There is a saying that goes ‘If your children are starting to climb the walls, remove the walls and play with water’. This is because water play can entertain and engage children of all ages, but also has therapeutic qualities which mean that is helps to calm, regulate and ground children in a way that other play opportunities do not.
So, whether you’re entertaining a group of siblings, cousins or friends use water play to bring everyone together.
Make sure that you always supervise children around water, no matter their age, and ensure that the water you use is clean and safe to use in play.
While water is not free, it is relatively inexpensive and can be played both indoors and outdoors if you’re feeling brave! Water play doesn’t have to be complicated; you do not need to buy water trays or any special equipment to create a meaningful play experience for your child.
Water is exciting for children all on its own, so we always suggest keeping it simple at first.
This could be going on a puddle safari just after it’s rained, taking a tray into the garden and filling it up with jugs from a water butt, or tap. Babies will enjoy interacting with the water and watching the effects of older children splashing away. Toddlers and older children will be able to experience the sensory and physical benefits of jumping, pouring or splashing.
Then as their confidence grows or if interest dwindles, introduce new and exciting objects to explore with the water such as pipes, spoons, old (clean) medicine syringes, recycled guttering, bigger jugs, watering cans and any other interesting child safe objects you have lying around your home.
Encourage the older children to show younger ones how to use these new objects, or let them be inspired by younger children using a gutter upside down to create a whole new game.
When the novelty of simple water play wears off, here are some ways to bring back the joy
By adding clean paint brushes, paint rollers and sponges children can use water as a fun mark making toy. This is fantastic for a sunny day where children can use all their large motor movements to make water marks on your windows, bricks or patios and the sun will simply make them disappear, leaving no mess for you to tidy.
Older children will love practising important letters, logos or shapes while toddlers and babies can enjoy simply watching their marks appear and disappear in the sunshine.
Children naturally love to do anything that they see us doing, so when it comes to cleaning let them get involved. You can encourage them to help you clean patio furniture, the car or their own toys using a bucket of water, sensitive washing up liquid and a sponge or cloth.
Their levels of actual cleaning will vary depending on their age (and mood) but for toddlers and young children especially this game can keep them entertained for hours on end. If you have a baby playing alongside, leave the washing up liquid out and clean with plain water – so if anyone decides to try a sip they won’t have a nasty surprise!
Ice cubes can be a perfect addition to water play, especially in the warmer weather. You can freeze large cubes, or tubs of water (recycling take away boxes is perfect for this), and add them to a tray or bucket of water. Make sure not to add too many at once, keep the water at a temperature comfortable to touch. Babies and toddlers will get new sensory experiences from the water and ice combination, and older children can experiment with challenges around melting the ice as fast as possible or making it into towers.
Add to the fun by freezing plastic animals into the water for children to try and dig out. This can keep them focused for longer periods of time, and for older children will also spark some scientific investigations as they work out how to best unfreeze the ice. (Top tip: if it is taking a long time, or they’re getting frustrated, give them a cup of slightly warmer water to spoon or pour over the ice and speed things up!)
You could add a small amount of child safe paint or food colouring (only a drop, though!) to different tubs of water to refresh interest in water play. Provide scoops, spoons and old (clean) children’s medicine syringes to encourage the children to explore and investigate colour mixing. This is so much fun and might even turn into some potion making, or other role play, led by the older children in the group.
You don’t have to exclusively do water play outside, or risk getting the carpet wet... You can do it in the bath instead! Simply take any of the ideas you love and pop everyone in the bath to play!
If you’re in the bath already, you can show them new games such as using sensitive shaving foam to finger paint on the tiles or shower screen. (Ensure the foam is suitable for your children’s skin – it would not be recommended for use with young babies.)
Don’t forget to use your activities tab, or scroll down on each skill tile, to find activity and play ideas linked to developing the skills your child is working on right now. You can involve older siblings over the summer by letting them look through these activities with you, picking one out and doing it with their younger sibling.
We’d love to see what you get up to over the summer, tag us in your summer play photos on social media or join our community facebook group to chat to other parents and share ideas.