all the joy of painting with easier clean up!
Simply place construction paper in a tray with water and paint brushes! Then invite children to paint the construction paper and make unique water designs. Children will explore being creative as they build fine motor skills and explore mark making!
Ways to extend the play:
-Practice letter & number formation
-Talk about what you notice with what they create
-See how long it takes your designs to dry away
Can you sort all the fish and sea shells you find hidden in the ocean? This is such a fun and easy light panel invitation that allows children to practice all their sorting and fine motor skills!
To create your ocean lay a blue play scarf over your light panel to act as your ocean waves and then place the light panel cover over it. Fill your light panel cover with and then pour the fish and shells to resemble an ocean floor. Then place sorting with matching coloured tweezers around the light panel to encourage them to sort all the shells and fish they discover in the ocean
Ways to extend the play:
-Can you colour match all the shells and fish you find on the ocean floor?
-How many ways can you short them? By size? texture? colour?
-How many of each colour or type are there?
-Can you create shell or fish patterns?
Frozen Ocean
Can you free the coral, shells and ocean animals from the frozen ocean? This is such a fun and easy stem activity for a hot day!
Place your shells, coral and ocean animals in a large bowl and then pour in water to gently cover the figures and dye the water blue and then freeze. Once frozen, add more ocean animals and then pour water and freeze again!
Once your ocean is ready take a paint pot and add salt, warm water and a pipette! Then take your frozen ocean outside and pour it out in a PlayTray. Use the pipette to begin slowly melting the ocean to free shells, corals and animals to create your ocean.
Once it’s fully frozen it becomes the perfect ocean small world and water play invitation!
Flower Soup
This is such a fun and easy nature potion play activity that children will love. They can pour, scoop, measure and create!
Go on a nature walk in your community and collect flowers, leaves and grasses. Then take your deep tuff tray outside and fill it with water and dye it with food colouring! Add your flowers, scoops, tea pots, potion bottles, etc. Then invite children to mix and explore creating floral potions!
As children play they build fine motor skills as the children pluck and snip flowers and leaves as they collect. They will make decisions as they choose their ingredients for their soup. Build math knowledge as they explore measurement, weight and more!
Pipe Cleaner Fishing
Can you catch all the fish in the pond? This is such a fun and easy water play activity for a hot day!
In a deep tuff tray add water and dye it with food colouring to create the sense of an ocean and pond. Then take pipe cleaners of all colours and fold them in the shape of fish and add them to the tray! Add nets, magnetic wands and fishing rods to catch your fish.
Then invite children to catch all the fish!
Rainbow Water Colour Lab
This activity is a great way to explore colours, colour mixing and just fun water play!
Fill a deep tuff tray with water and then mix in white tempera paint. The add beakers, clear vessels, paint pots with pipettes filled with liquid watercolour paint, and coloured jugs filled with rainbow water! Then invite your learners to mix, pour and scoop.
Little learners will love discovering colours and maybe even making their own new colours! You could even offer a sheet to record the results as they mix! Allow them to pour, mix colours and see what they create!
Blossoming Flowers Pond
Watch as your flower bloom as you place them in your pond! How colourful are they all as they gently unfurl.
On your computer find a printable colouring sheet of a flower and print off multiples! Encourage children to colour the flowers all kinds of bright colours then cut them out. Gently fold each petal towards the middle and then fill a sensory tray with water and dye it blue. When ready, place them in the pond and watch them bloom!
Can you help put out the fire?
This activity is a fun and easy to cool off as you play outdoors!
On your tuff tray use washable tempera paint to paint a blazing fire! Once you have created your fire, fill spray bottles and jugs with water and take your tray outside and lean it up against a fence and encourage children to put out the fire!
Light Panel Oil & Water STEM Play
This colourful chemical reaction will have your little learners SO excited and interested in exploring how the oil and water react!
All you need:
-Light Panel & Cover
-Water & Oil
-Liquid Watercolour Paint
-Jumbo Droppers / Pipettes
In your paint cups pour in vegetable oil and liquid watercolour paint then mix! Add your pipettes. Then fill a container with water and place the light panel cover on the light panel and fill it with your water! Turn on your light panel and then invite children to mix the coloured oil in the water and notice the reactions.
