Open-end water play for sensory fun
It’s a hot summer dto cool off than with some water play! Water play is a great open-ended, sensory rich experience for children of all ages. Whether your toddler loves getting soaked from head to toe, or happily stirs and scoops with water tools, water will help decrease the heat for everyone!
WHAT IS WATER PLAY?
Water play is any activity that allows a child to explore and learn about water. From water tables to splash pads, all water play will help foster sensory exploration, imagination, and development.
WHY IS WATER PLAY GOOD FOR CHILDREN?
With the sensory experience water provides, water play targets multiple sensory systems. It is an imaginative type of play that can foster problem solving skills, improvements within fine and gross motor skills, regulation of emotions, and encouragement of social and language development.
WATER SENSORY PLAY: HOW TO PROVIDE A SENSORY RICH EXPERIENCE
Your child uses their senses (taste, touch, hearing, smell, sight, vestibular and proprioceptive) to explore within their daily environment in order to learn, grow and develop. They use the same senses to explore the different properties of water during water play activities.
Taste: For the water activities that are safe to taste, allow your child to explore with their taste buds!
Touch: There are various ways your toddler can explore water. Through temperature, your child will experience how water feels in addition to feeling their pruned fingers and slippery water toys.
Hearing: Toddlers can hear the splashing, bubbling, pouring, and swirling sounds of water. Help your toddler differentiate between the sounds during your water play activity!
Smell: Water play is associated with summertime, right? So, help your toddler associate the other smells of summer, like sunscreen or rubber floating toys.
Sight: Your toddler will be able to observe many different things through water play, like seeing bubbles or reflections in the water. Help them distinguish between wet vs dry, deep vs shallow water, and sinking vs floating.
Vestibular: Because the vestibular system helps us with head movements in space and how we balance, there are different water play activities that can assist with stimulating this sense, which include: running through a sprinkler, leaning over a water bin, and floating in a kiddie pool.
Proprioceptive: Proprioception helps us determine where our bodies are in space, in addition to our own strength. Some water play activities that can
assist your toddler with stimulating this sense include pouring water, squeezing sponges, and splashing.
INDOOR WATER PLAY ACTIVITIES
1. Mixing colours
Toddlers love experimenting! Explore mixing colours during water play by adding drops of food colouring or liquid watercolour to water containers.
You will need:
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Eyedroppers
- Empty ice cube tray
- Clear water bottles
2. Sensory water bin
Take an empty bin and fill it with water. Use water tools and add items that your child can scoop out with a spoon, or dump/pour into buckets!
You will need:
- Bin
- Water toys: scoop, small cup
- Motivating items for your child to retrieve
3. Lemon sensory bin
Fill up a bin with water, ice and lemon, and allow your toddler to scoop and transfer. This is a great activity to incorporate the senses of touch, smell, and taste!
OUTDOOR WATER PLAY ACTIVITIES
1. Sponge walk
Collect 5-10 sponges of various sizes. Dunk the sponges in water, and line them up outside on a hard surface, like the driveway. Encourage your toddler to walk across the sponges to squeeze the water out with their feet!
2. Watering flowers
Have your toddler help you water the garden! This is a fun way to teach your child about how flowers grow, while keeping cool at the same time!
3. Spray and squeeze bottles
This outdoor water activity will test your toddler’s fine motor and investigation skills! Clean out empty bottles (I.e. ketchup, shampoo, lotion) and fill with water. Offer the containers to your toddler and encourage them to spray or squeeze the bottles to soak the driveway, outdoor toys, or outdoor furniture with water!
Article written by the therapists at NAPA Centre, which is a paediatric clinic offering occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech therapy for children with complex needs. Learn more at napacentre.com.au
