Water Play

With record high temperatures last week, many of us were looking for ways to keep the kids cool and entertained. There are so many things your child can learn through playing with water at home.

Here are some ideas on how to blend fun with water with learning. Some things you might need are:
- different size pots and pans
- containers of different size and shape
- funnels
- scoops (use big plastic serving spoons. in fact, many kitchen utensils often come handy in child's play)
- wine corks (they float)
- a small water toy or an empty shampoo bottle
- food coloring added to liquids offer different colors (you can buy them in a baking section of your supermarket)
- tongs (try to find ones covered with plastic or rubber as the metal ones can be quite sharp)

Obviously, water is going to get messy with all the splashing, otherwise it wouldn't be so much fun! Choose a play area carefully. During warm weather days setting up outside makes cleanup easy.

Work on your child’s coordination skills:
- fish wine corks (or other floating objects) out with a scoop, tongs or just fingers
- count floating objects out loud when you place them into a container
- fill up and squirt water with a shampoo bottle, try aiming at some lightweight objects that could fall when you hit them with the water, like toy soldiers or cars (or
even those useful wine corks)

Work on your child’s color and observation skills
- fill up different-size containers with water to different levels and use funnels to transfer the water to different containers.
- add food coloring to the water and learn about colors while you are playing. Mix colors to make it even more interesting.
- play and learn about household chores by playing wash the dishes
- learn about the importance of cleanliness by giving your dolls a bath, washing their hair
So go on, start splashing.