Sea of Sight Words
Can you fish all the letters from the sea to spell your sight words? This activity is a fun and easy way to work on early literacy skills, fine motor skills and more.
Fill your PlayTray halfway with water and then add a few drops of blue food colouring to create your ocean! Add magnetic alphabet letters and fish to your ocean. On the PlayTray lid use a dry erase marker and write sight words for children to match and spell! Add magnetic wands, nets & scoops to help children scoop letters. When ready go fishing!
Ways to extend the play:
-Write alphabet letters on the lid and match
-Match uppercase letters with lowercase
-Fill in the missing letter to spell words
Gem Potion Colour Sort
Can you mix and discover the gems that are in this fairy potion? This is a super fun and easy water play activity that will help kids learn all kinds of early learning skills.
Fill your PlayTray half way with water and then add purple glitter washable tempera paint and mix! Once your water is sparkly purple take your gems and pour them into the water and spread them out. In the lid add three compartments and in two add the sorting compartments and nets to the other! Then invite children to begin exploring and sorting the gems friends they find!
Ways to extend the play:
- They can sort by colour
-They can count how many of each colour they find
-They can create patterns!
Can you water the flowers with your plumbing solution?
This is such a fun outdoor learning invitation that allows you to explore STEM concepts and water play while talking about caring for flowers!
In a tuff tray place your planters with flowers then add your translucent pipe tubes! Then invite your little learners to design their own unique plumbing solutions to water the flowers. In the middle and sorting bowls with water, translucent jugs and pipettes for children to test their plumbing creations! This is such a fun way to explore early engineering concepts and developing creative solutions.
Water Painting Mark Making
This is such a fun and easy invitation you can create in less than 5 minutes but will inspire endless creativity! All you need are rocks, water and paint brushes.
Go on a nature walk in your community and look for smooth stones of all sizes and then place them on a table. Add mark making stones, pattern cards or other materials to inspire mar making. Pour water in paint pots and add paint brushes so children can paint!
Invite children to begin designing patterns, art and unique creations all of their own! The best part? After they are finished with their creations you can document them, let them dry and they can create again.
Rainbow Water Play
This colourful water play is quick fun and easy activity that can be made in under 5 minutes but will inspire hours of fun? Look no further! This water play is a fun and easy way to explore colour sorting, reflections, scooping and pouring and more!
Take your deep tuff tray outside and fill it with water. Then add your translucent loose parts (I used my favourite the light learning rocks), translucent sorting bowls and stacking cups. Then invite your children to being exploring reflections, pouring, scooping, sorting and sensory play!
Ways to extend the play:
-Grab primary colour light learning rocks and explore colour mixing in the sun and how it reflects in the water
-Explore the colours reflecting in the sun and on to the water
-Scoop and pour the water, can you measure?
-Colour sort the light learning rocks in the bowls or cups?
-Create colour potions or soups!
Muddy Dinosaur Wash
The dinosaurs have been out playing in the mud, can you help them get clean?
To create your muddy dinosaur small world pour soil, add water and stir to make mud. Then add rocks, wood rounds, and other natural materials to create your dinosaur world. Then add your dinosaur s and bury dinosaur bones in the mud. On the other side of the muddy world add a container and fill it with water and dish soap and sponges!
Then invite children to play with the dinosaurs in the mud and dig for dinosaur bones. Then they can wash the dinosaurs and bones as they play!
Pom Pom Kitchen Water Play
Need a quick fun and easy outdoor activity that can be made in under 5 minutes but will inspire hours of fun? Look no further! This pom pom soup and water kitchen is such a fun way to allow children to be creative as they pour, scoop, measure and create!
Take your deep tuff tray outside and then add your favourite kitchen materials like pots, pans, sifters, utensils and more! Then add measuring beakers full of water. Then invite children to mix, measure, pour, scoop and sift through their pom poms and even add nature materials!
Ways to extend the play:
-Invite children to create recipes and create recipe cards
-Talk about measurement and measure different ingredients!
-Sort pom poms based on colour and size and create soups based on that!
