Water play

Hello again and welcome to new followers in New Zealand and the Netherlands!

This week we are playing with water, paddling, splashing and generally keeping cool in our mini heat wave.
No summer holiday is complete without it so we are having that river or seaside moment at home in the back garden. Water play is a really helpful part of childrens learning. It forms part of their early exploring of their environment. It's basically science lessons without the boring physics teacher and the blackboard!

So let's find a way to make a mini water park for the day. Be aware of safety...always watch over water play with little ones, especially if it's a paddling pool big enough to get into. Be careful of surfaces that become slippery when wet and if you live in a flat watch out that your little one isn't pouring water over the balcony onto Mrs Jones below.  Also watch out for little ones getting suddenly cold when they're sopping wet and run out of energy.

Having said that, this is the most clean fun anyone can have and on a hot day the grown ups love to dip their feet too.

This is what we're aiming for....

You will need....

A bucket or box. My mum uses an old baby bath for the grandchildren very successfully.
Half a box of water.(Warm if you've got tiny children or big softies!)
A towel on standby.
Some bath toys.

You may also like to use......

Little boats, or make paper boats.

Empty squeezy bottles for squirting water.

Plant pots for draining water through.

Things that float and things that sink. 

Bubble mixture.

Spray bottles.

Food colouring

Glitter

Pots and cups for pouring and filling......and so on.

Don't go buying things, just scout around the house and collect things up.

Enjoy !

You can make your water play even more exciting by adding a few drops of food colouring or a dash of glitter to make the water shiny. Bubble bath is also fun but only add a splash or your child will disappear into a cloud of foam.

There are a couple of things that I have found useful. I have the luxury of a garden so we paddle outside but that means my kitchen floor gets flooded by little wet feet going in and out, so I lay old towels on the floor to soak it up. I also put a box of water by the kitchen door to use as a foot wash before the kids come in which reduces the amount of wet grass clippings walked through the house.  In fairness to the kids I should mention that Daddy is the biggest paddler here and leaves the biggest wet footprints in the world!

Don't forget sun cream and hats if your'e splashing in the sunshine.

Once we've got the water play going it tends to be around all summer. 

The children love it and it's great for entertaining their various friends too. 

So whether its a box on the balcony or a bath in the garden have a lovely splash.

See you soon.

Heli  x