It’s important to provide a sensory rich environment for your children so fear not!  A little water won’t hurt you,  if your kitchen  floor looks like mine right now it might even help! Young children , especially toddlers,  learn through using their senses, water play is a great opportunity for them to learn and have fun doing it .

What They Are Learning

Don’t be fooled , your 2 year old isn’t just pouring water into a cup and  all over himself, he is learning basic concepts and developing more than just a mess!

When your daughter is scooping and pouring from one cup to another she is learning about measurement, and developing her understanding of concepts and vocabulary such as empty, full, heavy and light.  But that’s not all, she is also fine tuning her hand eye coordination which is important for the development of many skills including writing.

My son is playing with kitchen tongs,trying to retrieve some toys we placed in the water.As you can see he is having a ball, practicing his counting skills as he saves each toy and he is  giving his all important  pincer grasp a great workout !

Ice, Colors,  and Bubbles Oh My !

Adding things  to your water  takes learning to another level. Your child can make discoveries about temperature, melting and floating with a simple ice cube.  Adding some food coloring to the water will not only excite your child but allow them to  experiment with color mixing.  Bubbles, aren’t just pretty they actually are a great example of something that floats and can turn water play into a practical  living lesson if you add a few pots and pans!

Go A Little Deeper

You can turn sensory play into a basic science experiment with a few toys and  the simple question ” Do you think it will float or sink?” . You are teaching your child to make a prediction and to test out that prediction with an experiment!

I know parents worry about the mess that follows playing with water, but the benefits really are worth a few little puddles and a soaking wet child.