Mystery Ocean Snorkle & Sort
Can you find what animals live in the depths of the ocean and bring them to shore? This is a super fun and easy water play activity that will help kids learn all kinds of early learning skills.
Fill your PlayTray half way with water and then add blue washable tempera paint and mix! Once your water is dark ocean blue add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to make the water opaque! Then take your ocean animal counters and pour them into the water and spread them out. In the lid add three compartments and in two add the sorting compartments and nets to the other! Then invite children to begin exploring the ocean and sorting the aquatic friends they find!
Ways to extend the play:
- They can sort by colour
-They can sort by type of aquatic animal
-They can count how many of each colour or type of aquatic animal they find
-They can create patterns!
Painting with Water
This is such a fun and easy process art activity that is no prep and perfect for a hot day! All you need is water and painting tools.
Fill your PlayTray with water and then on the lid add your compartments and fill them with all kinds of painting tools like foam rollers, spray bottles, droppers, paint brushes etc. Then take your materials out to your driveway or a sidewalk and invite children to create!
Dandelion Soup
We had so much fun with our dandelions yesterday we wanted to keep exploring ways to play! This is such a fun and easy nature play inspired activity that will have children mixing all kinds of concoctions as they learn and play!
Go on a nature walk in your community and begin collection dandelions, grass, rocks and other ingredients for your soup!
Once you have your ingredients add them to your playtray compartments and fill your playtray with water. Then add yellow food colouring and cornstarch then mix! Add bowls, sieves and scoops and then begin mixing in your ingredients.
Invite children to scoop, pour, measure, mix, and explore.
Polar Small World Water Play
Let’s explore the polar ocean with all our animal friends who live there! This is such a fun and easy water play invitation your little learners will love exploring.
Fill a deep tuff tray with water and then dye it with blue food colouring or liquid watercolor to get an icy polar colour! Then add your floating icebergs, polar loose parts and polar animals.
Then invite children to explore the ocean!
Ways to extend the play:
-Read a book about the polar region and talk about the habitat and animals that live there!
Muddy Construction Truck Wash
Can you clear the mud and then clean up the trucks! This is such a fun and easy activity you can set up quickly and your kids will love.
Fill a sensory bin with dirt and then add water and mix to create mud! Then in another bin fill it halfway with water, dish soap and sponges and mix for your wash station!
Invite children to begin playing in the mud with their trucks and then when ready they can wash them up for the next time they play.
Bird Bath
Can you help the birds take a bath? This is such a fun and easy water play invitation that takes less than 5 minutes to be set up and perfect on a hot summer day while you watch the birds!
Simply take your tuff tray outside, place a shallow container in the middle with water and add your birds in and around your bird bath!
How can you get the clean water to all the houses in the neighbourhood?
This is such a fun small world invitation that allows you to explore STEM concepts and water play while talking about clean water!
In a tuff tray create your neighbourhood with homes and neighbours! Then add your translucent pipe tubes and other creative building materials for your little learners design their own unique plumbing solutions. In the middle provide a container of water and pipettes for children to test their plumbing creations! This is such a fun way to explore early engineering concepts and developing creative solutions.
As we wrap up our exploration of water play and its countless benefits, it's clear that this fun, engaging activity goes far beyond simple playtime. For young children, water play is a gateway to a world of learning, offering rich sensory experiences that are crucial in early childhood development. By incorporating water-based activities into our children’s playtime, we not only fuel their natural curiosity but also support their growth in essential developmental area.
Water play is more than just splashing around; it's about nurturing young minds through hands-on, sensory-rich experiences that enhance motor skills, cognitive development, and emotional well-being. Whether pouring, measuring, or simply making a mess, children learn fundamental concepts such as cause and effect, volume, and buoyancy. These activities encourage problem-solving and critical thinking, skills that children will carry with them throughout their lives.
In conclusion, water play is an indispensable part of play-based learning. It provides a foundation for intellectual and social development while ensuring that children enjoy every splash and every moment of discovery. So, let's set the stage for countless hours of fun and learning by incorporating more water play activities into our daily routines. Your little ones will not only appreciate the cool respite on hot days but will also benefit from the dynamic learning experiences that water play offers. Dive in and watch them thrive!
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