And on summer days, setting up a water play station at home can keep your children entertained for hours.
If you have a backyard, courtyard or even a balcony, you won’t have to worry too much about mopping up but even if you don’t, you can easily set up a station in your bathroom or on any tiled floor space.
All you need is a large bucket or tub to hold water and a few household items that the kids can use to pour, squirt and splash with – plastic cups, bottles and funnels are perfect, otherwise you could look through your recycling for some containers to upcycle.
To make it more educational, you could use measuring cups or experiment with weights (stones to sink and plastic bottle tops to float).
If you have food colouring in your kitchen cupboards, children will love mixing colours!
And of course, use household detergent to add bubbles.
Heathridge Early Learning Centre Assistant Coordinator Gemma Gardiner said water play was the perfect hot weather activity for all ages.
“For babies and younger toddlers, it might be enough to dip their toes and hands into the water and splash around,” she said.
“For older children, it’s great to talk to them about the activity – “Do you think this will float or sink, where does water come from etc.
“You can get as creative as you want – you could make paper boats, collect gumnuts to put in there or you could use natural ingredients like cinnamon or turmeric to add a scent.”
After their water play, children at Heathridge ELC use the water to feed a variety of plants and fruit trees in their garden.
Tips for mums and dads:
- Keep it simple – use what you have at home
- Use small amounts of water at a time, you can always add more
- Use left over water on the garden to avoid waste
- Children should always be supervised around water
