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Hey Reader!
Splish, Splash! It’s the perfect time of year to add in a little water play to your plans for the day/week/month! Whether you’re at home with young children or still in the classroom this summer, let’s explore a couple of fun ways to add water play to your day – and, as always, let’s explore what children are actually learning from these FUN, open-ended activities. **Obviously, NEVER allow young children to participate in water play without supervision. Young children can drown in as little as an inch or two of water. (source)
Infants
- Try tummy time on a wet towel or blanket. This is a different texture and sensory experience than a typical tummy-time surface so children stimulate different nerves and muscles and new neural pathways are formed as they acclimate their bodies to a new environment.
- Add small, shallow containers of water for them to splash in as they practice sitting up or learning to crawl. Again, a totally different sensory experience to crawl when you’re wet! Infants begin learning cause-and-effect as water spills or splashes with their movement, they learn to take agency – control – of their movement!
Toddlers
- Fill a shallow container (underbed storage boxes work great!) with a couple of inches of water and add cups, spoons, colanders, sieves, funnels, etc. You could also add plastic animals, rubber ducks, or bath toys to encourage play and exploration. Toddlers learn life skills like scooping, pouring, filling and dumping. They are using core, back, shoulder, arm and wrist muscles in their play – all necessary for writing later on! The sensory experience of filling/dumping water is very different that filling/dumping sand or rice (also great experiences for them). They are experimenting with volume and cause-and-effect as well.
Threes
- Take your water play outside and fill a few dish tubs with water and place near a wall or fence. Add paint brushes of various sizes and allow children to “paint” the sidewalk, the wall, the fence, anything they can find outside! Children are developing fantastic pre-writing muscles as they use their upper bodies to paint on a vertical surface! They learn collaboration and communication skills as they share water supplies and wall-space. They see evaporation at work in real-time as their “paint” dries on the wall.
- Hang a light-colored sheet on the fence or the wall and allow the children to use plastic spray bottles filled with diluted washable paint to create art on the sheet. Washable paint will wash right out and you can do it again tomorrow! Children will build forearm, wrist, and hand strength as well as coordination skills as they hold and spray the bottle. Coach them into unscrewing and refilling their own spray bottles (plunge them into a prepared bucket and then reattach the lid) and build even more independence and small motor skills!
Fours
- Host a car/bike/trike wash! Fill up a few buckets with water and provide sponges, wash cloths, and towels. Add in a few cozy coupes, some scooters, bikes or trikes and let the children wash cars. Again, lots of gross motor skills, collaboration and communication practice is happening with activities like this. Children work our small motor muscles as they squeeze and wring out sponges and wash cloths. It’s also just plain FUN, which makes learning deeper.
- Add a few inches of water to an underbed storage box and then add various sized pieces of PVC pipes, elbows and joint connectors. Provide some marbles (supervise!!) and allow them to create their own “water slides” for marbles! You’ll probably need some cups or pitchers as well so they can fill up their tubes with water! This is an excellent STEM activity as children learn to design and construct tunnels that will push the marbles through. They’ll have to learn how much water is necessary, which pieces fit together and how to keep the water IN the tub as they build! Again, they are using motor skills to push and pull pieces together, they’ll have to collaborate and problem-solve as a team to make things work! It’s also very FUN!
I hope this little brainstorm provided some fun ideas for you as you plan out these hot summer months. Actually, let’s be honest, if you’re in Texas like I am, most of us have until October before the heat settles down! In case you need it, THIS article lists some of the other benefits of water play for young children and includes a few more ideas that you could share with parents!
If you found this newsletter valuable, you can easily share it with your parents or other teachers from THIS page on our website.
Cheering you on this week!
-Your ECCN team
Registration is OPEN!
Sessions have been added so take a peek at ALL that will be available for you and your team! We can’t wait to see you!
Central State Conference
July 11-12, 2024
Georgetown, TX
Late Registration thru July 5
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North State Conference
Aug 1-2, 2024
Lewisville, TX
Regular Registration thru July 5th
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Colossians 3:16
“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”
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